Watching as a Spiritual Practice

The old saying, “What you don’t know can’t hurt you” is sooo wrong! Subconscious beliefs, operating unseen in our minds, do all sorts of destructive things.

Like forgotten or semi-forgotten memories of mistreatment or abandonment that cause us to be angry, defensive or guilty without understanding why. We may think that we “just have a bad temper”, but the real culprit is an old belief replaying itself, partly below the radar of conscious thought. And the anger resulting from this old belief promotes disease, relationship problems, career dysfunctions…you name it.

One spiritual practice for protecting ourselves from the effects of old, unseen beliefs is called “watching”– being more mindful of the quality of our thoughts, mental processes, and emotional reactions. Mary Baker Eddy says a lot about this practice in her writings. For example, in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures she writes,

“Because a belief originates unseen, the mental state should be continually watched that it may not produce blindly its bad effects.” (click here to read)

Today, devote 10 minutes to this practice of “watching”. Get quiet. Go someplace where no one will talk to you. Use this quietness to listen to your thoughts, not to direct them. Observe their tendency and processes. (click here for another passage on “watching”)

If you notice that a thought seems to be attached to some kind of chronic unhappiness or reactiveness within you, try tracing it back a bit further. Recognize that these feelings are probably attached to a subconscious belief. Also recognize that embracing your relationship to the consistently good and all-powerful Spirit will inevitably lead you to the exposure and resolution of this belief.

….and let me know if I can help!

Miles
(561) 626-9043
mh@MilesHarbur.com


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