Watch the mental company you keep

A rule we learn in Christian Science for preserving health and well being is to keep thinking free of external negative influence. If we are not alert, the influences we feel around us in the atmosphere of thought, we might take on as our own and live them out.

A simple example of this is, if you walk into a room of very happy joyous people, you’re likely to feel uplift from their inspired attitude. And conversely, if you walk into a room of angry hateful people, you might feel burden from their heavy dark thinking. This does not mean we have to be affected by other’s negativity, but it does mean we have to scientifically protect ourselves from its baneful influence to keep our own well being intact.

A friend called me last week and reported a lesson she learned last month on better defending her mental precincts from the influence of mental darkness.

She had been a Harry Potter fan from the beginning, and was listening to an audio recording of the most recent Potter book. The ritual seemed innocent enough.

However, during the month, she found herself struggling severely with depression and a terrible mood. She was cranky, hard to get along with by family members, down on life, saw no light ahead of her, uninspired and feeling like a failure. Life looked very dark.

Feeling pushed to the edge, she prayed for relief, and in a moment of light made a connection between all the darkness she had been absorbing from the Harry Potter book and the heavy darkness she was feeling.

Aha!! She cried. I think there’s a lesson here!

I have not read the latest Potter book, but understand it is filled with evil impressions. I read the first three volumes out loud to my children when the Potter series started because my children were determined to have them read one way or the other, and I decided, who better than me to have the experience with them! At least I could talk to them about what they were hearing during the story. And we learned many lessons about defending self from evil through reading those books together. But I rapidly lost interest because the content was getting darker and darker. The preponderance of evil sapped my enthusiasm for gaining the other lessons to be learned. I quit reading them.

Anyway, my friend went on to say that she saw the need to get her thinking filled with light once again and not so saturated with the threat of Voldemort, who is the hideous impersonation of dark evil in the Potter book.

She turned off the audio player, and turned to God, infinite Light for inspiration. She acknowledged God, good, as the only power and influence over thinking and life. She denounced the belief that evil had power over her, or over anyone. As she got grounded once again in spiritual truth, the darkness lifted and joy washed over her perspective. Her normal happy self returned, and the depression vanished.

The above story is a simple lesson, but a powerful one. We all must stay alert, pay attention to what is happening in thought, and not accept without question whatever comes in our direction. As we stand guard at the front entrance of our home, keeping out unwanted strangers or criminals, we must stand watch at the front entrance of our mental home, barring entrance to any undesirable suggestions, claims or evil assertions.

God has given us a good life to live, but that life will never be found in evil thoughts. It’s found in good thoughts, and those good thoughts come from God. But we need to shut down the evil sense and not give it our ear in order to hear those angel messages coming from above that lift our view to a higher happier level.

To a consciousness of infinite Love, omnipresent Good, Voldemort is no threat!