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Monday, June 7, 2010

Thoughts Are Not a Problem

Question: When I am caught up in my thoughts, how do I return to the awareness that watches the thoughts?

What I would investigate first is the idea that you are caught up in thoughts. Who is it that is caught up?  Is there a separate entity (separate from awareness)?

Take a closer look into the reality of the situation. You are ever present as the awareness of thought. Otherwise, how could you know that thoughts are happening? You can confirm this in your own experience by looking directly into the truth of it. If you look closely, this will become clear. Any sense of a separate self needs to be investigated thoroughly. Put it under the microscope; look right at it until you see for yourself that there is no separate entity. It's only a collection of thoughts that are arising to you, the awareness. All thoughts, including the thoughts about a separate self, are arising to you. You are the all-seeing awareness itself. Now. Always.

What is often hidden in this kind of situation is the idea that "I shouldn't be thinking". This idea is the only problem (not the thinking itself). It is based on the assumption of a separate self who gains and loses presence/awareness, and that thinking is an obstacle for this fictional self (preventing it from getting back to awareness). The idea that I shouldn't be thinking causes a resistance towards thought and reinforces this sense of the separate entity. 

Thoughts are not a problem. They arise and subside in you. All the while, you are the constant knowing presence of all appearances (thoughts, sensations, events, etc.).