The Ten Commandments by Emmet Fox, Chapter Three, Thoughts are Things
In Chapter 3, "Thoughts are Things," Emmet Fox moves from the theory of consciousness into the "physics" of the mind. This is where he explains the mechanics of how your life is built. For Fox, a thought is not a fleeting, invisible vapor—it is a solid, creative force, as real as a brick or a hammer.
Here is the deep dive into the mechanics of "Mental Causation":
1. The Law of Expression
Fox asserts that it is the nature of a thought to seek expression in the physical world. A thought is like a seed; it contains the entire blueprint of the plant within it.
The Principle: You cannot have a persistent thought without it eventually "clothing" itself in a physical form.
The Warning: This Law is impersonal. It doesn't care if your thought is "good" or "bad." If you plant a thistle seed, you get a thistle; if you plant a rose seed, you get a rose. If you think "lack," you get "lack."
2. The Projector and the Screen
One of Fox’s most helpful analogies is the cinema projector.
The Screen: Your life (your body, your bank account, your relationships).
The Film: Your subconscious thoughts and beliefs.
The Light: The Power of God/Universal Energy.
The Lesson: Most people spend their lives trying to "fix" the screen. They rub at the screen, try to paint over the shadows, or yell at the images. Fox says this is insanity. To change the movie, you must change the film in the projector.
3. Thoughts as "Blueprints"
Fox compares the mind to an architect. Before a building exists in stone and steel, it exists as a thought and then as a blueprint.
Structural Integrity: If there is a mistake in the blueprint, the building will be flawed.
The Deep Dive: Fox argues that your current health or financial situation is simply the "building" that resulted from the "blueprints" you held in your mind six months or a year ago. To change the building, you have to go back to the drawing board (your current thoughts).
4. Idle Thinking vs. Creative Thinking
Fox makes an important distinction here. Not every stray thought creates a "thing" immediately, but the prevailing mental diet does.
5. The "Objectification" of Fear
Fox spends time in this chapter discussing fear because it is the most "creative" (in a negative sense) thought-thing.
"Fear is the most dangerous of all mental states because it is a vivid, high-energy expectation of what you don't want."
When you fear something, you are actually "visualizing" it with intense power, essentially giving the Law a high-resolution blueprint of a disaster. Fox insists that fear is just a thought, and because it is a thought, it can be replaced by a different "thing": Faith.
Practical Takeaway: The "Mental Diet"
The "dive" into Chapter 3 concludes with the realization that you are "eating" thoughts all day long.
Just as your physical body is built from the food you digest, your life is built from the thoughts you entertain.
Fox challenges the reader to a "Seven Day Mental Diet" (which became one of his most famous standalone pamphlets) based on the principles in this chapter: Refuse to dwell on any negative thought for seven days.
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