Garments are put on and off at will. Garments affect the way we feel, and garments tell people who we are. Every soul has three garments -- thought, speech and action.One immediate distinction between the garments of thought versus speech and action is that. Because speech and action are in the domain of the outside, the outside can sometimes pressure a person to speak and act in ways not consistent with ones beliefs. Thoughts, which are totally inward, are always entirely our own choice.
Something else differentiates the garments of thought, and the other two -- speech and action. Speech and action are not constant garments, a person can more easily put them on or take them off, “a time to speak and a time to stay quiet”, “a time to act and a time not to act”. Thought on the other hand is always flowing. A person can never stop thinking -- this garment is glued to his soul and this garment a person can never take off like he can with the other garments of the soul.
Thoughts are sometimes compared to a flowing river that never stops. Even while sleeping, when at that time the person isn’t speaking or doing anything, his mind is still working and his thoughts are still flowing. That’s where dreams come into the picture.
Although thoughts are always flowing and can not be stopped, a person can decide what should flow in his mind -- clean and pure water or muddy water. Even though a person is not in control of stopping the flow he can decide what the content of the flow should be.
The soul attracts and picks up thoughts like a vacuum, from what is in the atmosphere or the results of what we have trained the soul in the past to think, or we can place the thoughts we decide upon the soul.
The only way a person gains control over their thoughts is by inserting into this current and field of energy, what he does want to think. To ignore the conscious effort necessary to decide what to think allows for random thoughts and the random results that come as a result of not taking control.
A person can distract himself from unwanted thoughts by inserting consciously different preferable and supportive thoughts. According to his true wishes and what he really wants to think and the degree of his commitment to chase away his current thoughts, by inserting what he wants to think he will succeed to drive away what is presently there.
This power to control the garments, in particular thought, will determine ultimately how our soul and internal character will be molded.