Just notice sometime how you cannot predict which thought is going to appear next in your awareness. If you could predict them you would not allow unpleasant thoughts. If you could control them you would probably choose a very different "thought life" free from envy, resentment, and unforgiveness of others and yourself.
In a like fashion, we cannot control or predict which sound will happen next ... perhaps a bird tweeting, a dishwasher running, or the sound of someone's voice who has just entered the room.
The reason we cannot predict which sound will come next is because we have no control over the matter nor are the sounds 'ours' to control. So it is with thoughts ... they are not yours.
Ahhhh ... the freedom!
bob
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Well, from sitting over the past few years I have benn amused by the thoughts that pop into my mind. As you know, it is my belief that all of human existence is dualistic whetheer we like that or not. Pursuant to that, at times I am actively thinking of issues in my human life which are at the forefront of the day. But, I also have these way out far "dreams" if you will that i have no control, nor prediction over.
ReplyDeleteI know that even the ones that I think I'm controlling aren't real, because obviously none of that is happening as I sit on the pillow, in "real Time". All of it is based in the past or my perception of the future, entirely based on past experience or a guess.
Regardless of whether one gets caught up in the logic of "If my body thinks a thought, is it mine" or not, I have found it very comforting to know that everybody does this, and it doesn't amount to anything. NOTHING.
That makes me happy.
I love that Bob. I know when I first came to you it was like a thought would come in my mind and I would wrap myself around it as if it was real. It was me! I had to carry it with me, add to it, define it, color it in. I was so fustrated in meditation because I thought it was about being silent. To stop all thought! You guided me to just let the thought slide by: like a car going down the road...just watch it come and go. Don't climb in it and go for a ride. Now I just don't take the thought to be anything. Just the wind blowing across the trees. But you ask me to go deeper. Who would be watching the thoughts come and go? Who was the witness of the cars...
ReplyDeleteThanks Bob. The Freedom is just that "Freedom"
Great posts Rex and ALM ... thanks!
ReplyDeleteYes, thoughts are like wind blowing across the trees as ALM says. They arise when our conditioning (beliefs about how things ought to be) do not match the presently arising reality. Wind blows when there is a temperature difference on the land; thoughts arise when expectations do not match the NOW. Like the wind, thoughts are natural and do not need to be gotten rid of ... the thought of giving up thoughts is just more wind.
Oh by the way I've posted the "5 hints" booklet on the web. It's at www.robertflegal.com. Take a peek if you wish.
bob
Hi ALM,
ReplyDeleteI just had a thought ... The "card game" that you have had so much fun with is a powerful way to recognize our conditioning and to lighten up about it. The key to real freedom is to accept our conditioning and as you so beautifully put it: "to see it as wind blowing through the trees"... not me, just wind.
So much effort is wasted in spiritual circles attempting to change our conditioning (getting a re-deal ... which as you know is not allowed). Anyway, would you consider writing something up about the "card came" and how to have fun with it? If you do that I'll put it up on the web with a link from www.robertflegal.com. Thanks again for your sage posts.
bob
Once again I was seduced by the thought(s) around Lent. Thinking there is something about me that could be tweaked a bit , at least foro 40 days right?
ReplyDeleteThen once again, an encounter reveals for the umteenth time that something may seem to be needed to be tweaked only if I believe there is a me that needs tweaking.
So let's just nip that whole lent thing in the bud so to speak.
Enough said/written
Not sure how I missed this precious post, but I'm so glad I read it.
ReplyDeleteNow, I want to just cry.
Love,
April