Limitations of Positive Thinking
A confirmed hunchback kept saying to himself, “I am straight; I am all right” and lo, he became straight! Everybody hears of the power of positive thinking and the miracles that autosuggestion and other techniques achieve. We cannot deny that our own thoughts have terrific power in them to change things outside and inside us.
However, truly healthy living requires a holistic approach and positive thinking falls short of it.
First let us see what negative thinking is. To undermine our abilities and say, “I cannot do it,” when actually we have the capacity, is indeed terrible. In such negative thinking there is understating of our gifts or, what is worse, an unfavorable (low, damaging) self-description while we are all right as a matter of fact. Such negative thinking holds us back from possible achievements and even harms us at times. Negative thinking sometimes can be about others too, making gross understatements (or even wrong, uncomplimentary judgments) of our friends, colleagues etc.
Negative thinking is certainly bad and positive thinking easily scores over it.
Coming back to positive thinking now, the problem with it many a time is that it overstates what we can do. So it is away from truth. And the miracle may not happen. Instead we may land in deep disappointment. Secondly, positive thinking takes a part (and not the whole) and focuses on it so much that lot of other things become unimportant. It thus breeds certain insensitivity in us. All activities centered in achievement have this problem. We get so excited about achieving something and becoming somebody that certain other aspects of life (and interests of others) take a back seat.
Positive thinking is based on will and, despite all its glories, this will (called will power sometimes) denies awareness. When we decide on a goal (unless there is a sportive quality to it), we cannot keep an open mind any more.
So in a manner of saying, “no thinking” is the best, where the call is for gentle awareness that frees us from the limitations of (any) thinking. It is not literally absence of thought, but is of the nature of ‘not being bound’ by the energy of mere thinking. Thinking springs from the realm of the known and we wish to open the doors (and all the windows too) to the unknown.
Swami Chidananda
September 15, 2005