Article October 27, 1997 Issue

Responding to thoughts of life

Nathan A. Talbot

One may not guess it to read the headlines or catch the top of the evening news, but the lives of many people on this planet are fairly peaceful, well adjusted, and even blessed with touches of laughter, affection, and a sense of purpose.

Keeping a balanced view of life isn't always easy in a world of rapidly expanding communications. Especially when the communication falls prey to an emphasis on the sensational. It takes discipline, perceptiveness, and a good dose of plain old common sense to sort out what's worth taking into consciousness and what's important to reject. Mentally swallowing everything that arrives at the doorway of our thought can lead to mental indigestion!

It is vital to our well-being for us to recognize that we have spiritual sense, the capacity to perceive God's reality. His reality can stand in stark contrast with what the world is telling us. We should prayerfully and gratefully acknowledge our spiritual sense. Then we'll be able to restrain the world's attempt to project into our consciousness excessive attention to thoughts that obscure the continuity of life and goodness. Especially thoughts of mortality, thoughts of death.