Some of the things you believe were never true. They were someone else's fears. Give yourself a chance to examine your thoughts. Change those that are negative. You are deserving.

Thus, we find phrases such as the following in Washington's public and private writings: "A Christian Spirit," "A True Christian," "Be more of a man and a Christian," "Christian soldiers," "The little Christian," "To the distinguished character of Patriot, it should be our highest glory to add the more distinguished character of Christian." 32

Saint Thomas Aquinas says, wisely, that the only way to drive out a bad passion is by a stronger good passion. The same is true of thoughts as of passions. When your mind wanders, like a child, your will must bring it back, like a mother. [. . .] The will-parent must discipline the mind-child, avoiding both the opposite extremes commonly made in disciplining either children or thoughts: tyranny or permissiveness.

From the premise that Christianity is true it follows that the far-off glimpse of joy produced by fantasy is a glimpse of truth; that a great eucatastrophic tale like The Lord of the Rings is a gift of divine grace, an opening of the curtain that veils Heaven to earthly eyes, a tiny telepathic contact with the Mind of God.

But we can influence (not compel) each other's choices through the mediating channels of imagination and emotion. So can angels. They can't put judgments in your mind or choices in your will, but they can put images in your imagination and feelings in your heart. (Feelings don't compel you either; your will can choose whether to follow your feelings or not.)

Only when there is virtue in souls can there be peace and happiness in society.

Sow a thought, reap an act. Sow an act, reap a habit. Sow a habit, reap a character. Sow a character, reap a destiny.

Those who love Tolkien are almost always good people, honest people. Some are Hobbit-like and some are Elvish, but none are Orcish. Not all Tolkien haters are Orcs, but all Orcs are Tolkien haters.

A habit is a stable disposition to act in a certain way, good or evil. Virtues are good habits; vices are bad habits.

Spirit means essentially two things: 1. The power of thinking—conscious, deliberate, rational understanding. Not sense perception; that's the work of a bodily organ, like the eye. 2. The power of willing and choosing and deliberately loving. Not sensory appetite; that's the work of a bodily function, like hunger.

Perhaps if you know you are insane then you are not insane. Or you are becoming sane, finally.

Jesus not only kept Himself from engaging in evil, He also continually acted in ways that honored and glorified god. He not only continually avoided the negative, He always pursued the positive.