Penny for Your Thoughts

A penny for your thoughts.

The phrase was coined in 1522 by Sir Thomas More who wrote, "It often happeth, that the very face sheweth the mind walking a pilgrimage, in such wise that other folk sodainly say to them a peny for your thought."

While the early modern English rings quite archaic, a penny (peny) at that time was worth a significant sum.

But how much value do we place on our thoughts today?

Not much at all.

If we observe our mental images we'll see them jumping from one topic to another, returning back to a few again and again, fluttering around scattershot.

And yet we should highly value our mind makings. Because thought is everything.

It seems as if the world exists "out there", and we are the buffeted experiencer of circumstance. Yet it's the other way around.

"Your thoughts determine the world you see." (W-pI.11.1)

So our perceptions - our experiences - have absolutely nothing to do with what's going on around us. Nothing to do with occurrences in the world, our body, or other bodies.

That is why A Course in Miracles teaches: "It is with your thoughts, then, that we must work, if your perception of the world is to be changed." (W-pI.23.1)

When we are not at peace it is only because we've chosen the source of troubling thought, otherwise known as the ego mind. And from such a state of mindlessness we've completely devalued thought.

But by paying attention to our mental pictures - our thoughts - it becomes immediately clear which mind we've chosen, strife or harmony. And the more we cherish the value of thought, the easier it becomes to make the better choice.

Your thoughts are worth infinitely more than a penny. They are worth your life. Esteem them accordingly.

Join me in Thursday's Zoom class where we'll explore the nature and power of thought, particularly their direct correlation on our state of well-being. The pennies will be clinking. I look forward to seeing you then.