I'm full of 'em, you just wait.
Some days I'm filled with answers and other days - questions.
So I may question your questions.
100% agree here. Actions and thoughts have far reaching consequences and we can, to some degree, control our attitudes, emotions and other mental and physical attributes by paying attention to the negativity and/or positivity of our thoughts and actions. Furthering this thought to your idea of correct though, the idea would be to avoid the thoughts and actions with personal negative consequences to you...the ones that cause you joy are the 'correct' ones and the ones that cause you angst of some sort are incorrect.
And this last statement says the same thing pretty much, so I'm with you to here. Where I veer off is, what of the serial killer who gets real true joy from skinning his victim or some other such maniacal example? If correct thought is personal and based on what causes personal angst vs. comfort, what about the small percentage of people for whom very obviously "incorrect" actions is what brings them comfort?
I tend to agree with most of your idea, I think maybe I'm just nitpicking the use of the word "correct?"
No you're not nitpicking, rather you're bringing up an essential element of correct thought - consideration not just of our own well-being, but also that of others.
I think it's Peck who explained that all we do is for kind of selfish reasons - otherwise we'd see no benefit in doing it.
Yet there are basically 2 approaches - stupid selfishness (only concerned with self, ignoring how interconnected we are with others), and smart selfishness (acknowledges and considers the interdependent social world we live in).
Ultimately, the thinking I do is all within me and I am the only one who has any real say in how I think (as an adult not so much as a child). Still, we are social creatures - very much dependent on others. We began life completely dependent on our mothers for life, gradually weening off dependency, but still needing and being influenced by others. Most of my joy, pain, obstacles and maturing has been my thinking about others. Cognitive distortions are often thoughts based on how we think others are thinking... jumping to conclusions, polarized thinking, mislabeling etc.
So, you are absolutely correct in suggesting that correct thoughts involve not just what makes me happy/well, but also what makes others within my sphere of influence, happy, or rather well (correct thoughts may involve unhappiness but necessary letting go of denial, etc).
And again, sin is incorrect thought (the root of intent and action). I'm not orthodox Christian but I do like how Jesus illustrated this when he equated forgiving of sins with healing.
"As a man thinketh in his heart so is he." Moses gave specific commandments - 1/2 about self (where God is experienced) & 1/2 dealing with others. Jesus expanded on it by basically saying the previous law was the lower law - the higher law is not just preventing doing incorrect things but is thinking in more correct terms.
