Years ago I was given a tiny little book with a great big message that always gives me pause when I find myself wallowing in negativity. That little book, As a Man Thinketh, which should be much more widely read for its brevity of message, is by James Allen (1864-1912), an Englishman who was known worldwide during his lifetime for his many books on spirituality and self-realization, including The Eight Pillars of Wisdom and From Passion To Peace.
Now, I’m not a huge proponent of self-help and positive thinking strategies as the solution to everything, but I certainly don’t think availing oneself of the former, and practicing the latter is a bad thing.
I’ve been reading a lot of commentary about the surge in suicide since approximately 2021, after the The Big Lie began in March of 2020. Anecdotally, a fair number of these suicides are by people who had been vaxxinated, and are experiencing serious health decline as a result. While a lot of the people who signed on hook, line, and sinker to the narrative refuse to hear anything derogatory about it, many have awakened to the danger they and their loved ones have been put in because of their “choice”, fair or otherwise, to be fully and repeatedly vaxxinated and boosted.
Our mind is the most powerful tool we possess. It can and will be used for good and/or ill by its owner. What made me think about this little book, given the power of our minds to control our actions and outcomes, is the possibility that those who consider suicide because they are experiencing or might experience dire health consequences due to the vaxx and boosters, may be exacerbating the potential threat of succumbing to it because they believe it will happen to them. In other words, do they worry themselves into making this life-ending choice? Or worry/think themselves into such a state of fear that their bodies react to the control of their thinking by becoming more greatly disposed to the illnesses that are quite possibly caused by the vaxxine?
I know that sounds like I’m suggesting “it’s all in their heads” which is callous. No. I’m just viewing this question through the lens of how so many people in a country such as the US succumbed without question to the tyranny imposed by the authority of government to manage a virus of which little was known using methods that had been proven not to work in previous pandemics.
For many, the gradual but inexorable revelations of the danger of these vaxxines must be torturous and terrifying. Besides fear, the guilt of perhaps influencing or insisting that others “listen to the experts” and “follow the science” and “do it for the good of everyone” must be an awful burden. What of those who, out of what they believed to be true, exposed their children to potentially deadly or life altering changes, i.e., becoming barren or sudden death? How do you live with that?
All speculation, and probably specious reasoning on my part. And possibly projection: maybe, if what I have described were applicable to me, my fear and guilt would be so overwhelming, I might choose to die rather than live with it.
I ran into you on Good Citizen and linked over to your newsletter. I enjoyed your piece. Good rational thoughts and reactions that were well-expressed. Also, I share your sentiments. Keep writing.
And by extension, we are what we read, listen to, and see. As great as so many of these experts on Substack are at explaining what went wrong with the vaxx, exposing who was responsible for it, and telling us what new meanness is heading our way, I find myself getting overwhelmed with the horror of it all. Sometimes I have to step back, disengage from the chatter, and re-engage with the Lord, His word, and His people. I’m needing that stepping back more and more lately. Thanks for a great book recommendation, Humdeedee.