You are not your thoughts. Herein lies great freedom ... freedom from the past and the freedom to act spontaneously in the present moment. Saying that you are not your thoughts is equivalent to saying that you are not your past, as thoughts are always about the past.
From childhood on we are barraged with thoughts about who we are, what we should believe, and how we should act. There is nothing wrong with all this conditioning. We need it to interface with the world's conditioning. Problems start when we forget that we are much much more than our thoughts. When we forget this, we unconsciously act out of our conditioning which is always a recoil from present reality.
This mechanical recoil causes needless suffering for us and others. Why? Because we are out of step with what is happening right now.
Daily meditation gently releases us from the tyranny of the past (our thoughts). It allows us to see that we are vast indeed. Moreover, we see that there is no need to rid ourselves of thoughts or even to change them because we are able to see that we have always been completely free of them. Do you see this?
bob
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So much written that we are what we think.. that we manifest our thoughts.... your thoughts on this?
ReplyDeleteThis is a good place to ask this:
ReplyDeleteI've been doing Al-Anon for a month or 2. In step one, "We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable.", there is powerlessness. This is a kind of detachment, yes? I have found myself wanting to say, "life, (my) is a whole unmanageable and I am powerless over the whole thing." and further "I am not the life I lead"
So... step one, detachment, powerlessness, 'forgiving' the idea that you are your thoughts/past.... really all the same concept yes?
There is something 'non heady' about a step one / powerlessness approach I'm drawn to...
Hi Lori,
ReplyDeleteWonderful question! Yes, much has been written on manifesting thoughts and there is much to say for it. If we don't think about going to work in the morning it would not happen. If we decide that we are "poor for life" it will come to be even if we win the lotto because we would "blow the money". So yes, like Napoleon Hill states: "Think and Grow Rich". But the question remains: "Are the thoughts that manifest yours?".
What if it is simply LIFE manifesting ITSELF as thought and then 'later' as other thoughts? From 'my' perspective it is clear that thats what it is ... just LIFE living LIFE without center and without cause.
Next time you have a thought ... take a look (in the present moment) and see if that thought is yours. I'm claiming that thoughts arise spontaneously along with the conditions that arise with them ... and then they fade away like clouds in a blue sky. If they were yours they would not do this. You could control them and play with them at will. Do you see that there is no "you" in thought ... just thought. So simple!
bob
Greetings O'Shea,
ReplyDeleteYes, you are spot on! Everything pointed to in this blog is just the same concept whether we call it detachment, powerlessness or a forgiven world. All is One without beginning, end, or center. There is no 'you' whatsoever.
Spiritual practice is the 'journey' to see that. The practice of powerlessness over everything is paradoxically powerful. Powerful in the sense that it saves time "on the journey". Powerlessness is what Jesus was pointing to in Matthew 5:33-37 where He talks about taking oaths (playing God). You have they keys ... practice, practice, practice.
bob
And so Bob, I am experiencing intense sorrow/emotion as I embrace this powerlessness/acceptance/detachment. It is as though I know that I want to be love, and that I am (I Am) the love I seek, I am the intimacy and fullness of life that I crave, - and yet I don't know how. Strangely, in the feeling of the emotions of admitting and embracing powerlessness, I can feel my heart come alive a little. As though my half of the deal is to just be willing to see/surrender/acknowledge life as a whole, and then a miracle happens somehow and peace sets in. I'm saying this like I know what I'm talking about and I really don't. At best I'm just observing. Maybe that is knowing better than I have ever have prior.
ReplyDeleteAnyway. It is a remarkable thing, this sorrow/grieving for what I have to date perceived (mostly incorrectly?). It is my hope that experiencing the emotion paves the way for being the love that I seek, or understanding that I already am. Curiously, despite the rawness of my current state, part of me also doesn't want it to end. Like I can smell the good in there somewhere...
Pls cross-talk : )
Hi O'Shea,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your share. Yes, Awakening is a process and the sense 'I' is a process. They are the same process. Sorrow, grieving, and other intense emotions are common. Dying to the past stirs up the mud.
There is a beautiful quote from Jesus in the Gospels of Thomas that I find so encouraging. Encouraging in that it describes a process that involves discomfort. It goes like this:
"Those who seek should not stop seeking until they find. When they find, they will be disturbed. When they are disturbed, they will marvel, and they will reign over all."
bob