Beyond Thought
We are our thoughts, yet we will only find our true selves once we free ourselves of thinking. How can we not think? You may be asking. The fact is, you can’t actually clear your mind of all thought. The goal is not to stop thinking but to diminish the significance of our thoughts and the control they have over us.
Let’s dive a little deeper into this. Most of the thoughts that occupy our minds during an average day are obsessive preoccupations with the past or the future, motivated by our ego, whose main purpose is survival. So as we obsess about the past, we try to magically change the outcomes of things we regret, or that bring us shame, hoping that is we keep re-examining and reviving our memories, they will somehow change and affect us less painfully. This is frustrating and fruitless.
When our obsessive thoughts shift to the future, we are often gripped with worry about things that have not yet occurred and may not even take place. They are largely things over which we have no control. Still we rehearse our actions hoping to control the result. This thinking does nothing except fill us with anxiety, worry, regret and needless pain.
The silence between our thoughts is where we can more peacefully exist. It is beyond thought where we find what Ekhart Tolle refers to also our “Being”, or our True Selves.
It is true that our ego, which wants to separate us from the rest of humanity, by filling us with thoughts that compare, compete and try to conquer. The ego does anything it can to survive, keeping us from our Being by filling our heads with distracting thoughts. Our ego fears and feels threatened by our finding our true selves
Try to hold this concept: It is in the silence beyond thought that we find our Being - the quiet place we access during meditation or any time we can let our busy in thoughts pass without consequence. Of course, meditation practice can help us find the peaceful place at our source, but any experience which moves us, like witnessing profound works of art, music athletics, powerful emotional experiences like weddings, the birth of a child, exotic travel or visiting wonders of nature at the tops of mountains or deep within primeval forests.
The next time you find yourself in one of these situations, stop, be mindful, and take stock in the fact that although there are thoughts in your consciousness, but they are not of utmost importance to you. What becomes obvious is the spiritual miracle of your Being at the Source. Revel in it. Rejoice in the knowing. This is you, beyond your thoughts!
Don’t forget our Grand Opening Thursday 4/20 in our offices in the Fifth Third Center from 4:30-7:00!
Dr. John Monaco
MONACO Wellness
(813)252-6378