A popular analytical tool for the study of human conduct is the tripartite categorisation of our output into (i) the things we think, (ii) the things that we not only think but say out loud and (iii) the things we do.
We all have
thoughts, whether we want to or not, and as the Rambam noted in his Shemonah
Perakim, there is no effective way to stop a thought entering our heads. But,
once a thought has entered our heads, it’s up to us to decide what to do about
it. We can dwell upon it, particularly if it is a welcome or comforting
thought. We can pend it until we are able to give it enough time to focus on it
properly. We can also do our best to kick it into the long grass and hope never
to think it again. Most of our thoughts are not shared with our fellow humans.
We keep them to ourselves.
Speech is
another matter. While many of us talk to ourselves for one reason or another,
it is more frequently employed as a means of communication with others. We can
be quite undiscriminating in our choice of audience: apart from other humans we
address our comments to pets, plants, traffic lights—and, for those who pray,
to God.
Then there
are our actions, and these usually provide a closer and more accurate measure
than thought or speech of what a person is. One can have thoughts and never
share them, or speak words and not mean them. However, our actions are the tell-tale
sign of what we really are. Proverbs like “actions speak louder than words” and
mishnayot in Avot like 1:17 (“It’s not the learning that is the main thing but
the doing”), 3:12 (wisdom only endures if it is exceeded by actions) and 3:22
(ditto) reflect this fact.
At Avot 2:1,
Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi teaches:
Focus on three things, and you will not come to the grip of sin: know
what is above from you: (i) a seeing eye, (ii) a hearing ear, and (iii) all
your deeds are written in a book.
In other
words, God perceives what you think, say and do—whether anyone else does so or
not. Just remember this before you are about to speak, act or even decide to wallow
in an inappropriate thought, and you should be able to negotiate the problems
and pitfalls of life on earth and yet emerge with credit.
In his Kerem
Chemed commentary on Pirkei Avot, Rabbi Yehudah Rabinovitz subjects this mishnah
to the tripartite division of thoughts, words and deeds. The “seeing eye” perceives
one’s thoughts; the “hearing ear” hears one’s words and the book is quite
explicitly the place where one’s deeds are recorded.
