Watch yourself every time you think, it is endless isn’t it? One interpretation after another, until you get distracted again, until you get busy again, then what you were thinking about you either forget, or its something that remains in the back of your head, until it’s resolved. So can thinking about being free, wanting to be more happy or more lively be bought about by just thinking about it? Surely you would say yes right? To think more positive thoughts has been the advice given by many that are thought oriented. Positive thinking can flood all the negative thoughts in your mind, but your understanding of life will always remain dual when this is done, thoughts can flush other thoughts out, but what is the point if you depend upon this sort of feelings in the long run? For one to be totally free, one has to transcend thought altogether, one has to move past the dual nature, the splitness of the mind. Why? Because life is to be lived, not remembered.
See true happiness comes into your life when the mind is silent, where thinking stops and thoughts disappear, watch yourself when you laugh, watch your mind then, there may be a reason before hand why you are laughing, but if you become present enough to notice yourself whilst you are laughing you will notice the mind becoming silent, or even the presence of the mind disappearing ,the laugh becomes unconditional. This is just one example, but is it possible to move past thought as a whole? To break out of the limitations that are created by thought about what is right and what is wrong? Yes of course. Thought has governed man for so long that it has become difficult to see what is. Freedom is a limitless experience that starts when the mind is utterly silent. With this comes bliss, with this comes peace and boundless joy.
So can you stop thought? No the mind or any idea of control cannot stop the mind from thinking. Any idea of suppression you use to stop the unlimited chatter of the mind will only cause you to suffer more, neither will expectation from your actions seize the mind. Only by being aware in each moment can one make the mind more quiet, more peaceful. Silence is natural, but for the mind it’s an unnatural experience. In meditation one can become aware of this silence, but meditation done as routine will only give you sensational experiences for a few moments, then the mind will come back into play. What one really needs to be aware of is oneself and one’s habit of interpreting everything that goes by in the world they listen to and hear. If you as an individual see, your own fear based responses to life, your insecurities and your beliefs you hold about life the more you will become aware of what is real and what isn’t. Freedom comes when one can observe and see without the influences of the past.
Each individual in this world will have their own story and understanding of life. Watch your own stories in life, are you still the same individual now? How do you respond to that, be present? The attachment and identification you hold to who you think you are and what others assume you to be in your own head keeps your vision from seeing what is real. You are beyond that, all you need to do is take a step back to see this and awareness alone of oneself, without interpretation can bring you to this clarity of seeing. See for yourself, are you your name? Or is the name given to the body? What if you lost your memory one day, who will you be then? Are you your name? Can one understand oneself just on the basis of words? See your confusion. Are you able to know who you are without using description developed by the past? To distinguish between imagination and what is real, will make the whole difference. This moment is real until it passes by and becomes a dream again, remain with what is real.
Freedom comes from silence, it is an expression of silence, responsibility of understanding yourself will not come from thinking about it, it will come from being choicelessly aware in every moment that passes by. You are not analysing, you are simply being aware. Awareness is simple, to be aware at the start will be difficult however without getting lost in interpretation of everything you experience and feel, one has to move above the mind to actually see the mind for what it is. To not get lost in your own development of stories whilst watching your mind will be the challenge, to move past it’s habits, good or bad. There are simple steps to being aware, try it for yourself, start being aware of your breathing, be attentive, there has to be effort first before it becomes effortless. Watch your breathing, the more you watch the more quality of your awareness of breathe will increase, try this for a while and by and by the observer within will be revealed to you, once you feel comfortable and feel more open, then you will be able to watch your mind, a lot of patience is required to understand, keep going the key to freedom is in the quality in your seeing without judging. Be aware, be conscious.
The most important kind of freedom is to be what you really are. You trade in your reality for a role. You trade in your sense for an act. You give up your ability to feel, and in exchange, put on a mask. There can’t be any large-scale revolution until there’s a personal revolution, on an individual level. It’s got to happen inside first. – Jim Morrison
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