Have you ever heard someone say, “I’m entertaining the idea?” They are entertaining the idea of something. It might be to take a trip, begin a project, end a relationship. Maybe you have said you were “entertaining the idea” of starting something or stopping something. Think about it, “entertaining an idea.” It’s like you are on a little stage performing a song and dance act for the idea. You have invited the idea over, you are giving it a tour of your house, offering it food, giving it space. Said another way, the thought has come to your attention, and you have allowed it to begin to develop more fully in your mind; you fed and nurtured the thought and given it precious time in your life. That ought to be done on purpose, don’t you think? Intentionally, not by accident. Any idea that you begin entertaining is getting some power over you. A scripture from the Bible says, “take every thought captive,” which is quite different than “entertaining” them. Don’t “entertain” thoughts accidentally. They are not your boss, you don’t have to do what they say. They likely didn’t come from God, but just from some stimuli in your environment. Like Scrooge says to the first ghost in “A Christmas Carol,” “you might be an undigested morsel of food.” Thoughts might come from indigestion, or something you saw, smelled or felt. With a “take charge” attitude toward your thoughts you can decide that some are important, they might even be divine. But most aren’t, and you have to sort out the weeds; “take every thought captive not be taken captive by your thoughts.
A woman who had an affair said about her affair partner, “I just can’t stop thinking about him.” She had stopped the affair and she was genuinely working on restoring her marriage, but she just “couldn’t stop” thinking about the other man. Her emotional bond with this other person will certainly take a while to fade, so I might have had sympathy. But it seemed that she was “entertaining the thoughts” of this other man. He was interesting and flattering to her. Thoughts about him felt good to have around. So, she may not have invited the thoughts, but she entertained them when they came.
Trying not to have a thought by forbidding yourself from having it, doesn’t work. Try not to think of a pink elephant. You pictured a pink elephant, didn’t you? But having thoughts come to mind is not the same as putting out the welcome mat for them and inviting them in for coffee.
In my growing up years I heard preachers use a metaphor for sin. It pictured sin as a person at the door of a house. They would say, talking about temptation, “you can’t keep sin from knocking at your door, but you don’t have to open up your life and let it in.” And “if you do let it in, you don’t have to give it free reign of the whole house.” Temptation is not sin, but a choice to let in whatever it is and entertain it, that’s another matter. My point is that there is a choice involved, even if it is a small choice, and even if you don’t recognize at the time that you made a choice; but you did.
Of course, most thoughts are not sin, many are just distractions. Many more simply don’t matter one way or the other. Having uninvited thoughts is normal, but thoughts that lead to obsessions about anything are thoughts we should actively resist. An obsession is anything that gets on auto-repeat in your mind. And thoughts that invite us to behave in ways against our values are thoughts we should not entertain.
Meditate on this with me. Get as comfortable as you can wherever you are. If you can safely do so, close your eyes. It will be better if you do this where you have some quiet and perhaps sit or lie down without interruption for a while. Just notice your thoughts. Imagine holding a mental clipboard, writing down a record of thoughts as they come. You may also notice sensations like warmth, coolness, pains and such. There will be too many to catch them all; don’t worry if you miss some, just name what you can, like, “judging this meditation,” “thinking about a family problem,” or “thinking about work.” They can also be “worrying,” or “anticipation,” even “excitement.” I challenge you to just accept whatever comes, even if the thoughts would be embarrassing if you spoke them aloud to anyone.
Are there thoughts you have been “entertaining” lately? What comes to mind? You might have said to yourself, “that just isn’t fair,” or “somebody ought to stop that!” Maybe you picture getting revenge on someone who has hurt you, or imagine being with someone in a romantic relationship. Maybe some big project is filling your mind. If you allow yourself, you can recall the things most dominating your thoughts. And once you think them again, you can choose whether to entertain them.
The human mind is a wondrous thing and will always be active, even in sleep. So, if you don’t give it something to focus on, it will pick something, almost against your will. Don’t deny that you have thoughts or try to repress, but catch those that you don’t want to dominate you, and turn away from them. Choose something else. Choose to observe nature. Choose to notice your breath. Choose to repeat a positive phrase or scripture to yourself. Choose to touch something or someone (with their permission of course!). Choose to pray.
Doing this the first time may seem almost impossible. It is important to not try to repress or not think of something, but to allow it, then intentionally turn away from it. It is a power you have within you, and with practice you can “take your thoughts captive.”
