No Neutral Thoughts

Photo credit: Blake Lasater

Every thought is important: it gives rise to perception, and it either extends truth or multiplies illusion. A well-known story, which you may have heard, illustrates this. A grandfather is talking to his grandson about anger. He tells him that we all have a peaceful wolf and an angry wolf living inside us, and the one that grows is the one we feed. While I find this to be an exemplary tale illustrating a truth of this material existence, it does nothing to speak to the metaphysical truth we are learning: There is no angry wolf. As A Course in Miracles workbook lesson #16 states, "you can multiply nothing but you can't extend it". Our thoughts which feed an angry wolf have no power as they're feeding something which does not exist. We are learning that erroneous thoughts can seem real and may even seem to grow, but that's impossible because Truth trumps error every time.

“Besides your recognizing that thoughts are never idle, salvation requires that you also recognize that every thought you have brings either peace or war; either love or fear. A neutral result is impossible because a neutral thought is impossible. There is such a temptation to dismiss fear thoughts as unimportant, trivial and not worth bothering about that it is essential you recognize them all as equally destructive, but equally unreal. We will practice this idea in many forms before you really understand it.”
—A Course in Miracles - W-16.3:1-4

"Christian Science explains all cause and effect as mental, not physical. It lifts the veil of mystery from Soul and body. It shows the scientific relation of man to God, disentangles the interlaced ambiguities of being, and sets free the imprisoned thought." 

—Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 114:23-27