On Beyond Thinking – How To Be Present
How to be more loving and happy and at peace?
Be more present. To what is real.
How to be present? Quiet down the thinking, the mind, without introducing the doer.
Don’t try and stop thinking.
Just observe benevolently (with curiosity if it’s there).
The doer can’t squelch (forcefully silence or suppress) the doer – the doer that is trying to quiet the mind. That’s the bad news.
“To ask the mind to kill itself is like making the thief the policeman. He will go with you and pretend to catch the thief, but nothing will be gained. So you must turn inward and see where the mind rises from, and then it will cease to exist.” ~ Ramana Maharshi
You don’t have to try and stop all thinking – that is a misunderstanding of spiritual or meditation or non-dual teachings.
There is practical thinking that’s needed, in the moment, that is quiet and clear. But it has no emotional charge.
There is celebratory thinking, that is fun, happy, joyous, loving, interested – in hobbies, friends, arts, nature, intellectual pursuits…
There is thinking that is about the Truth, Consciousness, that eventually becomes celebratory.
The only problematic thinking is the psychological thinking. That is the ‘dis-ease”. It’s root is the sense of a separate self, the feeling or thinking of a fake me. It’s about a person, an “I” sound that has no real substantial independent existence except through effort, maintained by or in fear. When that evaporates the real I Am is there.
The good news is you already have silent mind. It’s what you are. Right now you may be covering it with thinking.
There is a background, always there, always observing, knowing, loving, being. Always happy, present. Knowing all, loving all. Because it *is* love.
The mind is meant to think –it is it’s own perfect voice. Nothing wrong with thinking but ironically thinking stops (thinking about stops) once silence penetrates in a lasting way. I have written about this a lot on my blog over the years, The Awakened Dreamer. In meantime, so glad to read your posts here. Love your vignettes of insight.
Hi Lori – “Vignettes of insight”. I like that. You have a way with words.
I did not say thinking was wrong. You are free to think, as you are free to suffer. But all beings want happiness, and thinking veils our natural state when thinking is a reflection of a belief and feeling of separation, with the resultant symptom of suffering. So it’s only “wrong” in the sense of a mistake, a habit, in the context of not wanting to suffer. Your other comments were ambiguous: “The mind is meant to think” almost sounds like you want a reason for holding on to a mind (which in fact doesn’t really exist), and an excuse for the human thinking habit. But it’s hard to say with the brevity of your comment.
Also your statement can have different meanings depending on what you mean by “mind” and “think”, so in the context of the article you would need to clarify what kinds of thinking you are talking about. I was trying to point out for earnest readers that the vast majority of thinking (repetitive, automatic, psychological, emotive, etc.), is a reflection of ignorance and leads to suffering. We often come up with excuses for personal thinking and feeling, because we mistake it as important, are attached to it, identify with it (part of what is called “ego” or false self, the “I-thought”).
Regarding your comment “it is it’s own perfect voice” again it depends on the context and where the thinking is coming from. Most of the internal chatter and much of people’s talking is useless noise. But talking in a loving way and about truth can be celebratory and useful. 🙂
As far as “silence penetrates”: I would put it differently, since there is nothing, no person to penetrate – that’s the whole point in a sense. So we want to be clear with language. As thinking dies away, the phantom self dissolves, the silence of pre-existing true nature is simply uncovered. It is what we already are.
Also, anyone that advertises they are “awakened”, is not. Sages do not go around calling themselves sages, etc… you get the picture. There is no awakening or enlightenment for people. That realization is central to having a true glimpse of Truth.
Peace