Question of the Week
I have been studying the Book of Tanya and find it fascinating. But I am stuck on one idea expressed there. Tanya says that we can control our behaviour, which includes our thoughts, speech and action. I don't agree. We can usually control what we do, and also what we say. But can we control what we think? I can't help what pops into my head!
(just resending this question I wrote to you two weeks ago. I didn't hear back so maybe you didn't receive it the first time?)
Answer:
Apologies for not responding sooner to your message. I actually did receive it the first time. But I ignored it. I didn't even open it. And it was deliberate.
I decide which messages I open, and which I don't. Just because an alert pops up on my screen does not mean I have to react to it. I may not be able to control the messages that arrive in my inbox, but I can certainly control whether or not I open them. And I didn't open yours.
My not answering your question is the answer to your question. You may not be able to control the thoughts that pop into your head. But you most certainly can control your reaction to them. If an inappropriate thought enters your mind, you have the choice to entertain it or reject it.
And that is the challenge we are given, to take the reigns of our brains and push away negative thinking. When you reject a bad thought, you don't allow it to become yours, you don't identify it. And each time you do, you become the master of your inbox.
Unless you are a very holy person, you will experience bad thoughts on a regular basis. Sometimes they will be about yourself - "I am a loser, I will never accomplish anything." Sometimes they will be about others - "I could kill that guy". Some of those thoughts may be pretty ugly. You have no power to stop them flashing through your mind. But you do have the choice to leave those thoughts unopened.
Bad thoughts popping up into your head? That's normal. Delete and go to next message.
Good Shabbos,
Rabbi Moss
Source:
Tanya Chapter 12