The articles posted are on various subjects that I have wondered about and now I want to share them with the reader.

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

WHAT IS YOUR MENTAL EQUIVALENT?

Have you ever wondered what your mental equivalent is?

Yesterday as I was cleaning around my bookcase(s) a small booklet fell out. I picked it up, looked at it and I thought “Hmmm. There are no accidents.” The title of this small booklet is The Mental Equivalent by Emmet Fox. Not too many people have heard of Emmet Fox. In the first half of the last century, he was very well known. Born in Ireland, he made his way to the
U. S. and in 1931 he was ordained a Divine Science minister by founder Nona Brooks.

Fox has been labeled an author, teacher, minister, healer and mystic. From my perspective, he was all of these things. He is best known for his book Sermon on the Mount. He has also been called a New Thought minister/teacher; however he labels himself as a metaphysician in this small booklet.

He has crammed into this booklet a powerhouse of information in a concise form. He was saying the same thing that The Secret and other books have said. Fox at one time held services in the Manhattan Opera House in New York City with 4,000 to 5,000 attending each service. His message was simple.

My understanding is that what we experience in our outer world has a mental equivalent in our inner world. Our thoughts, beliefs and attitudes create our outer world. If one has a health challenge and the desire for wellness is there, then the inner thought and belief must be changed to the mental equivalent of wellness. It is simple to say, however it take practice to change an entrenched attitude or belief. In other words, what are you giving attention to with your common thoughts? Is it lack? Is it resentment? Is it anger? Is it unforgiveness? Is it pain and suffering?

If there is a belief in lack, then the mental equivalent is revealed in your everyday thoughts and conversation. Most people enjoy talking about their woes and play the ‘ain’t it awful game.’ Worry and fear brings forth the mental equivalent in the outer world. I have heard people complain about their debts, never having enough money and they keep repeating this to other people. This only reinforces a mental equivalent of lack.

Fox gives the example of the trinity – or triad. There have been trinities in ancient Egypt, Chaldea and Babylonia long before the creation of Christianity. The Christian trinity of Father, Son and Holy Ghost was a plagiarism of ancient knowledge. The true trinity is father, mother and child – meaning that father represents the idea or the thought. Mother represents the activity. The mother carries the thought in her womb while nurturing it. The child is the demonstration or the manifestation.

To bring forth change, one must have clarity of what is wanted. Clarity is the handmaiden to intent. What change is wanted? To bring forth a dream or a desire, there must be attention. There must be an overlay of a new thought over the old thought. This is nourished with interest. How interested are you in having a change in your life? What interest are you showing? How much attention are you giving it? A lukewarm response won’t do it. There must be enthusiasm or feeling. Enthusiasm and feeling are not accompanied with emotion. Have you ever noticed that people who are doing what they love to do sparkle? Sparkle is the result of interest or giving attention to what they loved to do.

According to Fox, The law of mind is that you can only get rid of one thought by substituting another…For everything in life there has to be a mental equivalent. He goes on to say to change an attitude about mistakes is to look at them as learning experiences. Get the thought of what you want as clear as you can. Be definite but not too specific. Fox also wrote that there can be no sickness without fear. Fear and doubt are the blocks that one must overlay with what one wants to be or to accomplish.

In The Mental Equivalent, Fox reiterated over and over, Change your thought and keep it changed. As the piano teacher said, practice, practice, and practice. If a new mental equivalent is wanted, then the price is to give up the old and lousy. It is similar to turning in a used car for a newer model.

Check out http://www.emmetfox.net/