Christian Comment with Laura Huxford of the Christian Science Reading Room, Lansdown, Stroud

IN ZEN and the art of motorcycle maintenance, Robert Pirsig describes a monkey trap.

The trap “consists of a hollowed-out coconut, chained to a stake. The coconut has some rice inside which can be grabbed through a small hole”.

The monkey puts his hand through the hole, but grasping the rice, he can’t pull his hand back out again.

He’s trapped.

The monkey trap has become a commonly cited metaphor for ‘not letting go’.

How easily we can be trapped by not letting go – not letting go of false assumptions, a sense of indignation, pride.

Such images pack a powerful message.

Likewise, and staying on the same theme, one-liners such as ‘Let go and let God’ have immediate impact.

And, staying with the idea of a fist, ‘You can’t shake hands with a clenched fist’ Indira Gandhi and ‘A closed hand cannot receive’ anon.

The power of metaphor and of these one-liners, often called ‘one-line sermons’, is that they can check our thinking in an instant – put our thinking right back on track.

This in turn corrects our attitudes, our demeanour to others, our actions.

Jesus demonstrated the power of thinking along the right lines.

Mary Baker Eddy said that Jesus thought of people – saw people – as perfect, and that ‘In this perfect man the Saviour saw God's own likeness, and this correct view of man healed the sick.’

Is thinking straight an effort?

It needn’t be if we remember and demonstrate that as the image of God, we are endowed with the capacity to think spiritually.

And there are plenty of one-liners to remind us of the importance of our thinking:

‘As he thinketh in his heart, so is he.’ The Bible.

‘We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think. When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves.’ Buddha

‘There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.’ Shakespeare.

But maybe the most important one-liners of all are those that remind us of our spiritual heritage:

‘God created man in his own image, in the image of God, created he him;’ The Bible

‘Man is God’s concept of Himself.’ Elizabeth Schwartz

For a source of useful ‘one-liners’ go ‘on-line’: time4thinkers.com/goverse-mobile-app/