Let’s investigate this question of thinking. What is thought?
There are two types of thought in each of us. There is a thought that must work in a natural, logical, practical, objective, sensible, intelligent way, and there is another type of thought that does not or should not have space in our lives.
And we need to understand these two types of thoughts, how they happen, how they are processed in each of us. Otherwise, we won’t have the slightest possibility of entering that new Space which is the Space of Awakening, which is the Space of Enlightenment, which is the Space of God Realization.
Thought is memory. The reactions of memory show themselves as thought. We go through experiences, and those experiences turn into memory.
These memories are recorded, they are stored, they are archived in the brain cells themselves. Some of these memories are useful – it’s the first quality of thought, the thought that becomes useful, functional, important, within this dream world we live in.
And there is another type of thought, which are also reactions of the brain itself, also stored in memory. So, the brain reacts within that memory format, and that memory is useless. This quality of memory sustains this “I.” The “I” that we believe to be is sustained by this quality of memory, and we have to investigate this quality of memory.
This first type of memory, I have called technical memory – this functional memory. We can also call it memory of facts. You have had some experiences, and you remember them. OK. You have a dream at night and you have a memory of that dream. When the brain works well, it records experiences that turn into memory.
Your name, for example, is a memory, an objective memory, a practical memory, an important memory. You need to know your name, you need to know your address, you need to know your history – and here I am referring to the history of this body-mind, this psychophysical structure. This is knowledge, which takes the shape of memory.
If you know how to drive, you have that memory. That memory is in the brain; it is, in fact, at the central motor. The body retains this memory. Anything you learned, technically, is part of that memory: the memory of facts.
But we have a completely useless, unnecessary quality of memory. It is the kind of memory that sustains suffering, psychological misery, psychological pain, psychological distress. This is the psychological memory, the memory of the “I,” of this “me,” of this sense of identity that you have, which is a belief. There is no such “I,” there is no such “me.”
This useless memory is based on imagination, ideations, beliefs, carries a background of programming, of conditioning, sustains the illusion of separateness between you and the other, between you and life, sustains the illusion of separateness between you and yourself.
It’s like there were many people inside you. One is the one who agrees, the other is the one who disagrees; one is the one who accepts, the other is the one who rejects. There is that doubtful one... That entity within you is in conflict. This internal dialogue that you have within yourself, the intrusive thoughts, the unexpected thoughts, this intrusion of present thoughts is because of this psychological memory, this second quality of memory.
This quality of thinking sustains the psychological suffering of this “I,” the psychological misery of this “I.” All the confusion, all the disorder, all the turmoil, all the restlessness is within this psychological condition of suffering, of disorder, created by this memory.
The question is: can we get rid of that memory? Can we discover That which is the Truth about who we are? If we get rid of this memory, then we have the key that opens the door to the Divine Reality.
This background of psychological conditioning, this whole story sustained by this ego-identity, this is the reality that has become our life, the illusory reality that has become our life.
We are living by thought, in thought, in this structure. Functional, practical, objective thinking has a very small place in our lives, very unimportant, compared to that quality of thinking that has taken on extraordinary importance in our lives and assumed extraordinary importance in our behavior, in our actions, in our relations.
Thus, the door remains closed, this portal to the Reality of our Being, of the Divine Reality that we bring within ourselves, remains closed, because our actions, based on this quality of thought that has taken on such enormous importance in our lives, constitute these egoic actions, these egocentric actions.
This whole structure of egocentrism present in our lives is something that is being supported by psychological thinking. And here I am referring to the thought of psychological conditioning, to this psychological memory; not to the memory of facts, but to the psychological memory.
If you are offended, if you are hurt, if you are sad with someone, the brain registers that. When you meet that person again, there is resentment, there is this hurt. Your relationship with that person is a relationship, now, based on remembrance, a belief, a memory. It is this psychological memory that causes conflict and suffering in relationships.
The ideas you have about who you are, all of them, are based on that kind of thinking.
The idea that you have of the other, the idea that you have of the world, the idea that you have of God... Because you have learned, within your religion, who God is, an image has been kept, a belief remains cultivated within you about the Truth of God. And what you have is not the Reality of God, the Truth of God, it is a belief, it is an image.
So, there is this concept of God. So, you say “my God is greater than your God.” It is the idea of God, of a God who is different. “The God I found is the real one, the God you found is the false one.” This is conflict, this is contradiction, this is disorder, this produces prejudice, differences, estrangement, isolationism.
Our actions are egocentric when they are based on psychological thinking, that psychological memory, that psychological conditioning.
This is how the “I” is sustained in us, the “I” that is just an image, that cultivates several other images, and, every day, adds new images to this old image that it makes of itself, that it has of itself.
Our work here is to Recognize the Truth about who we are. Our work is to understand how thought, throughout all this time, has been creating and sustaining this psychological conditioning within each one of us; to perceive the basis of that conditioning, the structure of that conditioning, that center where that conditioning is settled.That center is the “I,” the ego, the “me” – a strong image that separates itself from life, that separates itself from existence.
This is where we run into the problem of duality, the sense of separateness. If there is “I,” the world is outside. If there is “I,” I have my motives, my reasons, my fears, my desires, I have my private thoughts, my beliefs. This separates me from the whole Life, it separates me from all the Existence.
So, there is this egocentric model, there is this structure of egocentrism. Over the years, psychological problems will arise because of this psychological memory.
Anxiety is something like that, the pain of loneliness is something like that, existential void is present because of that, depression is present because of that.
The sense of “I” is a deformity, it is a pathology. We take it very passively. We get used to this condition of psychological disorder, of psychological suffering, of ignorance about ourselves.
Here, we are inviting you to look at the Truth about who You are, to realize the Reality of your Being and therefore to see the importance of going beyond this condition of the egoic mind, egoic consciousness, psychological memory, illusory identity, which is the “me,” the “I,” the ego.
Another important point is this issue of feeling, always linked to this psychological memory, to this psychological condition of being “somebody.” Notice how much the feeling receives continuity because of this psychological conditioning. What you feel is cultivated by thought. If you are irritated, choleric, with some level of stress or anger, realize how much thought, this psychological memory, supports that.
Thought needs to be understood, because it gives continuity to these feelings. If you don´t observe the movement of thought, you end up cultivating, unconsciously, internal states which you don´t want for yourself. Intrusive, obsessive and repetitive thoughts give continuity to internal states in you, negative states, states of unhappiness.
These inner states of feeling and emotion, in turn, reinforce these thoughts as well.
So, we live in a vicious circle. The thought appears and it sustains the feeling, emotion, state or sensation.
This state, this sensation, this feeling or emotion seeks confirmation in thought. So, one thing feeds the other. This is the egoic structure, the “I” structure. This is the structure of this false identity, of this “me.”
The point is that, over time, actions stop being important and thoughts take on extraordinary importance!
Life occurs in action. If, in meeting you, I carry an image of frustration, of disappointment, of sadness, of rejection, there will be no real action here with you in this relationship, because thought will be there, that image will be there. So, thought ends up taking on an extraordinary importance in our relationships with one another, and this favors conflict, suffering.
Couples, for example, live in a relationship of a lot of conflict, confusion and misunderstanding, because of these images. There is no action. Action is not important in the relationship. Thought has become important, feeling has become important. So, these considerations given to thought and feeling became very important.
So, our relationships… A relationship based on the “I,” on the ego, is a relationship based on conflict. So, I can say “I love you,” but that’s a lot of importance given to a feeling of pleasure, satisfaction, some form of fulfillment, and since that’s just an emotion, a feeling attached to an image, when something else happens, that image changes, because that feeling has changed, that emotion has changed. So, this “I love you” is no longer “I love you,” it is “I don't like you,” “I don't want to see you anymore,” “I don't want to hear from you anymore.”
So, what we call “love” is not love. Love is in the action, it is not in the idea, in the image, in the feeling, in the emotion – that is not Love.
Love is Consciousness, Love is Presence.
Love does not take into account resentment, hurt, desire for self-appreciation.
When there is Love, what is present is intelligence, understanding, compassion, tolerance, patience, care… All of these may appear as part of Love, but that is not yet Love either. Love makes this possible, but that is not yet Love. When there is Consciousness, when there is Presence, when the relationship is not based on thought, feeling and emotion, but in an approach of that Consciousness, where there is no separateness between this “me” and the other “I,” when there is no “I” and the other, when there is no “me” and “not me,” when there is no “I” and “not I,” when there is no duality in the relationship, what is present is this communion, and, in that communion, Love reveals itself.
Our work together is to discover the Truth about who we are and go beyond the illusion of that egoic sense, that sense of separateness, and therefore, go beyond thought.
When you are beyond thought, a door opens, and when that door opens, for the first time you are in touch with Love. Love is no longer based on images, thoughts, ideas, beliefs.
Love does not expect something, nor is it frustrated or disappointed with something. In Love, there is no other, there is no world. Love is the Reality of this Consciousness, which is God, the Truth of your Being, of your Divine Nature. When there is the end of thought, this new door opens: the door of Intelligence, of Truth; the door of Consciousness.
This is the subject that we deal with here on our channel. We are addressing Self-Realization, which represents the end of this ego-identity. That’s our work together. That’s the end of intrusive thoughts, that’s the end of obsessive thoughts, that’s the end of repetitive thoughts; This is the end of thought; This is the end of the “I,” of the “me,” of the ego.
If this is something that makes sense to you, leave your “like,” subscribe to the channel… I want to remind you: we have online meetings and, also, face-to-face meetings, where we work on this together. OK?
Thank you for the meeting. See you soon.
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