It seems that this is something very frequent, this question on how to deal with thoughts… how to deal with thoughts. First, it's important you realize all the confusion thought causes, all this mess, all this internal disorder thought causes.
You know what the state of anxiety, for example, or fear, boredom, loneliness, depression, means... You know what the state means, but you don't realize that the matrix of this is thought itself, the mother of all this is thought. These internal, psychological states the human being has are all based on the chaotic, disordered, conflicting movement of thought.
Thus, the doubt is: how to deal with it? And someone says "ah, I have trillions of thoughts! They're repetitive thoughts, obsessive thoughts, uncontrolled thoughts, and what you say is true: these thoughts sustain and feedback these states, these internal states of suffering, of disorder. However, what do we do with these trillions of thoughts?" That's what people ask. But I have one thing to say: it's not like that! Not like that… you don't have trillions of thoughts; you only have one thought; it's always one thought.
Thought respects the queue, it doesn't cut the queue. Just notice what I'm saying. You get into a bank and people there can disrespect the line. Thought doesn't do that. Thought has a well-ordered form of presentation in its disorder. That's right! Thought has an orderly way in its disorder of showing itself. So, it doesn't skip the line. It's one thought, always one thought after another.
Thought has a sequence of presentation. Thought always shows itself one at a time. A thing you still haven't noticed, in a clear way, and that's why you're in this misunderstanding of this matter of trillions of thoughts and living these states, is that there's a space between one thought and another. There's not only a space between one feeling and another, one emotion and another, but also between one thought and another. You need to discover that space.
Our whole emphasis in this process of Spiritual Awakening, in the Awakening of Consciousness, is on becoming aware of this space; it's always the space between that first thought and the next. I'll repeat: it has an orderly, sequential way of showing itself; a disorderly way of presenting itself. This psychological disorder in you is because of this disorganized form of the representations of thought, but well organized in the sense that it's one thought after another. So, the good news is that it's possible to become aware of the movement of thought knowing that it's sequential. You have a thought and then you have another thought, then you have another thought.
The speed of these thoughts is determined by the depth of this present unconsciousness. The deeper the unconsciousness of the movement, the faster thought happens, the quicker thought happens. But, yes, it's sequential. Do you understand it?
There's a space between the first and second thought. Why don't you find out what this space is?! It's a question and an exclamation at the same time. You don't find out because you're not interested; you don't find out because you don't know about the existence of the space, because you don't realize its presence. And why don't you realize it? As a matter of habit, as a matter of the addicted practice of thinking.
You don't find that in Realized Beings. Those who Realize their Being are aware of this Consciousness. This Consciousness finished, put an end to unconsciousness, to this deep unconsciousness about the thought's movement.
The Realized Being has thoughts, but I compare it to taking what you need out of the drawer and then closing the drawer when you don't need anything from the drawer. You know you have a safe. You open the safe and take out what you need, but you don't leave the safe open; you close the safe when you no longer need it. Thought is something like this.
The natural movement of thought – and here I speak of the natural movement of Being what You are – is that thought is something functional. You open the safe and take out what you need; you open the drawer and take out what you need. You don't need more? You close it. You don't want anything else from the safe? You close it. Thought, in us, should have this natural movement. And that's how it happens, that's how it occurs when there's Consciousness. When there's no Consciousness, the movement is the previous one: chaotic, disturbed, disturbing, disordered, restless, of an absurd chatter, upholding – not only motivating, creating but also upholding – conflicting, internal states of suffering.
Then, all the psychological suffering in you is based on that inattention. When there's Consciousness over this movement, it ceases, it stops. Ego, this sense of separate identity, is basically unobserved thought. If thought isn't observed, it has the mechanical, unconscious, repetitive, messy and disturbing movement of its own.
Unless you put Consciousness over the movement of the mind, you will remain stuck within this cycle, which is the cycle of addicted thinking, repetitive thinking, chaotic thinking, disturbed thinking.
Meditation is the art of remaining aware yourself, here and now. This present moment is the great insight, it's the great key. This present moment carries this secret… this present moment. It's here and now, in this present moment, that you observe what you are. And you are what you are! If there's this chaotic state of thought, that is what you are being right now. You don't fight, don't clash, you don't don't reject, you don't do anything, you just look, observe, welcome it in this look, then it's possible for something to arise out of that. You don't superimpose on this thought that arises a new thought, a criticism, a judgment, a comparison, a rejection... You stay with what is shown. That's it!
You underestimate what I'm telling you here. There's great power in doing this! When we speak of the Awakening of Consciousness, we are speaking of the Awakening of that Power of Mindfulness, of Full Consciousness, of Full Attention over oneself. So, we have words or expressions that may look different in each religion, or in each philosophical tradition, or religious, or spiritual, whatever you want to call it. The languages are different, but we are talking about a single "Thing": Presence and Consciousness of yourself, Attention over yourself, Full Attention, Mindfulness. We are addressing your Natural State of Perception of the Reality of What is here and now.
Don't underestimate this. When this is done in a simple, natural, direct way, a Power arises from within you. It's like a little… it's like a little rosebud. It's there in the middle of the arrangement. You look, it has no expression. You see a rose arrangement for example. There's a little bud there, very small, in the midst of those beautiful roses that have bloomed, that are open. You look at that vase and say "how beautiful that is! Look how beautiful it is!", but there's a hidden bud in the middle. You know what I'm talking about, right? There are always two, three, four, five, six, eight very small buds. Do you know what will happen? You can't see anything, but two days from now those buds aren't buds anymore, they've bloomed, and those old roses are already diminishing their freshness, their vivacity, but those new ones are blooming.
When you start paying attention to yourself – and you do it now, here, moment by moment, by self-observation… See, I'm always using new words, or not, known words, saying one single thing every time! The single thing is always new, words are old. I've now used another... In this self-observation, which is this Full Attention, which is Mindfulness, which is Consciousness over yourself...
In this self-observation, this Energy, which is this Power, which is this Consciousness internally sleeping since It has a blanket of images, beliefs, thoughts, memories, remembrances, dreams, imaginations, which are thoughts... When that blanket is taken off – and it's taken off when there's this True Meditation, this Real Space for Meditation – then that Energy emerges. Yoga says that it ascends, it goes up. It doesn't matter, the fact is that it will do a job internally.
They call this "Kundalini Awakening." It's the Awakening of this mechanism that makes those roses show themselves as what they are: roses! Do you see? Roses are roses! Roses are not orchids, they are not daisies, they are not bromeliads… Roses are roses! They're not buds, they're roses! When it blooms, you have the roses! Then, when Kundalini awakens, when that Energy flourishes, that Consciousness takes on that Space which is Its, and that egoic sense disappears.
Let's clear this up for you. I can imagine a Kundalini awakening, I can have some psychic or so-called spiritual experiences of this so-called Kundalini I imagine, but that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about the Awakening of Consciousness. I can also use that expression to imagine third degree contact – you know what that means – or fifth degree contact, but I'm talking about the Awakening of Consciousness, which represents the end of this unconsciousness, which is this movement, which is the movement of thought we've talked about just now.
And how does it happen? By Attention! Within that space between one thought and another, you put Attention. A thought comes up – it's not trillions of thoughts, it's one thought coming up, it's always one at a time, it's always one feeling at a time – you pay Attention to it. If it's anger, it's anger, okay. You won't fight with anger. Anger is something that's also a feeling, sensation and thought; it's a package: it's a thing in the body, it's a thing in the emotion, it's a thing in the mind, it's a story... It's all part of that anger, and I pay attention to it, I look at it, and it's just anger. It has a specific thought and I look at that specific thought; I don't put an idea about what I should do, how should I deal with anger.
Thought says, "breathe in a certain way." Don't worry about this. This might help, but it won't solve it. You'll have other angry moments. You'll learn how to deal with anger through a breathing technique… That's why I never recommend meditation practices, because in practices of meditation you learn how to deal with thought. Here, I show you how to go beyond thought by observing its movement, not by trying to adjust it, silence it, mold it through music; lead it, guide it to silence through breathing; lead it, guide it towards silence… This also applies to an emotion, such as anger. That won't solve it! You don't need that!
Here and now, at this moment, at the present moment, you have the opportunity to become aware of the movement of the mind, and that is all it takes for a break in this programming, this conditioning, this model, this whole disorder that thoughts, feelings, and emotions cause. That's the end of psychological insanity, that's the end of this internal, psychological disorder, that's the end of psychological disorder, that's the end of psychological insanity.
What I want to tell you is that there is a dysfunctional movement present in the ego and this can and needs to be broken by this Full Attention. Thus, it's not a technique… Mindfulness, Full Attention is not a technique. It's here and now, Attention on yourself; Consciousness on yourself now, here, at this moment, and it's this Attention given to this space between a thought and another, between a feeling and another, an emotion and another emotion, a perception and another perception, now, here.
When thought tells you, "See, there's no way because there are trillions of thoughts," it has already won, it is already convincing you by imagination that it's superior to you, since you are one and it represents trillions, it's a legion of thoughts. Then, it beats you right away. "I don't know what to do with these trillions of thoughts." There's nothing to do with them at all! Because they're not trillions, it's just one thought; observe the next one.
The problem is that we don't learn to stand in line. We always find a way to speed things up. This is typical of the egoic movement! You don't know how to respect a queue at the bank, you don't know how to respect the arrival of the elevator, you don't know how to wait for the result of a work… you have the urgency and the rush that things need to happen when you want them to happen, in your time, in your own way, and in the specific way you want. This is all part of the movement of psychological insanity, coordinated, ordered, motivated and also produced by thought. This model needs to be undone. Can you see that?
Here, my emphasis is on the True, Real Meditation. My emphasis here is on waiting for the elevator to arrive, or you can go out desperate, running down the stairs, or you can, at that moment, get into a level of anxiety… you know, an elevator takes about what? Thirty seconds, one minute, two minutes to arrive? I don't know. However, if the elevator breaks, perhaps you wait for three hours. If you're inside the elevator it gets even more complicated because then, maybe, if the power goes out or if the elevator breaks and no one notices, and everything stops, and you don't get help, you're going to be there for a few hours. And now? Anxiety takes over! You don't know how to wait!
It's like this matter of Spiritual Awakening or the Awakening of Consciousness, or Kundalini Awakening. People speed up, they say "it has already awakened!" No, it hasn't awakened, it's just an impression, it's just imagination. People say "my Kundalini has awakened." They write to me "what shall I do?" People, when the sense of separation is over, you won't ask someone else what to do. When Kundalini awakens, there's the Realisation of God, Intelligence has taken over the body, it's not a psychic experience, it's not a vision, it is not a…
So, it's very important to have a real approach to this. It's very important that we look at what we are here and now, and observe what is shown here, at this moment. It's the queue, it's to wait, it's to wait, ok. It's to look, ok. It's to see, ok. Let the elevator arrive. Did the elevator break and you're inside it? Wait. Meanwhile, turn yourself to this Space that is Silence, which is Consciousness, and there will be no anxiety.
There you have the most wonderful opportunity of the True Practical Meditation. Did the elevator stop working? There's nowhere to go, there's nothing to do but wait. So, now it's observing the mind.
People will say, "I can't sleep, I lay down to sleep… what do I do? Because the trillions of thoughts come in…" I'll correct this again: it's one thought at a time. Keep your body lying down and observing the movement of the mind. A thought arises, you look at it; another one appears, you look at it; a third one appears, you look at it. But no! People get up and turn on the television, will see the latest post on WhatsApp or… There's no such thing of insomnia, only this restlessness. You welcome this restlessness in self-observation. Don't resist, don't fight, don't move! It's an opportunity for the True Practical Meditation.
This goes for a queue at the bank, it goes for a queue when… at the restaurant waiting for a table; this goes for waiting in the elevator; this goes for when you're at your doctor's office waiting for your turn… I don't know if you've noticed that there's a line for everything! How could thought not obey this same criterion and knowing that there's a line, too? It can't come in trillions; it comes one at a time. I'm already giving you a secret here, a big secret!
Discover this, observe that it's one thought at a time. So, what's your job here and now? To observe the mind.
It's like asking "what's the next thought?" Try it now. Ask "what's the next thought?" Notice, when you ask this question there's no thought, thought doesn't say what is the next. Then, there's a space of not knowing. This is the secret of Meditation, of True Meditation.
You can do this driving a car, you do it walking, you do it having lunch… you don't need to be in a special place! This is part of Meditation!
Do you see what I'm saying? As you listen to the sound of the wind or of a stone crusher, anyway, while you are here and now, at this moment, and learn how not to reject, not to fight, not to resist the present moment as it is, as it appears, you discover that there is nothing happening outside. The conflict is all internal, the resistance is internal, and if there's resistance, there's no True Meditation. However, if there's no resistance, you're already open to Meditation.
What is valid for what is outside, is valid for what is also inside. It's not the thoughts, these trillions of thoughts that keep you from being in Silence; it's your resistance to them, it's the non-Attention to the space that arises between them. And when I use the expression "Attention," it means relaxed, contemplative, friendly… it can't be another thought: "I have to be aware, I have to pay attention. Forget the drill!" – this is another thought! No! Welcome the drill, welcome everything! Observe, pay attention.
This is the art of Real Meditation. Deepening this is something powerful because that's what creates this facilitation for the Awakening of this Energy called Kundalini. Then, this body-mind will go through a process of change, of transformation, and then, of course, this brain will no longer work this way, and this organism will no longer be in this psychological dysfunction. There will be Order, there will be Peace, there will be Silence, there will be Consciousness, there will be the Presence. That's the point, and that's the subject… and that's it!
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