"No, not at all," Andy replied calmly. "What I am suggesting is forgiveness."
Tom was startled. "Forgiveness? What has forgiveness got to do with this?"
Andy rested his chin on his shovel handle and stood quietly, as he often did while thinking. After a few moments of reflection, he answered. "As far as I'm concerned, negative memories and feelings are like scratches on your spectacles. They obscure your vision. Naturally, if your spectacles are full of scratches, it can be very difficult to see through them. Your vision becomes impaired, preventing you from seeing life with any clarity. I assure you, one of the most effective scratch removers for the human mind is forgiveness. Remember Tom,
Our eyes are the windows to the soul, And only when
our eyes are free of yesterday's scratches Will we
see today with any clarity."
Janet asked, "So what you are saying is that people have to realize that their memories are only phantoms, kept alive by their own thoughts?"
"That is exactly what I am saying."
"Easier said than done," said Tom, obviously disturbed by the gardener's views.
Andy shoveled some lime into a spreader, wiped his hands with an old cloth which hung from his back pocket, looked down at the ground for the longest time, then spoke. "My friend, what you have to realize is that life is too short to travel back into the black clouds of yesterday. My advice is to forget all theories that take you back into the past. You have to try to realize that happiness and contentment come when the human mind breaks the chains of yesterday's bondage. The laws are simple:
Forget the problems of yesterday,
learn to count today's blessings
and you will be well rewarded."
Smiling, Andy continued, "The human mind is like a garden, and when one plants even the best of seeds in poor soil the crop will be poor. Conversely, when the poorest of men plants virtuous thoughts, he may indeed become a king in his own world."
Directly addressing Tom, Andy explained, "Every one of us has a mental waste basket and we would all be a lot healthier if we learned to use it."
Again, Tom appeared somewhat agitated by Andy's words and replied, "If it were that easy, don't you think that Freud and all the other giants of psychology would have known about it? I think this whole discussion is an insult to the memory of Freud."
Andy pulled no punches, replying, "Sir, believe me, there is no way I would dishonor Freud. But think of it this way: If aeronautical engineers had stagnated in outdated thoughts as you have, we would still be flying planes of the same design the Wright brothers invented. I have no doubt that even though we now fly in supersonic jets, modern aeronautical engineers have the highest respect and regard for the Wright brothers' pioneering work in their field."
"Let me get this straight," said Peter. "Are you saying our personal thoughts have a great bearing on how we experience life, and that past events don't necessarily have to determine our present condition?"
"Yes, that is exactly what I am saying," Andy answered. "However, the main thing you have to realize is this: The answer you seek lies not in our separate beliefs, but in the realization that Thought is one of the common denominators in all psychological and spiritual understanding. Now please remember that I'm not talking about the personal psychology that you practice. That is your business. What I'm saying touches everyone in this world—whether he be beggar or king, rich or poor, important or unknown. It doesn't matter who one is; we are all guided through life by our own thought systems. How we relate to life as a whole is conditioned by our thinking. I'm talking about a logic of the psyche—before form."
"What do you mean by 'logic of the psyche before form?'" I asked.
"That I cannot explain," the gardener replied. "All I can tell you is, such knowledge is completely impersonal and therefore completely neutral. As I said, it is before form."
Janet commented, "That's a fascinating premise, and sitting here listening to you, I am just starting to understand to a deeper degree the implications of Thought in our lives. This is truly amazing!"
Again, Tom defiantly announced that the way the gardener was talking was far too simplistic.
"Your theories won't hold water," he railed, "because nobody—nobody!—can change their past experiences."
Janet tried to calm Tom by saying, "That's not the way I heard it, Tom. Andy wasn't saying you can change your past experiences. What I understood him to say was that you can improve the way you relate to life, if you can stop the useless, negative, historical thoughts and memories from controlling how you comprehend life now. Or, as Andy put it, 'without yesterday's scratches on your spectacles.'"
"I still say he is asking us to go into denial," Tom muttered petulantly.
Janet bristled. "Tom, you make me so angry with your endlessly pessimistic way of observing things. Why don't you try to see beyond all your negative thinking and just for once in your life see things in a more positive light?"
Peter intervened, "Hold on, you two, let's not get carried away. After all, we are professional counselors. Surely we can discuss this in a rational way and accept our differences."
Andy, who had been sitting back with a bemused expression while we argued with each other, apologized for any bad feelings he may have created among us, then bid us good day and began rolling the lime spreader up and down the lawn.
Lying in bed that evening, I thought back on what an inspiring day it had been. I had enjoyed Forgiveness every minute of it. Closing my eyes, I thought to myself, "I have a funny feeling that I'm going to remember this conference for the rest of my life."
Chapter 10
Thought and Reality
The next morning over breakfast, we talked about Andy and how he appeared to be a man of mystery; he certainly didn't behave or talk like his fellow workers. What was it that was so different about him? I suggested to the others that perhaps Andy was one of those "naturals" that appear from time to time.
Tom, being his usual pompous self, chuckled sarcastically. "A natural what?"
"Remember the story of the clock maker, Mr. Astronomer," Janet snapped, her eyes sparkling.
Tom seemed to be about to respond with a cynical reply, then thought better of such a foolish move, knowing Janet's superior skill in verbal jousting.
At this point I asked Peter what he thought about the old gardeners opinion regarding Thought and its being so vital.
"To be truthful with you, Eric, I'm intrigued but fail to see the importance of what he is saying," Peter said. "I just can't see the value of thought as the old gardener maintains it. What about you Janet?"
"I'm honestly not sure," she replied. "As I've told you before, a friend of mine back in grad school asked the professor to what degree our thoughts affect our behavior. This professor became absolutely furious with my friend, maintaining that our thoughts had only a minuscule influence on our behavior and were therefore barely worth bothering about."
I immediately disagreed with this professor's theory and explained that it was my belief that our thoughts are very important in our lives. "After all," I said, "it is through thought that we create all the laws and rules of our country. I'm pretty sure our thoughts have a lot more to do with our behavior than we now realize."
Peter nodded his head. "I agree with some of what you are saying. Perhaps our thinking does have a considerable amount of input into our social structure, but I still fail to see how it can influence major changes in behavioral patterns. The big question is, how can we, as therapists, help people change to a healthier state of mind?"