Here, the question is: “What is to think and what is thought?” Let us begin; let us put this in a very simple way here for you. In general, we believe we are thinking. In fact, what is this thinker you believe to be when thought is not present? Notice that when there is no thought, there is no thinker. So, what is this thinker? Perceive that this thinker always appears when thought is present.
Thus, observe: here, we already have the first answer about what a thinker is. The thinker is the one who is present when thought is present. So, the answer to “What is thought?” is in the simple verification that there is no thought now without a remembrance, a memory. It is this memory, this remembrance we call “thought.” And it is this thought that we call “thinker.”
That is quite strange. (laughs) Because, in general, we believe that we are thinking people. We are people who are thinking. People who thinking are us. “I am the thinker of this thought.” But that is not true. It is definitely the presence of this thought that tells us about the existence of this thinker. So much so that you cannot dismiss a thought when it is already present. Thought arrives, and after it, the thinker arises. It is not the other way around. It is not as we believe: the thinker arrives and then thought comes. So much so that you cannot get rid of it if it is already present.
Try to get rid of a thought to see if you can. How many times have you found yourself trying to get rid of thoughts and did not succeed? Why do we have thoughts that we do not want to have? Because these thoughts arise before this so-called “thinker.” Simply that! So, thought comes first; it creates the thinker. Then, the thinker wants to fight with it. And that does not solve anything.
You want to get rid of a thought. You are the thinker – at least you believe you are – and you want to abandon that thought. And you cannot. You lay down to sleep and cannot. And you want to get rid of that thought. See that you lie down to sleep and cannot do it due to the present thinking. If you are the thinker, you can simply say “no” to those thoughts, and they disappear. But is it so? That is not how it happens. Thoughts are present, and you simply do not sleep while they are there. Then, they decrease and there comes a moment when they disappear; you fall asleep and do not even realize when it happened.
The truth is that you are not present to be the thinker. Thought is producing the thinker and coming into conflict with thought. And the greater the conflict with the thought, the more restless the body feels and the further from sleep you are. That is how we work; that is how thinking works. So, what is thought? Thought is something that comes from the past, from a memory. It is a simple memory response to this given moment. Lying in bed is the moment, and this reaction that comes from the past, which is remembrance, memory, and thought, arises. It stays as long as it wants, disappears, and sleep arrives. There is no “you” in this.
It is crucial to understand what thought is. Because the non-understanding of what it is always puts you under the illusion of someone controlling this movement, which is not true. That is a factor of stress, anxiety, depression, anguish, fear, and suffering. Because thought separates itself to be the thinker, to react to that remembrance, that memory; to reject the memory, go against it, which is thought, or to identify with that memory, that thought. And so, we have established conflict, suffering of anxiety, anguish and depression.
All of this requires careful examination on our part. In general, people want to discover how to overcome fear, depression, anxiety, and this or that psychological condition of unhappiness. But they believe they can overcome it because they believe in this “I,” this power of the “I.” They believe they exist as people and they are in control of feelings, emotions, and thoughts. But that is not true. This feeling, thought, or emotion is a response from the brain at this instant, at this present moment, in this format. So, this reaction, which is the response of the brain to this moment, is a very particular movement of the mechanism of how the mind works.
How does the mind work? Notice: we have countless questions – all of them directly linked to the issue of thought. Thought is a factor common to all people and problems. The end of this quality of thought – I call it the quality of thought, which is psychological thought, the reactive thought of memory – a quality of thought that is continually producing some level of conflict, of suffering in each of us, that is occurring because we do not understand what thought is and what thinking is. We do not know what thinking is, just as we do not know what feeling is.
So, we are always placing a present identity on this sentimental, emotional, sensory feeling, which is the “I,” this “me,” the person, the ego, to fight, resist, come into conflict, react to this feeling and thinking. That is the condition of ignorance about who we are and how we truly function. It is like putting a car in your hands without knowing how to drive and asking you to start it. We are constantly dealing with life without any understanding of what it is or what it represents. The truth of not understanding life is the truth of not understanding ourselves.
If we do not understand how we function sentimentally, emotionally, psychologically, and physically – in our reactions, gestures, actions, and words, if we do not understand how we function, our entire response to life will be inadequate and, therefore, conflicting and in resistance. Therein lies the explanation of all this confusion that is our life when there is not this Freedom of Pure Being, Pure Consciousness, the Awareness of the Divine Reality we are. As long as we do not know the truth of what thinking is, and here thinking is What is present when the sense of an “I” is not involved with this movement of thoughts, arguing with, reacting to, condemning it, wanting to do something.
Thinking is present when the sense of the ego is not, just like seeing is present when the sense of an “I” observing is not. This “I” that watches is the ego that, when doing it, likes, dislikes, accepts, and rejects. This thinking free from the thinker is the one aware of the movement of thought, and it is this practical, objective, and functional thought that is present. We need to think at this level – at the practical, objective, and functional level. To perform a task, we need thought, which is knowledge, a memory stored within us, of how to do that given thing. That is functional, practical thinking. It is in this sense that thinking becomes important. There is real thinking only at this level: in a practical, objective way making direct use of knowledge.
Now, this so-called movement of thought in us, which produces conflict, contradiction, fear, and all kinds of disorder in our relationships – which are the thoughts that arise from a reactive response of memory, but this movement of thought, as we know it, that comes from the past, that is at the service of that illusory center that is the “I,” the ego, that thinker, which separates itself from thought, which separates itself from feeling and emotion to reject, struggle, to try to do something with this experience, this psychological condition of being someone, this psychosomatic being that is the “I,” the ego – as long as it is present, there will be suffering, some form of misery and disorder.
Here, we are looking together at this issue of the end of suffering, the end to this psychological, emotional, and physical suffering, created by the sense of an “I” that separates itself from the experience, which is life happening here and now. It separates itself to fight and react. We have emphasized in these speeches and meetings the importance of not reacting. Non-reaction is the great secret to a life of Love, Peace, Freedom, and Happiness. Not reacting, non-reacting, is possible when there is only thinking, feeling, and observing; observing without the observer, feeling without that element that is the “I” in that feeling; thinking without this element, which is the thinker involved in this process.
So, there is a free internal state, in a direct relationship with life as it is, in this direct experience of life in non-reaction. Non-reaction to life as it shows itself is to not place the “I” element, the ego, within it. So, non-reaction is the secret to this Freedom, Peace, Happiness, to Completeness of Being. Understanding oneself is understanding the Truth of what thinking is, what thought is, and where the place of thought is in the context of life. Notice: the only place it has is the place of objective, practical, functional knowledge in our relationships with people and the world around us. But when we put the “I” element, the ego into this, we have a problem, and the problem is one single problem: the problem is the “I.
Life is a present Reality as it is; there is no problem in it. It is the sense of an “I” present, of an ego, the reason for all problems. We have said here in these meetings that there is no problem. There are no problems, only the “I” is the issue, the problem, the dilemma. It is this sense of an “I” present in the experience, reacting, fighting, evaluating, criticizing, judging, or comparing. A life free from the sense of “I,” from the ego, is a life of Love, Freedom, Peace, and Happiness.
So, this is our work here, our invitation to you. We have online meetings on the weekends. You can find the Whatsapp link here to participate in these online meetings on weekends. We have face-to-face meetings and also retreats. If this is something that makes sense to you, so, please, leave a “like,” subscribe to the channel, and let's work on this together, OK? Thanks for the meeting, and see you!
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