Sun Through Thought Clouds..
I read a report in, I think, the Scientific America, the other day, that claimed it was impossible for humans to stop thinking.The writer based this belief on the fact that in our collective past, when we lived in the wild, we had to think all the time to ensure our survival
Our thoughts would, he said, have been on a sort of red alert all the time, as we would have lived in fear of an attack by a wild animal. almost all the time.
Well, quite frankly, I do not think this is true. Why ? Because, as Ekhart Tolle has pointed out, animals don't think. They have an awareness that is beyond thought that serves them very well. and helps them survive So do we, but we are unaware of this awareness.
This awareness is vastly superior to thought, and it is our true sense of being.Through conditioning we have elevated thought and squashed our true nature.It is our misguided belief in thinking,our addiction to it, that has cut us off from our source.Thinking has its place and can be extremely useful, but we think 24.7 non-stop.
I was surprised and pleased that the article I wrote about in paragraph one received a lot of comments that all , more or less, wanted to know why no reference to meditation or Zen was mentioned.It was pointed out that it is possible to be in a state of' ' no thought' .
I can prove my argument that we don't think when faced with extreme danger by my own rather unpleasant experience.
Many years ago someone on a motorbike tried to rob me. It was a hot summers day and I was walking slowly back to my home midday; I was about five minutes away from it,and looking forward to relaxing for a while, after a busy morning.They say that statistically, you are more likely to be robbed, attacked, have an accident, or even be murdered near your home, than anywhere else. I think I can see why, as the closer you get to your own place , the more your guard is down; you are in familiar surroundings and your memory doesn't view the area as ,in any way, dangerous.
The bike drove slowly by me. I didn't really give it much attention, but was vaguely aware of a burly young man riding a large motorbike.I was walking by a house, and the bike made to slow down and , I thought that the rider probably lived in the house.Then it happened.
His right hand, at lightning speed grabbed the briefcase that I was carrying.My reaction was immediate with no time for thought, as I simply jerked the case back away from him with all my might.It was an automatic response. At the same time, again without thinking I shouted that there was no way that he was going to have my bag.I also let rip a string of swear words which surprised me as I had no idea where they came from.
He drove quickly away, and I thought ( only then I did think) that that was that.
How wrong I was. My not letting him get his prize together with my choice use of obscenities must have infuriated him.Suddenly I was aware of this guy yelling at me at top of his voice ,"I'm gonna kill you ".
I stared in horror as he drove his motorbike full throttle, towards me, as he kept repeating ," I'm gonna kill you, kill you "
I didn't think at all; thought was totally redundant in this situation. I felt my heart racing, my face flushing and my legs felt recharged with energy.I was experiencing the fight or flight response.Looking back,I realize that I actually felt very primal; I felt how I imagine a wild animal feels.
In the twinkling of eye I turned way from my would be murderer and started running as if my legs had wings. I swear that I have never run like I did that day. I had no idea that it was possible to run so fast.I was running up the road with the motor bike unable to catch me ! He kept shouting at me, but my trusty legs only increased their amazing speed.There was no escape though as all the houses had locked gates and high fences. There was no one on the street either; it was completely deserted.I didn't feel fear; I was fear running.It was truly the stuff of nightmares.
I reached the top of the street and charged down another deserted one with the biker in hot pursuit.Still no escape. I didn't even think ,how long can I keep this up, but just kept running like a champion.Then, thank God, I saw a driveway without any locked gates; the drive was by a large house with a huge garden.My legs took me in there as if they had the hounds of hell behind them ,and perhaps they did.
I stormed up to a window, as I couldn't see where the hell a front door was, and thumped on it and shouted," Help,".Looking through the window I saw an old lady who was staring at me in terror. I turned around and saw that the bike was hovering outside the gate.. I still had no thought, but I knew that the scared old lady would, no way, open the door for me as she saw me as a madman.
In the split of a second my feet were taking me at full speed to the back of the garden where a host of trees would offer me a hiding place. When I got there I stood stock still, like a wild animal, with my ears suddenly having supernatural hearing, listening for the sound of the bike or the sound of its rider creeping up the garden.I heard things one never normally hears and was astonished at the sounds all around us that we usually block out.
There was a faint sound of a bike roaring away. Then I collapsed on the ground and gasped and gasped and gasped. My legs now felt like jelly and my whole body shook. I stayed there for about half an hour, and then walked home.I somehow knew that he had gone.
I remember the large brandy I had when I got home felt like balm to my soul.
My attacker was , in my defense of running away, a hell of a lot younger than me and a very big guy, otherwise I would have tried to fight him off. I was no stranger to fighting, after having fought in the boxing ring every week from the age of 11 until 16 I also knew that I had never lost one fight ( here's my ego showing off), so it held no fear for me, but I hated it and always thought it so primitive.
I didn't think, shall I fight him? My awareness knew that this was not a good idea, as the guy was about thirty years younger than me, and I hadn't fought anyone since I was 16.My awareness knew that the best thing to do was to go like the wind, and that is what I did.
When this happened I was a very different person to the one I am today. Nowadays, if that happened, I'd like to think that I would say, "Take the briefcase " Then again, maybe I wouldn't; who knows what awareness without thought would do. I'm sure he would have been delighted to read 40 compositions written by 18 year old Greeks on ,'Threats To Our Environment' and The Oxford Phrasal Verb Companion together with The Gerunds and Infinitives exercise book. Looking back I wonder why I was so determined to keep my briefcase, but , at the time, it just seemed so wrong for this stranger to try and take anything from me.
When in danger our true self comes to the rescue and tells us what to do.The awareness is there all the time, and is trying to tell us how to live our lives in the best possible way, but, the sad part is, we are not paying it any attention so immersed are we in our thoughts.We are drowning out our true awareness.
If only we could stop our addiction, our reliance on, our clinging to our thoughts and let the awareness, like the sun, shine through our thought clouds, we would live our lives in harmony and in tune with the cosmos.
The only way to stop thinking is to live only in the now, and give all your attention to the present moment,with no thought at all of the past and no thought of the future.
The irony is to stop thinking, you do need to think just one thought, and that thought is 'I must live in the now'.
" Pay no attention to your thoughts.Don't fight them.Just do nothing about them, whatever they are.Your very fighting them gives them life. Just disregard. Look through.You need to stop thinking.Just cease being interested. Stop your routine of acquisitiveness,your habit of looking for results, and the freedom of the universe is yours."
Nisargadatta.
Our thoughts would, he said, have been on a sort of red alert all the time, as we would have lived in fear of an attack by a wild animal. almost all the time.
Well, quite frankly, I do not think this is true. Why ? Because, as Ekhart Tolle has pointed out, animals don't think. They have an awareness that is beyond thought that serves them very well. and helps them survive So do we, but we are unaware of this awareness.
This awareness is vastly superior to thought, and it is our true sense of being.Through conditioning we have elevated thought and squashed our true nature.It is our misguided belief in thinking,our addiction to it, that has cut us off from our source.Thinking has its place and can be extremely useful, but we think 24.7 non-stop.
I was surprised and pleased that the article I wrote about in paragraph one received a lot of comments that all , more or less, wanted to know why no reference to meditation or Zen was mentioned.It was pointed out that it is possible to be in a state of' ' no thought' .
I can prove my argument that we don't think when faced with extreme danger by my own rather unpleasant experience.
Many years ago someone on a motorbike tried to rob me. It was a hot summers day and I was walking slowly back to my home midday; I was about five minutes away from it,and looking forward to relaxing for a while, after a busy morning.They say that statistically, you are more likely to be robbed, attacked, have an accident, or even be murdered near your home, than anywhere else. I think I can see why, as the closer you get to your own place , the more your guard is down; you are in familiar surroundings and your memory doesn't view the area as ,in any way, dangerous.
The bike drove slowly by me. I didn't really give it much attention, but was vaguely aware of a burly young man riding a large motorbike.I was walking by a house, and the bike made to slow down and , I thought that the rider probably lived in the house.Then it happened.
His right hand, at lightning speed grabbed the briefcase that I was carrying.My reaction was immediate with no time for thought, as I simply jerked the case back away from him with all my might.It was an automatic response. At the same time, again without thinking I shouted that there was no way that he was going to have my bag.I also let rip a string of swear words which surprised me as I had no idea where they came from.
He drove quickly away, and I thought ( only then I did think) that that was that.
How wrong I was. My not letting him get his prize together with my choice use of obscenities must have infuriated him.Suddenly I was aware of this guy yelling at me at top of his voice ,"I'm gonna kill you ".
I stared in horror as he drove his motorbike full throttle, towards me, as he kept repeating ," I'm gonna kill you, kill you "
I didn't think at all; thought was totally redundant in this situation. I felt my heart racing, my face flushing and my legs felt recharged with energy.I was experiencing the fight or flight response.Looking back,I realize that I actually felt very primal; I felt how I imagine a wild animal feels.
In the twinkling of eye I turned way from my would be murderer and started running as if my legs had wings. I swear that I have never run like I did that day. I had no idea that it was possible to run so fast.I was running up the road with the motor bike unable to catch me ! He kept shouting at me, but my trusty legs only increased their amazing speed.There was no escape though as all the houses had locked gates and high fences. There was no one on the street either; it was completely deserted.I didn't feel fear; I was fear running.It was truly the stuff of nightmares.
I reached the top of the street and charged down another deserted one with the biker in hot pursuit.Still no escape. I didn't even think ,how long can I keep this up, but just kept running like a champion.Then, thank God, I saw a driveway without any locked gates; the drive was by a large house with a huge garden.My legs took me in there as if they had the hounds of hell behind them ,and perhaps they did.
I stormed up to a window, as I couldn't see where the hell a front door was, and thumped on it and shouted," Help,".Looking through the window I saw an old lady who was staring at me in terror. I turned around and saw that the bike was hovering outside the gate.. I still had no thought, but I knew that the scared old lady would, no way, open the door for me as she saw me as a madman.
In the split of a second my feet were taking me at full speed to the back of the garden where a host of trees would offer me a hiding place. When I got there I stood stock still, like a wild animal, with my ears suddenly having supernatural hearing, listening for the sound of the bike or the sound of its rider creeping up the garden.I heard things one never normally hears and was astonished at the sounds all around us that we usually block out.
There was a faint sound of a bike roaring away. Then I collapsed on the ground and gasped and gasped and gasped. My legs now felt like jelly and my whole body shook. I stayed there for about half an hour, and then walked home.I somehow knew that he had gone.
I remember the large brandy I had when I got home felt like balm to my soul.
My attacker was , in my defense of running away, a hell of a lot younger than me and a very big guy, otherwise I would have tried to fight him off. I was no stranger to fighting, after having fought in the boxing ring every week from the age of 11 until 16 I also knew that I had never lost one fight ( here's my ego showing off), so it held no fear for me, but I hated it and always thought it so primitive.
I didn't think, shall I fight him? My awareness knew that this was not a good idea, as the guy was about thirty years younger than me, and I hadn't fought anyone since I was 16.My awareness knew that the best thing to do was to go like the wind, and that is what I did.
When this happened I was a very different person to the one I am today. Nowadays, if that happened, I'd like to think that I would say, "Take the briefcase " Then again, maybe I wouldn't; who knows what awareness without thought would do. I'm sure he would have been delighted to read 40 compositions written by 18 year old Greeks on ,'Threats To Our Environment' and The Oxford Phrasal Verb Companion together with The Gerunds and Infinitives exercise book. Looking back I wonder why I was so determined to keep my briefcase, but , at the time, it just seemed so wrong for this stranger to try and take anything from me.
When in danger our true self comes to the rescue and tells us what to do.The awareness is there all the time, and is trying to tell us how to live our lives in the best possible way, but, the sad part is, we are not paying it any attention so immersed are we in our thoughts.We are drowning out our true awareness.
If only we could stop our addiction, our reliance on, our clinging to our thoughts and let the awareness, like the sun, shine through our thought clouds, we would live our lives in harmony and in tune with the cosmos.
The only way to stop thinking is to live only in the now, and give all your attention to the present moment,with no thought at all of the past and no thought of the future.
The irony is to stop thinking, you do need to think just one thought, and that thought is 'I must live in the now'.
" Pay no attention to your thoughts.Don't fight them.Just do nothing about them, whatever they are.Your very fighting them gives them life. Just disregard. Look through.You need to stop thinking.Just cease being interested. Stop your routine of acquisitiveness,your habit of looking for results, and the freedom of the universe is yours."
Nisargadatta.
Mike Selley
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