I cannot stop thinking, so how can I go beyond the mind?

The proposal of this work is to go beyond the mind, although there is a huge confusion about what this really means. For example, there is the concern about the need to stop thinking, provided that many people believe that means going beyond the mind. So, there is always that question: "I cannot stop thinking, so how can I go beyond the mind?" This is a very common question. In fact, you cannot stop thinking. Get this: the point here is not that this movement cannot be ceased, but rather the fact “no one can stop it.” Notice the difference of that.

So, this concern to interrupting the thought is a concern of its own. Notice the clear difference. Realization is your Natural State beyond mind and, therefore, beyond thought, but you cannot stop thinking – this needs to be very clear to you in this work. Through this work, you can get in touch with something very important if you comprehend the mind can stop, but you cannot stop it; that thoughts can cease, but you cannot cease them.

That is, it is possible to be beyond the mind in this non-mind, and this happens when there is no longer this movement of thought. The difference is quite subtle. In the absence of thinking, the non-mind is present. But you do not reach this non-mind by ceasing to think, since mind will not end or destroy itself.

Many people are pursuing that, for example, in all kinds of meditation practices, but behind these practices the mind is “trying” to destroy itself indeed. Ramana used to call that as "the thief dressed as a policeman, trying to capture the thief." So, I want to clarify this matter of trying to stop the mind: do not make any effort to stop thinking, as this means a mind’s, ego’s effort. You need not to act against the mind, as this means the mind fighting against itself, you tearing the mind in two (the “cop” and the “thief”).

Do not try to stop the mind! The only thing you can do is to be still and watch it! That does not require any effort and is very simple: you just stop and observe it, let the crazy mind loose; do nothing against the mind, nor in favor of it. Do not be for or against the madness going on inside your head, as they are all thoughts, and they are not yours; the head is not yours, but of the body. The head belongs to the body and the thoughts belong to the mind, but you are this Consciousness where the body appears with the head and the mind, with the thoughts.

I really know your problem and I will tell you now. You have already decided there is something wrong with the mind, and therefore you are confronting it, you became its enemy. Nevertheless, there you were captured by the very own mind. So, sometimes you say, "I cannot stand those thoughts anymore," as if that state were not the "annoyed" thought itself saying that. But who is saying that? So, the mind separates itself and now wants to demolish the "mind," and you remain in that game – here is duality, where there is separation: a thought wanting to demolish another thought; a feeling wanting to destroy another feeling.

Realization is the fruit of Consciousness! In Consciousness, there is no separation, no duality, no mind. So, in that State, you just watch the mind and there is nothing wrong with it. Sometimes in the morning you look up at the sky, you see it full of clouds, but you do not say there is anything wrong with it, you do not complain about the sky full of clouds. You do not say, "I wish these clouds to disappear, so that only the blue sky would remain." Thoughts are like clouds that sometimes appear in the sky, in this "sky" that is Consciousness, and when you just remain still watching, this observation works like a gentle wind sweeping the sky and the clouds, and so clouds begin to vanish.

So, notice what I said: thoughts can disappear, stop, but you cannot cause them to disappear, to stop. Your effort will not cause that, as it is still the "nervous" thought, the movement of the thought itself. I am telling you about the art of getting disidentified from the mind, of letting the mind and its madness disappear naturally, effortlessly. Look at this with deep reverence, do not be a fighter. Just watch it! Stay detached, disidentified, distant, just watching. The good news is the deeper you observe it, the deeper is your Consciousness; the "sky" gets clear and the "Sun" shines wonderfully! This is the way to deal with the mind, and so the entire Life becomes clear as Consciousness itself!

*Online meeting transcription originally held on March 7th, 2018 – First published in Portuguese on April 02, 2018. For further information about our meetings, please click here.