Sunday, January 10, 2010

Stopping Thoughts

One does not need to try to stop thoughts. They might stop by themselves. But even this is not necessary or especially desirable for experiencing 'what is'; thoughts, after all are 'what is' when they are present. All one needs is to realize that they are not what they say they are. In a way, a mirage is really saying that it is water but one knows that it is not water. It is an illusion due to the nature of heat and light and thus one does not run after it even when one is thirsty. Similarly a thought may say something but realizing that it is merely an illusion (i.e. what it says about 'what is' is not true) arising from the nature of words and perception through conceptualization one or aliveness does not become dragged by it along the train of generating more thoughts and their consequent emotions and actions.

In this way thoughts may fade away and may even stop (and if they didn't stop that is fine too), not because one desires that they do so (in a way, since they do not carry the force to compel, why be bothered about them) but they just stop because they no longer have the energy of belief in what they say to compel emotions to arise and thus leading to more and more thoughts.

I am tempted to say that the key is to try and let thoughts just go by as simply thoughts that are not different from any other natural phenomena such as the fluttering of leaves in a gentle breeze or the sound of a barking dog in the distance. I use the word 'try' for lack of a better word because the word 'try' carries with it desire and tension which will tend to prompt even more thoughts. But what really happens is that through understanding that thoughts do not represent reality the aliveness that you are become suddenly free from any compulsions to follow the dictates of thoughts; thoughts, losing their power to smash and make more thoughts erupt, gradually fade away. Aliveness is like a vast empty space. A thought will arise and then just vanish silently into the distance without meeting anything to smash.

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