This question was posed to me by Albert @ Urbanmonk.net. If you haven’t been to his blog, get over there and check it out. It is a premiere personal development site.
“As a ’self-less’ person, do you have uncontrolled thoughts? And if you do, how would you stop them?”
What is there to control, and who will control it? If one is “self-less,” there can be no control. The self is the center of control.
There are no uncontrolled thoughts; only thoughts. Whether it seems controlled or uncontrolled has nothing to do with the thought itself. It only has to do with your conflicting ideas about the thought. It is always, “Why am I thinking of this? I should be meditating and having a quiet mind.” But, IS THAT TRUE? Because if your mind is chattering away, that is reality. Sit with what is real. Watch it come and go.
One might think of uncontrolled thought as something that comes and goes with no rhyme or reason. But what is thought, other than a reaction of memory? I am not sure at all that thought springs from nothing. If thought is a reaction to memory, an effect, then there must always be a cause, regardless of whether we see it or not.
If one is observant, he or she may even be able to find the source of the thought. It is not so difficult to do. Neither is it a mystery. But I don’t see the importance of it.
I sometimes hear people say (or see people type), “I can stop my thoughts.” This is amusing. If your thoughts are stopped, how did you type those words (or how did you say them)? And what is the “I” that is stopping the thought? The self is composed of thought, so how can it stop itself? If someone comes to a point where they think they have “stopped” thought, then they should really go into it to see what is there. If the self is in operation, it operates through the world of thought. No, it IS the world of thought. It is not separate from its material of construction. The self IS thought, and not the self AND thought.
Thoughts come and go, but control keeps us attached. Why do we need to control? We only need to control if there is the idea that we are out of control. For whatever reason. Insecurity, grief, hate, jealousy, or whatever reason, wanting to control springs from a need to control the chaos that seems to be there. But of course, there is no real chaos in that sense.
Some might say that ALL thought is chaotic, and I could understand that. But thought is only chaotic when compared to other thoughts. How can one know chaos unless they have experienced what they perceive to be order? The truth is, thought is just thought. Anything that tells us differently is thought as well. (Comparison, belief, etc.)
Akiko always tells me I am too imaginative. (not in a serious way. After all, how can one be “too” imaginative?) I have a tendency to say things she never expects. Other people have made similar comments. Maybe it is due to having no restrictions of thought. Of course, I do not say things just to shock someone, and I do not insult other people. I do not mean “no restrictions” in that way. There is simply no need to control thought. It comes and goes. Interesting combinations of thought are more readily at hand, compared to my life before.
7 Comments
“There is simply no need to control thought. It comes and goes. Interesting combinations of thought are more readily at hand, compared to my life before.”
I can’t pretend to understand all of the issues you are talking about in this article. I don’t completely understand this view of the mind and the self, but this last sentence really caught my attention.
If we stop trying to exercise complete control of everything, including our thoughts, new creative ideas seem to show up without effort. When we put filters on our thoughts, and reject certain ideas out of hand, our mind will obey and stop sending new ideas. That is a sad state of affairs. Everyone has the capability to be creative, but too many people have turned off the creative spigot. I have discovered this disability within myself, and I am working to “let go” and allow creativity to flow through me.
Thanks for answering my questions man, this provides even more fascinating insight into the mind (is that the right word in this case?) of non-duality. Thanks again.
Hi Quint. Thanks for stopping by.
Control is the death of creativity. There can be no flow, in control.
Takuin
Thanks Albert.
And no problem. Thanks for letting me use the question.
I guess “the mind of non-duality,” works. We could go into the whole language thing, but I think we both understand each other.
Thanks for stopping by.
Takuin
I have a doubt related to negative thoughts. I would like to let go of limiting thoughts, negativity, past fears within. However dealing with these, letting these come to the fore and then questioning them further, is too much thought for my mind and its gets pressurising in the head. Is it necessary to be dig deep and think up and let our negative thoughts pass. Can we not just let them be, not prod, and find a centre and let them go .Sort of like surrendering to the Universe and letting thoughts come and go rather than , probe ? please explain
Hi Nur. Thank you so much for your comments. It is nice to see you here.
I am not saying anything needs to be done, but let’s look at this. You have not done anything already, right? You don’t prod, and you let them be. And this is where you are. If it were fine to be there, you would not ask the question of letting them be. Does that make any sense? If you were fine where you were, you wouldn’t ask anything.
So, the fact is, you ask if you can do the one thing instead of the other. But why? Why is there a need to change? Is it because of pain? Curiosity? (I am not saying you have problems and need to change!) But the humans of this world are ignorant of what goes on within them. And look at the world and see where we are. Is that something you wish to continue contributing to?
You say that letting thoughts come to the fore is too much thought for your mind. Is that true? Can there be more thought in the mind than what there already is? Is that possible? Or could it be, you have thoughts that are contrary to what you consider to be the negativity? And when these thoughts come together, the negative and the positive, there is conflict? Or could it be, you believe things should be different from what they are? You see reality but cannot accept it as it is, so you project your thought onto it to get it to match your beliefs of what should be? That is also conflict.
The should be and reality can never meet. That is one of the greatest sources of misery in this world. We want them to come together. We want to try to perform this impossible magic trick of changing reality to what we think it should be, when actually, reality is whatever it is at any given time. It can never be anything else.
Does that make any sense?
You also mentoned finding a center and letting it go. But what is the center? Surely the center is the self. The self is the factory of problems. It can let go of problems, but if the self lets go, is anything really gone? It is very tricky to get one’s head around. If there is a continuation of the self, then there is a continuation of the problem. It is true, the problems might change or go away, but as long as there is a self separate from the rest of the world, it is only a matter of time before it explodes.
One can lead a very happy life from the center. It is probably best to forget about enlightenment and do your best in this world until you are gone. Do what you want to do and just live your life, but do it for the betterment of all.
There are techniques of letting go, and some ways of bypassing the self, as it were. One of them is called The Work ( http://www.thework.com/index.asp ). Another is The Sedona Method ( http://www.sedona.com/ ). It can help clear up some elemntary particles that might be “in the way.” The good thing is, the info is available on the websites and you don’t have to buy anything. Just see what it is and go into it the best you can. There are no guarantees, though. And if there is not exploration into the self, it will remain intact.
Do your best.
Takuin
You sound like my wife! And that’s a good thing.
Relationships with less presence of ego are very interesting and different. There isn’t really a guide for “Relationships Without an Ego,” perhaps because those who experience that don’t need a guide and those who don’t experience it don’t usually think they need a guide.
Still, I appreciate what you’ve written here. It’s difficult for many people to understand the true nature of thought and to be accepting of what it is, but when they are able to sit back and just observe then they discover an entirely different world than the one they thought they saw.