Positive Thinking

By John L. Odhner, Council of the Clergy, 1984

This paper began as a study to answer my own questions about the validity of positive thinking. At first, when I came in contact with some of the concepts of positive thinking, I had some doubts. I thought it might be simply a modern version of faith alone. I did not know whether to accept or reject it, or whether it would support or conflict with New Church doctrine. In this paper I give some of the reasons why I have come to the conclusion that positive thinking is a part of the New Church way of life.

To say it is a part of the New Church implies two things. First, it suggests that we should promote a positive attitude with ourselves and with others. Second, it implies that the New Church is more. Positive thinking will never be the primary message nor the principal method of the New Church. Much of what positive thinkers say seems to be truth to me. I think when positive thinking fails it is more often because truths are lacking than because heresies are present.

What is Negative Thinking?

If I were to sum up my picture of negative thinking in one word, it would be “contempt”. When a person suggests a new idea, and someone else immediately without consideration rejects
it as worthless, I sense a degree of contempt for the ideas of others. When a person does some good thing and another suggests that the motive was probably selfish, there often seems to be a hint of contempt involved in the suggestion, a feeling that the person is less worthy than himself.

I have become aware that many of my own negative thoughts have had the hellish quality of contempt in them. Probably this more than anything else has led me to see the use of positive thinking—not that the positive thinking itself is so essential, but that negative thinking is so destructive.

A Source of Negative Thoughts

I hardly need to state that contempt is quite hellish. Negative thinking about others seems to have its origin in love of self. Love of self “is like a vicious man who turns even the best intentions of others, and their very kindnesses, into what is blameworthy and malicious” (AC 2045:3). “The love of self communicates nothing to others, but extinguishes and suffocates their delights and happinesses…. They who are.in the love of self despise others in comparison with themselves” (AC 2057; see also AC 2219e, 2273, 2327:2, 2354, 5993, 7370, 8318, 9976).

Contempt is among the evils that cannot be mingled with good (AC 3993:8). Contempt for others is like theft, which when committed of set purpose two or three times, cannot be desisted from; for they continually cling to the person’s thought (AC 6203). This is because he opens up hell to himself and associates himself with similar spirits (AC 4067, 6203).

Despising others is one of the signs that sins have not been forgiven (AC 9450).

Evil spirits seem to be fairly well practiced at despising others. Evil spirits love to condemn and accuse. They “call up a man’s evil and falsities…whatever he has thought and done from his infancy” (AC 751). All evil is from hell, yet the spirits “make the man believe that he does it of himself.” And “at the moment they are infusing and compelling this belief, they accuse and condemn him” (AC 761; see examples in AC 5036, 6097). “They excite and drawforth all things in a person that have been evilly done and evilly thought, and thereby accuse and condemn him” (AC 8159, 8960). “The devilish spirits desire nothing more than to find some falsity, in fact it is common with them to induce a falsity from themselves, and then at the same time to make it the subject of accusation” (AC 1917).

The Most Negative Doctrine

Contempt is intimately associated with lack of charity, and therefore with faith alone. “With those who are in no charity, there is continual contempt for others, or continual derision, and on every occasion a publishing of their errors” (AC 1080). “The feeling of hatred shines forth from every single thing. They desire to examine everyone, and even to judge him; nor do they desire anything more than to find out what is evil, constantly cherishing the disposition to condemn, punish, and torment” (AC 1079; see also AC 2027). People who think that they are no longer sinners like others can hardly be separated from some elation of mind and from some contempt of others compared with themselves (DP 279:3). “Those who are in doctrinal things and not charity contend about everything, and condemn all whoever they may be that do not say (they call it believe) as they do” (AC 1798e). “Men of the church separate from one another if the doctrine alone conjoins them; this is evident from the fact that a man who is of one doctrine will condemn him who is of another doctrine, sometimes to hell…. Aperson who is in goodness of life does not condemn another who is of a different opinion, but leaves it to his faith and conscience” (AC 4468). Those who have no affection for truth “seek nothing but faults in those who are in truths from good,in order that they may accuse and condemn them…. Theyridicule and condemn the most essential truths” (AC 5132:4). This iswhy the dragon of faith alone is called the “accuser of our brothers” (Rev. 12:10, AR 554, AE 747).

Since people who are in faith alone tend to think negatively about others, it is not surprising that the doctrines of faith alone justify and encourage negative thinking. Just one example of this is the encouragement to think of gentiles and unbaptized infants as being damned (HH 318, 329). In fact, it would be hard to come up with religion more suited to negative thinkers.

They begin with a negative concept of God. The following passage contrasts the truth with the negative idea of God promoted by faith alone. “Who does not know that God is mercy and compassion itself, because He is love itself, and good itself, and that these are His being or essence? And who does not see from this that it is a contradiction to say that mercy itself or good itself, can look at man from anger, become his enemy, turn Himself away from him, and determine on his damnation, and still continue to be the same Divine esse or God? Such things can scarcely be attributed to an upright person, but only to a wicked person, nor to an angel of heaven, but only to an angel of hell; so it is horrible to attribute them to God. That they have been ascribed to Him appears evident from the declarations of many fathers, councils, and churches, from the first ages to the present day;… such as, that He wishes to be reconciled; that He is reconciled through love to the Son, and through His intercession and mediation, that He wishes to be appeased by the view of the extreme sufferings of His Son, and so to be brought back and as it were compelled to mercy, and thus from an enemy to be made a friend, and to adopt those who were the sons of wrath as the sons of grace” (BE 60). “This I can affirm, that whenever the angels hear anyone say that God from anger determined on the damnation of the human race, and as an enemy was reconciled by His Son, as by another God begotten from Himself, they are affected in a manner similar to those who from an uneasiness in their bowels and stomach are moved to vomiting; saying, ‘What can be more insane than to affirm such things of God?’” (BE 61; see also TCR 134:2, 3).

Just as striking is faith alone’s negative attitude towards human potential. Faith alone is basically a “you can’t” religion. You can’t understand spiritual things: “A common remark is that no one can comprehend spiritual or theological matters because they are supernatural.” “If we say that we do not understand, we are told that this is just the reason for believing” (Faith 3, 1). Suppose a man thinks of examining himself and confessing his sins. He is told, Don’t bother, it is impossible. “No one can ever know his sins; wherefore they cannot be enumerated; moreover, they are interior and hidden, so that a confession of them would be false, uncertain, maimed and mutilated” (Formula Concordiae, TCR 516). In fact, there is no end to the “You can’t” attitude of faith alone: “Man is wholly corrupt and dead to good, so that in his nature since the fall, before regeneration, there does not remain or abide even a spark of spiritual power whereby he is able to be prepared for the grace of God, or to grasp it when offered, or from and by himself to accept it, or in spiritual things to understand, believe, embrace, think, will, begin, finish, act, operate, co-operate, or apply or adapt himself to receive grace, or to do anything of himself toward his conversion, either in the half or in the smallest part” (Form. Conc., TCR 503). Faith alone “deprives a person of all power arising from any freedom of choice in spiritual things, and does not even leave him enough to enable him to brush fire from his clothing and keep his body from harm, or to extinguish his blazing home with water and rescue his family” (TCR 630). The ultimate product of faith alone’s negativity is predestination, which makes God the source of evil, and makes man totally helpless in the grasp of evil. Predestination is the source of “every kind of security of life with the evil, and the deprivation of all hope with the good” (AE 802:4). Those who espouse it become negative to just about every good thing. They believe that the ‘Word is nothing but the hot air of the prophets, that religion is nothing but a convenience, that the teachings of the church are empty rubbish, and that a person receiving spiritual things becomes a detestable monster in God’s sight (TCR 487:3). Predestination is one form of negative thinking that “ought to be so rooted out from the brain that not a single vestige of it shall be left” (TCR 487e).

Any truth can be turned to faith alone when it is believed but not lived. A person who accepts positive thinking but does not live in charity will be in faith alone. But the fault then is in lack of charity, not in false faith. Positive thinking in itself is almost incompatible with the old church doctrine of faith alone. This is one of my reasons for concluding that positive thinking is part of the New Church approach to life.

The Truth is Always Good

The Lord offers the New Church a very positive approach to life. This is, of course, because in the Now Church truth and good are united. Truth by itself is very negative, and consequently so is faith alone. But the truth the Lord gives us is never separated from good. Hence it is in itself always positive. It is only when people reject the Lord’s goodness that the truth becomes negative. “Divine Truth separated from the Divine Good condemns everyone; whereas the Divine truth united to the Divine good saves. For from the Divine truth man is condemned to hell, but by the Divine good he is taken out from hell and is raised into heaven. Salvation is of mercy, thus from the Divine good; but damnation is when a person refuses mercy, and thus rejects from himself the Divine good; wherefore he is left to judgment from truth” (AC 6148:6). It is always man who separates truth and good. The Lord is always conjoining them (TCR 41, DP 7). “It is not that the truths which proceed from the Lord condemn anyone, for all the truths which proceed from the Lord are from His Divine Good, thus are nothing but mercies” (AC 7206; see also AC 2015:10, 2258, 2735:2, 5759, 7273, 7878). The Lord gives us no hard sayings. But when we remove the life and essence from the truths, they become hard and unyielding.

A Positive God

The positive truths of the New Church are quite a contrast to the negative dogmas of faith alone. We know that “the Lord is as far from cursing any one and being angry with him as heaven is from earth” (AC 1093). He deals with man from goodness, love, and mercy, that is, wills good to him, loves him, and is merciful to him” (HH 545). We see Him unable to even look at us with a stern face (TCR 56e), reaching out His arms to embrace us (TCR 787). Any negative feelings we may seem to get from the Lord are actually projections of our own negative feelings onto Him (see AC 8819:2).

The Good Side of Evil

Along with a positive picture of God, comes a positive approach to Providence, and even towards evil. No evil, not even the least little thing, can happen, except for the purpose that good may come from it^.(AC 6574). New Church people can know the uses of evil and temptation. For example, temptations serve to…

remove love of self and the world
allow good and truth to flow in
increase the perception of good and truth
confirm goods and truths
and bring a person into a stronger affirmative subdue evils and falsities (AC 5558).

Knowing that the Lord is in control and that evil can serve a use allows its to be positive when things are difficult. Those who trust in the Divine…

do not think of the future with concern, still less anxiety
their spirit is unruffled
they do not grieve over losses
they are content with their lot
they are not made sad by poverty
they are not dejected by difficult circumstances

“They know that for those who trust in the Divine all things advance toward a happy state to eternity, and that whatever happens to them in time is still conducive to that” (AC 8478). This kind of positive attitude towards evil and temptation is encouraged in the Old and New Testaments and was in evidence in the early Christian Church.

I will turn their mourning into joy. (Jer 71:17)

Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. (Matt 5:4)

Be strong and of a good courage. (Josh 1:9)

In the world you shall have tribulation. But be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. (John 16:33)

All things work together for the good to those who love God. (Rom 3:28)

We glory in tribulations also, knowing that tribulation works patience. (Rom 5:3)

Count it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations. (James 1:2)

Affirming the Word

The New Church offers an affirmative approach towards the Word. Many of the teachings about the affirmative principle and the negative principle speak of being affirmative to the truths of the Word. Whether you read the Word or not is not nearly as important as whether you read it with an of attitude. A person who believes that the Word is holy and reads with a genuine desire to learn and change his life will receive the benefits of conjunction with heaven and with the Lord, enlightenment and instruction, implantation of remains, and a holy influence from the Lord through the angels. A person who approaches the Word with a negative or icitical attitude will get little or none of this, but will insread close up the Word to himself and become less wise than others (AC 6621, SD 1950-1955, 2040). “Those who deny the Word cannot receive anything of what the Word teaches; for when they either read or^–hear it, a negative attitude presents itself, which either extinguishes the truth or turns it to-falsity” (AC 9222).

Because the New Church has the internal sense of the Word, we can see it in a much more positive light. Things which seem negative in the literal sense are changed when the internal sense is seen. “In the literal sense there,is scarcely anything that does not appear destitute of order, but when it is being read…it becomes more beautiful and delightful by degrees as it ascends” (AC 1871). For example, in the phrase “lead us not into temptation,” the idea of temptation and evil is rejected by the nearest good spirits, until just the idea of good from the Lord remains (AC 1875). The idea of the Lord’s anger is changed into mercy (AC 6997), and the idea of death into resurrection (AC 6221).

Heaven

Another example of a positive New Church doctrine is Heaven. Needless to say, the picture of heaven we have is far more beautiful than the idea of coming back into a worm-eaten body or flitting about as a breath of air. More important is the fact that heaven is for everyone. The Lord wants all people in heaven, and “predestines” all people to heaven. This is quite a contrast with faith alone doctrines which teach that most of the gentiles and many who die as infants will be damned (HH 329, 318). Add to this the fact that “it is not so difficult as some believe to live the life that leads to heaven” (HH 530). Even our picture of hell is more positive than the idea that a person there is eternally tortured in lakes of fire. The Lord casts no one into hell. People are there by their own choices, and even then, the Lord is controlling and limiting their torment as much as possible.

Apparent Love and an Affirmative Attitude

Obviously, I could say a great deal about our positive approach towards marriage, but I don’t think I need to. I would like simply to point out that a positive approach towards one’s partner is a part of conjugial love. “The states of this love are…inmost friendship, full confidence, and a mutual desire of mind and heart to do to the other every good” (CL 180). “Love is not love without trust” (TCR 727e). Even when there are states of cold in a marriage, we are encouraged to be positive. An appearance of friendship, love and approval is in order. Even when inner unity is lacking and the spiritual uses of the marriage are not being accomplished, a spiritual person will work to improve the situation by “wise and refined conversations, by courteous favors, and by accommodating to the other” (CL 282, cf. 280). He will focus on the uses which CAN be accomplished by the marriage (CL 279), and emphasize the things which they have in common (CL 228, 277).

Thinking Well of Others

Along with a positive attitude towards one’s partner, a New Church person will have a positive attitude towards the neighbor. “Those who have conscience are kept by the Lord in good thoughts about the neighbor, and are withheld from thinking evil” (AC 1919). “They who are in charity scarcely see the evil of another, but observe all his goods and truths, and put a good interpretation on what is evil and false” (AC 1079). They interpret for good and excuse “with all their might” (AC 1085). “They think nothing but good and speak only well” of others (AC 10913; see al(7) AC 6655). This of course does not eliminate the need for civil and moral judgment on those who do evil. But it dues mean giving people the benefit of the doubt, and being especially wary of imputing false motives to others. “The temptations in which a person overcomes are attended with the belief that all others are more worthy than himself” (AC2277).

We know that each individual is created for use and therefore predestined for heaven. Each person has an untainted soul, and an inner spiritual and heavenly mind that gives that person the potential of wisdom and love far surpassing what any of us experience now. We know that each person has freedom and rationality, enough understanding and remains to give him the potential of reaching the highest heaven. And the Lord Himself is present with each person as his source of life. These facts make it possible for a New Church person to be very positive about another person’s present and potential usefulness.

Teachings about variety and the Grand Man are also important here. A New Church person will take a positive approach to others even when there is significant disagreement. “Mutual love and charity…make one out of variety” (AC 1285). “Doctrinal matters would then be only varieties of opinion concerning the mysteries of faith, which truly Christian men would leave to everyone to hold in accordance with his conscience, and would say in their hearts that a man is truly a Christian when he lives as a Christian” (AC 1799). “Then each person would say, in whatever doctrine and in whatever outward worship he might be, This is my brother, I see that he worships the Lord, and is a good man” (AC 2385e; see also refs. at HD 246, AC 3451.)

Enjoying the World

The New Church also gives us a positive approach to this world. “A man can… grow rich, keep a plentiful table, dwell in an elegant house ,Ind wear fine clothing…do worldly business…. The only difficulty lies in being able to resist the love of self and the world” (HH cf 358, 528; TCR 403). A negative attitude towards the worldly gifts the Lord has given us tends to be accompanied by a negative attitude towards other people and towards uses. People who renounce the world have a “Sad disposition. They despise others… they are indignant that they do not have a happier lot than others,…they have no interest in others, and turn away from the duties of charity-. When they are taken up among the angels, they cause anxieties that disturb the happiness of the angels” (HH 360). “They can do good to no one… They live in misery… They can no longer have as their end the good of the neighbor, but only themselves, that they may be saved…. They expose themselves to contempt, making themselves useless for performing services and discharging duties” (AC 951) Such a person “despises and neglects uses”” (HD 124). The New Church approaches the world positively, seeing that everything in the world in some way reflects the wisdom and love of the Lord its Creator, and that each thing has been created from use, by use, and for use. For us the natural world is to serve the spiritual world. and natural loves are to serve spiritual loves.

You Can!

Finally, the New Church gives us a positive attitude towards ourselves. Of course, we must ask the question, “Which self?” This matter has been explored already by Geoffrey Childs in his paper to the Council, so I will not discuss it in detail. Briefly, all the factors which allow us to be positive about others allow us to he positive about ourselves as well. Each of us has the same potential of eternal heavenly usefulness. Below I will mention self-abhorrence, and the place it has. For now I will just point out the great difference between the you can’t attitude of faith alone and the you can attitude expressed everywhere in the Word. “A person can acquire faith for himself… A person can acquire charity for himself… A person can acquire the life of both…” (TCR 356-358).. “There is no one who does not possess this power, because the Lord imparts it to every one; and He gives it as something of the person’s own, for everyone, when he practices charity, supposes that he does so of himself” (TCR 357). The constant message is to let us know that we do have potential and to encourage us to use it. Repentance need not be difficult—just practice it! (TCR 561) Spiritual truths are just as easy to understand as natural ones. Anyone can do it! (Faith 3) The life that leads to heaven is not difficult (HH 528). You can use your spiritual freedom—seventy times in a day or three hundred times in a week, if you like (TCR 480). The true doctrines are just as enabling to the individual as faith alone is disabling. We should think affirmatively about the power the Lord gives us to change our lives and be useful.

Everything is Positive, But Being Positive Isn’t Everything.

All truths in the New Church spring from good, lead to good, and in themselves are conjoined with good; therefore they are all positive, forward-looking, and constructive. However, just because everything in the New Church is positive doesn’t mean that being positive is everything in the New Church. “Affirmation together with acknowledgment is the first general principle with the person who is being regenerated, but the last with one who has been regenerated” (AC 3928). A positive attitude can lead to charity, and it will spring from charity, but it is not charity itself, nor an end in itself, but only a means. Like any truth, the affirmative principle can become a heresy when taken to an extreme, or when other truths are excluded. One mark of heresy is denial of essentials. “If charity were alive, they would not call schism schism, nor heresy heresy, but a doctrinal matter in accordance with each person’s opinion; and this they would leave to each person’s conscience provided such doctrinal matter did not deny first principles, that is the Lord, eternal life, and the Word; and provided it was not contrary to the Divine order, that is to the precepts of the Decalogue” (AC 1834). There must be agreement on four things: the Lord, eternal life, the Word, the Commandments. Positive thinking has been used for wrong purposes in the world around us. Most of the faults seem to be because of a lack of one of these four things.

Sometimes a positive thinking philosophy is atheistic.
Often the focus in on worldly success, rather than heavenly success.
Some positive thinkers lay great stress on the Bible as a basis for positive thinking, but others completely ignore it. And finally,
some encourage breaking the commandants, a do-what-you-feel-good-doing kind of approach.

Any brand of positive thinking which manages to avoid these four pitfalls should not be called a heresy. And for us in the New Church, we can know that our positive thinking will have the right kind of power if we focus on those essentials, affirming “that the Word is the Word, that the Lord is the Lord, that Providence is in most singular things” (SD 4534).

No One Can Serve Two Masters

Good and evil are opposites. They flee from each other, and they destroy each other when they come together. To the extent that a person turns towards one, he turns away from the other. So a person cannot really be positive towards both good and evil at the same time.

Of course, a good person can he positive towards evil in the sense that he looks for good to come from it, or that he may excuse, overlook or try to change it. But he can never condone it or approve of it, much less enjoy it. And on the other hand, an evil person may be extremely tolerant of good lifestyles—he might think that marriage and adultery are both delightful, or that atheism and true religion are both just fine. But in fact, in approving of adultery he is by definition approving of the destruction of marriages, and by affirming atheism he is affirming the invalidity of religion. And after death his real hostility toward what is good and true will show itself.

Everyone is positive about some things and negative about others. The important thing is to be positive towards things that are genuinely positive and negative towards things that are genuinely negative.

False Confidence

I mentioned earlier that faith alone is a very negative religion. But there is one kind of positive thinking that faith alone encourages: self-confidence. It encourages you to think that you are better than others, that you are free from any sin because they have been wiped away, and that you are certainly going to heaven. I find when talking with people who know that they are saved, that their self-assurance is somewhat intimidating, even captivating. The Writings explain: “The sensual man is in self-confidence, and in the belief that he is wiser than all others, for he is unable to weigh and explore himself, because he does nut think interiorly; and when he has persuaded himself of this, then such confidence and belief are in all things that he speaks. And because his speech takes its tone from these, it fascinates and infatuates the minds of others, for the tone of confidence and belief produces such an effect” (AE 556).

The Writings show that this kind of confidence is not really confidence at all. “They vest the saving power of faith in confidence, that in this way they may also get away from fruits; not knowing that all confidence derives its being from the life’s purpose, and that genuine confidence is impossible except in good, but that a spurious confidence is possible in evil. And in order that they may still further separate faith from charity, they also insist that the confidence of single moment will save, even in life’s last moments” (AC 4683). “It is a fallacy that the confidence that is called saving faith accepted without understanding is spiritual confidence, since confidence apart from understanding is a persuasion from another, or from confirmation…. Such confidence is a blind faith, which is merely natural because it does not see whether a thing is true or false” (AE 781:9). The Writings also emphasize that confidence alone does not save (AC 4690, 5826:3, 6272:2, 7272:2, 9987:3. 9240-44, HH 526:3, HD 115, AE 805:3).

This same kind of self-confidence shows itself with those who do good works for merit. Notice that self-merit leads a person to be negative towards everything but self: “It is harmful for men to ascribe merit to works which are done for the sake of salvation; for in this lies concealed many evils of which the doer is unaware. These hidden evils are: A denial of God’s influx and operation with man; trust in one’s own power in matters concerning salvation; faith in oneself and not in God; self-justification; trust in salvation by one’s own strength; making of no account the Divine grace and mercy; rejection of reformation and regeneration by Divine means; especially disparagement of the merit and righteousness of the Lord God and Savior, which such men claim for themselves; besides a continual expectation of reward, which with them is the first and last end to be regarded. There is also the suffocation and extinction of love to the Lord and love towards the neighbor; complete ignorance concerning the delight of heavenly love which is free from any idea of merit, and inability to perceive it, the only love they experience being the love of self” (TCR 439; see also AC 1679, 4007:4). This kind of confidence is simply fear in disguise. The show of confidence for an hour Sunday morning or when death is threatening is really just a cover for or escape from his fear of hell. It is like the person who confidently declares that he has no cavities because he is scared of going to the dentist, or who says he doesn’t need a doctor because he is afraid that he really does. People who have such “confidence” can’t bear to examine themselves, because they have such negative expectations of the outcome. They are like people who are frightened by their own reflection in a mirror. They are positive only in the sense that they are sure that everyone else is worse off than themselves, they are certain that they can do nothing good or useful, and they know that nothing can or should be done to change this situation. The Writings speak of them as being “positively in the negative” (SD 4534).

Eliminate the Negative

Should a good person ever be negative? If fleeing from evil is negative, then certainly, yes! But shunning evil is really a positive action. The people who tell us to “accentuate the positive” are the same ones who tell us to “eliminate the negative.” Many positive thinkers preach shunning of evil thoughts and actions, though not usually as sins against the Lord. When a charitable person shuns evil, it is based on the positive idea that the Lord will help him change for the better. And when he makes necessary judgments on the evils of others, it is based on the thought that he can make the world a better place.

Abhor Yourself?

In a sense, a good person will be negative about himself. What issaid more frequently than that man of himself is nothing but evil? A good person will therefore abhor himself. “Mutual love, which alone is heavenly consists in a person’s not only saying of himself, but acknowledging and believing, that he is utterly unworthy, and that he is something vile and filthy, which the Lord from His infinite mercy continually withdraws and holds back from hell, into which the person continually strives, nay longs, to precipitate himself. His acknowledging and believing this, is because it is true; not that the Lord or any angel desires him to acknowledge and believe it for the sake of his submission; but that he may not exalt himself, seeing that he is even such; for this would be as if excrement should call itself pure gold, or a fly of the dunghill should say that it is a bird of paradise. So far therefore as a man acknowledges and believes himself to be such as he really is, he recedes from the love of self and its cupidities, and abhors himself” (AC 1594).

Here again, the appropriate question to ask is “Which self?” An answer might be that the self which a person learns to abhor is the same self which is, among other things, negative about the Lord’s power and providence, is critical, accusing and despising of other people, is defeatist about good works and fearful about self-examination. He learns to abhor the self which is the source of negative thinking, and he is given by the Lord a heavenly “self” which is affirmative to the Lord’s providence and power and positive towards the neighbor. This heavenly proprium he acknowledges to be a gift from the Lord (AC 1594), which is a rather positive thing to say about it.

Positively Always

The sections just above illustrate that positive thinking and negative thinking do not mix. A person who is negative about others and positive towards himself is really thoroughly negative. A person who has charitable thoughts about his neighbor and “abhors himself” is actually quite positive about his own potential usefulness. So a person cannot really be in the affirmative and in the negative at the same time. The answer to the question, When should a person think positively? is always. That is the ideal.

Overcoming Doubt

In reality, it, will not always be possible, because in temptation the hells will inspire doubt and negativity. But the effort should be to overcome doubt and think positively.

Doubt is closely tied to negative thinking. I remember being taught in high school that we ought to doubt everything. Being skeptical was presented as a means to wisdom. I was told that while negative doubt is not good, affirmative doubt is good, and ought to be encouraged. Now I wonder whether this is true. I find that most of the passages in the Writings portray doubt as something that at worst leads to denial, and at best ought to be overcome. Those who are in faith “do not reason about truths of faith, but say that a thing is so.” If anything comes up that they do not perceive, “they defer it, and never allow such a thing to bring them into doubt, saying that there are but very few things that they can grasp.” Those who have no faith “doubt about all things” and “deny in their hearts.” They “cling to their disbelief and start all kinds of objections” (AC 1072).

Doubt is a limiting factor. It impedes spiritual progress. “Those who are in au affection for truth think, search out, and discuss whether a thing is true… and thus stick fast at the first threshold; nor can they be admitted into wisdom until they are free from doubt” (AC 2718). “They even cherish doubts, and admit reasonings against= these things; and so long as they are in such a state, the light of truth from the Lord cannot flow in” (AC 2935). “When good is being conjoined with a person…truth becomes clear to him;… for he is no longer in doubt as to whether a thing exists…. He then begins to know innumerable things…. But with those who are in doubt and in discussion as to whether a thing exists, and whether it is so, these innumerable, nay, illimitable things do not appear in the least” (AC 3383). The natural man puts truth in doubt, and reasons about it. But when evils and false persuasions are separated by the Lord, he “begins from good to be averse to reasonings against the truth and to laugh at doubts” (AC 3175). “He no longer allows the natural man by any of its sophistry to call it into doubt” (AC 3182).

Even the passages that are most affirmative about doubt speak of it as a temporary state—a state which one ought to come out of if he is to progress at all. “If he confirms them, it is a sign that he is in good; if he denies them it is a sign that he is in evil; but if he doubts about them, it is a sign that in succeeding years he will accede either to the affirmative or to the negative” (AC 5135). A person cannot forever “halt between two opinions.” Eventually he will come to the point of deciding to follow the Lord or to follow Baal (I Kings 18:21). The first step in regeneration is affirmation, and this involves overcoming doubt. “When this affirmative comes, the person is in the beginning of regeneration; good is being worked by the internal and causes the affirmation. This good cannot flow into what is negative, nor even into what is full of doubt, until this becomes affirmative” (AC 3913:5). “They who are in doubt before they affirm are they who incline to a life of good; and when they allow themselves to be bent to this by the Lord, then in so far as they think about those things so far they affirm” (AC 2580).

Affirmative doubt is not necessarily a step in the right direction. It may be a step towards affirmation, but it may also be a step away from affirmation towards denial. “The affirmatives of childhood are either confirmed by one thing after another even to adult age, and the people are regenerated, or they decrease in strength of assurance, and become by slow degrees doubting affirmatives, and finally negatives” (SD 4536). “Although during their childhood these are in the affirmative, yet in the age that follows they admit doubts, and thus break the affirmative of good and truth; and when they come to adult ,=Acie, they admit negatives, even to the affection for falsity” (AC 2699). 1 am reminded of the reasoners [O how learned!] who, “whenever religion is talked about, they bring the subject into dispute, both among themselves and with others; and the discussion of this question rarely ends in an affirmation of belief that there is a God” (TCR 33:7.). Hence the fall came when man began to doubt (AC 194).

Is Doubt Ever Good?

There is one passage which indicates a positive use for doubt. “No one ought to be persuaded of truth in a moment, that is to say, that truth should be so confirmed in a moment as to leave no doubt whatever about it; because the truth which is so impressed becomes persuasive truth, and is devoid of any extension, and also of any yielding quality. Such truth is represented in the other life as hard, and as such that it does not admit good into it so as to become applicable. Hence it is that as soon as in the other life any truth is presented before good spirits by a manifest experience, there is soon afterward presented something opposite that causes doubt. In this way it is given them to think about it, and to consider whether it be so, and to collect reasons, and thus to bring that truth into their minds rationally” (AC 7298; see also AC 3394). This passage shows that doubt can serve a use, but it still does not say that doubt is itself good or that it ought to be purposely entertained. The point is that doubt should be overcome by the slow, sure method of rational understanding, rather than the quick, uncertain method of emotional persuasion.

Confidence

There may be many things which a regenerating person is doubtful about, but there must be some things of which he is sure. Confidence alone is not saving, and self-confidence that does not acknowledge the Lord’s power and providence is actually evil. But confidence in the Lord and in the truth is an important part of regeneration. A positive attitude is an important part of a person’s faith and defense against the_. hells.

Faith is often thought of as just an intellectual dogma. For many people it does not go beyond mere rational assent, or persuasion, or even mere knowledge. But real faith involves a person’s attitudes and affections as well. “Few know that faith is trust and confidence, and among these few, still fewer know that trust or confidence is from charity, and is not possible with any one who has not lived the life of charity (AC 3868e). “He who has faith has trust also. Trust belongs to love through faith” (AC 6578). “The being of the faith of the New Church is: 1) Confidence in the Lord God, the Savior Jesus Christ. 2) Trust that he who lives well, and believes aright, is saved by him” (TCR 344).

Confidence and trust are characteristic of the person who has charity and faith. “A person acquires this faith from to Word by the light of his own natural intelligence, in which however, it is only knowledge, thought, and persuasion. But the Lord, with those who believe on Him, causes this faith to become conviction, trust and confidence” (TCR 137:5). “All who are in heavenly love have confidence that they will be saved by the Lord” (AC 9244). To have faith in the Lord is to have confidence that He will save (F 86, AR 67:3, 949). Those who do good for sincere reasons “do not put their trust in any reward on account of their merit; but they have a belief in the promise from grace.” They seem to have a degree of confidence in their own motives: “They are grieved if it should be believed that they are acting for the sake of reward…. When the people who perform such acts of kindness declare that their actions are promised not by self-interest, but by the interest of others, their words carry conviction” (TCR 440).

Help in Trouble

The trust and confidence that are essential to faith are what allow a person to overcome in temptations. The doubt we experience in temptation is from hell, but it is dispelled by the positive attitude implanted by the Lord. There are many passages that show how trust and confidence are an important help in trouble.

“He who is in temptation is in doubt concerning the end in view. The end in view is the love, against which the evil spirits and evil genii fight, and thereby put the end in doubt. And the greater the love is the more do they put it in doubt…. Assurance respecting the result precedes the victory and belongs, to the victory” (AC 1820).

“Temptations are attended with doubt in regard to the Lord’s presence and mercy, and also in regard to salvation. The evil spirits who are then with the man and induce the temptation strongly inspire negation, but the good spirits and angels from the Lord in every possible way dispel this state of doubt, and keep the man in a state of hope, and at last confirm him in what is affirmative. The result is that a man who is in temptation hangs between what is negative and what is affirmative. One who yields in temptation remains in a state of doubt, and falls into what is negative; but one who overcomes is indeed in doubt, but still if he allows himself to be cheered by hope, he stands fast in what is affirmative” (AC 2338).

“Worldly things darken heavenly things, and so consequently place them in doubt; but when heavenly things have rule, they throw light upon worldly things, and place them in clear light, and dispel doubts” (AC 4099).

“With all who are in temptations there flows in truth from the Lord, which rules and governs the thoughts and raises up the sufferers whenever they fall into doubts and even into despair.” (AC 5044)

The truth that gives consolation and relief is truth they have confirmed within themselves, i.e., that they are positive about. Other truths may be called to mind, but do not govern.

“Temptations are continual despairs concerning salvation, in the beginning slight, but in the course of time grievous, until at last there is doubt, almost denial, of the presence of the Divine and of His aid…. In the midst of the despair, the inmost is kept by the Lord in combat against falsity; wherefore also this despair is presently dissipated by comfortings that are then insinuated by the Lord” (AC 8567).

“Peace has in it confidence in the Lord, that he directs all things, and provides all things, that He leads to a good end. When a man is in this faith, he is in peace, for he then fears nothing, and no concern about things to come disquiets him…. All evil especially self-confidence, takes away a state of peace” (AC 8455).

“They who are in a perception of the Lord’s presence are in the perception that each and all things which befall them tend to their good, and that evils do not reach them; hence they are in tranquility. Without such faith or confidence in the Lord no one can possibly come to the tranquility of peace” (AC 5963).

“He who is gifted with a proprium that is heavenly is also in quietude and peace; for he trusts in the Lord, and believes that nothing of evil will reach him, and knows that concupiscences will not infest him” (AC 5660).

Evil spirits “accuse him, thus torment the conscience; nevertheless the angels defend him, that is the Lord through angels, for the Lord keeps him in hope and trust, which are the forces of combat from within whereby he resists” (AC 6097).

“The Lord Himself is then present with those in temptation…and resists by rebutting the falsities of the infernal spirits, and by dissipating their evil, thus giving, refreshment, hope and victory” (AC 6574).

“Those who do not affirm and acknowledge the good and truth of faith and charity cannot come into any combat of temptation, because there is nothing within which offers resistance to the evil and falsity to which natural delight persuades” (AC 3928).

“Those who do not admit objections against the knowledges of faith are kept secure from evil spirits. Certain spirits complained that they could not longer be present, because as long as any one remained firm in the knowledges of faith, he was not allowed to admit objections. They said therefore that they had no means of leading them…. It was by this means that they seduced them; that by the force of a single objection all confirming truths, however numerous were rendered of no effect…. Therefore in order that a person may be true, or in true faith, he ought to be in the opposite state, so that one truth may prevail over a thousand or ten thousand objections; thus evil spirits will flee, for they cannot live in such a sphere”(SD 3614).

Confidence and faith was also the force by which the Lord resisted hell.

“While He lived in the world the Lord was in continual combats of temptations, and in continual victories, from a constant inmost confidence and faith that because He was fighting for the salvation of the whole human race from pure love, He could not but conquer” (AC 1812).

Damned but Delivered

Temptations lead a person to think of himself as utterly unworthy and nothing but evil. However, this is not the kind of acknowledgement that destroys a person’s confidence and trust in the Lord. Rather, it goes hand in hand with an awareness of the Lord’s mercy. The feeling of being damned goes along with a sense of being delivered. “Despair causes those who feel it to acknowledge in an effective and feeling manner that there is nothing of truth and good from themselves, and that from themselves they are damned; but that they are delivered from condemnation by the Lord; and that salvation flows in by means of truth and good” (AC 6144). Such people believe “that they are saved by Him alone; and that with themselves there is nothing but evil” (AC 2334).

Why the Writings Were Given

The importance of a positive attitude is one of the reasons for the Writings having been given. “Lest such a spirit of denial which especially prevails with those who have much worldly wisdom should also infect and corrupt the simple in heart and the simple in faith, it has been granted me to associate with angels…in the hope that ignorance may be enlightened and unbelief dissipated” (HH 1). Heaven and Hell was written “that man might be convinced,” because false belief was “inducing doubt and at length denial,” and “destroying the belief of many” (HH 312). The spiritual sense was revealed to “remove all doubt as to the character of the Word,” and “to convince even the natural man, if he is willing to he convinced” (SS 4).

Summary

We should think positively for a number of reasons:

Negative thinking involves contempt and is akin to faith alone.
The doctrines of the New Church are all positive and constructive.
Positive thinking can encourage confidence and trust in the Lord, which we need so desperately in times of temptation.

Conclusion

Earlier I said that my whole picture of negative thinking could be summed up in the one word, “contempt”. The whole concept of positive thinking could also be summed up in one word: “use.” To think positively is to think constructively. It is to think from use. It is to focus on the uses that each person is able to perform. It is to try to find a use for every new idea. It is to know that temptation also has a use, and that the things of this world are good when they are useful. It is to believe that our selves can and ought to be of use, not from ourselves but from the Lord. Our positive picture of heaven is based on the fact that everyone has his own use there. And even our understanding of the Lord’s love for us comes with knowing the end or use of His creation: a heaven from the human race.

We should think positively because it is the most useful way to think: because thinking from use is thinking from the Lord.

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