Terrible thinking

If you're having a horrid experience of life, your thinking must be rotten. It must be out of kilter with spiritual principles. However, to the individual thus suffering, it will never seem that way. It will seem reasonable, rational, evidence-based, and in fact the only possible way of thinking about his or her circumstances.

How on earth does one discard ideas that one believes in for those that one does not (as, to someone spiritually out of kilter, spiritually 'in kilter' ideas will seem unreasonable, irrational, and non-evidence-based, or else they would have been opted for by preference long ago)?

The answer is contained in ... drum roll ... the book Alcoholics Anonymous:

'Is not our age characterised by the ease with which we discard old ideas for new, by the complete readiness with which we throw away the theory or gadget which does not work for something new which does?'

Judge the validity of your thinking by this: are the thinking and associated action bringing you health, happiness, harmony, love, joy, peace and connection? Or are they bringing you fear, resentment, guilt, and disappointment?

Regardless of what seems true and false to the spiritually misaligned, this test is the crucible in which the false is separated from the true.

With alcoholism, and with other obsessions of the mind, remember this: 'they cannot after a time differentiate the true from the false.' With this consideration foremost, apply the outcome test to each thought and action: what result is it bringing?