Goines On: Self-talking

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Goines had recently recommended night-time affirmations, or auto-suggestions, to his friend Lane, who was plagued almost every morning by a morass of dark and troubling thoughts. Such auto-suggestions (or self-commands) had helped Goines avoid that same sort of morass, time and time again, for years, whenever Goines felt the need. And it helped Goines think of solutions to problems as well. The “trick” was simply to convince himself (his subconscious, although he wasn’t exactly sure what that was) that it would do whatever might be necessary to wake him up in a good, or “positive” frame of mind, or to come up with an idea.

Thor's Day follow-up: Where the "Kingdom of God" is

Deconstructing prayer in sestina

By Morris Dean

You said that talking with God is one-way¹:
we can talk "to" God but can't talk "with" Him.
You told us that God is imaginary
and we are really talking to ourselves—
or "with," I suppose, if we should answer.
What, then, do you say about fulfilled prayers?

Thor's Day: Now I lay me down to sleep

Augosuggest
yourself to sleep

By Morris Dean

Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep;
If I should die before I wake,
I pray the Lord my soul to take.

Panhandling

Two February photos from a friend who lives in the eastern panhandle of West Virginia ("Metro-DC—near Historic Harpers Ferry and Charles Town"):

Says she:

That's our front and back yard. The photos are taken from the porch. This is a 6.3 acre mini farm (perfect for raising dogs).

Reminds me of something that happened when I got up this morning. I at first felt more like going back to bed than getting dressed. I resisted (it was, after all, "time to get up") and, for some reason, I remembered Zig Ziglar's lesson on revving oneself up by imagining, for example, that you're going on vacation tomorrow and you need to get a few things done today so you can get off on time. I immediately (let me say that again: immediately) felt zestful about getting dressed, letting Siegfried out into the back yard, and getting on with life!
    And I didn't even imagine a vacation; just Ziglar's reminder that we can effect our own feelings.
    Besides, I'm generally more excited about being at home than about being on vacation.

Autosuggestion

"Dear Heavenly Father, please help me accept the things that I'm too lazy to do anything about¹."     But there is no god; your "heavenly father" neither hears nor answers your prayers.     However, the fact that you are praying indicates a desire to change your ability to accept things. Therein lies the seed of personal growth. I recommend that you give up magical thinking and try autosuggestion—a realistic, proven psychological technique for changing things that are within your scope of influence.     Before you go to sleep at night, focus on the desired outcome and generate an expectation that you will have it. You might even try focusing on dissolving your laziness and doing something about those things you allude to.² ______________

1. Thanks to P.C. Vey's cartoon in the current issue of New Yorker Magazine for suggesting the prayer.
2. I drafted this item in communication with my old friend Fred, whom I had asked to look at the "syllogisms" I had published so far and tell me what he thought.     He replied: "I don't have any training in logic, so can't comment along those lines.     "Didn't know that Muslim means slave of god. Since Mohammed created his own religion/god, I suppose one could say he was a slave of himself. Not that I know what that would mean.     "It strikes me in general that using logic to attack religion (the supreme non-logical activity) is like playing very good football, but with your opponent actually in a different stadium and playing, say, badminton or lacrosse. You won't beat him, no matter how well you play your game. Maybe another analogy would be trying to use a mousetrap to catch a smoke ring. The trap snaps, but the smoke remains."     Fred's note prompts me to try to be generous toward people who have built their house on the sand of religion [an ironic allusion to Matthew 7:24-27]. Forgive them their sins for they know not what they do? Thus, I included in this post some constructive practical advice for them.