The founder of Hasidic Judaism, Baal Shem Tov, used to get students from faraway places. One day a group of students came to him and said, ‘We travel here every year to study under you, and nothing can make us stop that. But we have heard that there is a learned man in our own town.
If he is indeed knowledgeable, we would like to take advantage of his knowledge, but how do we know if he is real or fake?’ Baal Shem Tov replied, ‘You can test him with a question. Have you had troubles with stray thoughts entering your mind during prayer?’ The students replied that it was so. Baal Shem Tov said, ‘Ask this person, how can you stop undesirable thoughts from entering your mind? If he says that he has a solution, he is a fake.
’ Modern Science agrees with Baal Shem Tov. The human brain is an exceedingly capable and complex organ. A famous study called ‘The White Bear Experiment’ was conducted to test whether humans can suppress thoughts.
In it, participants were asked to describe their immediate thoughts in a free-flowing manner over a set duration. The participants were told that they were to avoid thinking of a white bear for the duration of this exercise. They were provided a bell which they were to ring every time they inadvertently thought of a white bear.
Despite the direction given, the participants frequently rang the bell, revealing that thoughts of a white bear frequently entered their consciousness though they were trying hard to suppress them. A subsequent phase of the experiment revealed an even more surprising insight. Scientists asked one group to actively think about a white bear and record how many times they thought about it.
Another group was asked in the first phase to suppress any thoughts about a white bear, and in the second phase to actively think about it. It was found that while actively thinking about a white bear, the second group that had just come out of the suppressed phase thought about it more frequently than the first group who were never asked to suppress such thoughts. In other words, trying to suppress actually caused participants to think more about it.
On the other hand, it may be more helpful to be mindful of one’s thoughts, observe how thoughts form without making a judgement, and wait for them to fade away. While we cannot stop negative thoughts from arising in our minds, we can certainly stop ourselves from acting upon them..
