“When these crop up, we ask God at once to remove them.” (Chapter Six, Big Book)
The thoughts that the physical brain introduces into my mind
are like playing cards dealt to me.
I can either reject them or incorporate them into my hand,
and then I have to decide how to play the hand. In the analogy, that is what I
do with the thoughts, in my mind.
Each time a three of hearts is dealt, it is a different
three of hearts. It is not the same three of hearts. It is one with identical
characteristics, but it is not the same one. The cards themselves have no
power. The only difficulty is remembering that I have agency.
To use another analogy: Swatting a fly is easy. Swatting two
flies is not twice as hard as swatting one.
For God to remove the thought, I must first put it down.
Only then will God remove it. He will not wrest it from my hand if I have
picked it up.