The World of Man is made up entirely of thought - thoughts that tell you what things are, how things work, what everyone should believe, and what's wrong with you. The latter category of thoughts - what's wrong with you - are the most damaging and controlling. All through childhood we learn the standards of good and bad through lecture, comparison and example, and it's all about how to measure up - looks, skills, wealth, test scores, popularity rankings. We internalize all these beliefs as if they were true and completely lose our way in an endless labyrinth of thought. The problem is thoughts and beliefs are not true. You are not what you think or believe. God is not what you think. Nothing is what you think!
Thought is also the cause of duality. We need to distinguish between what is and what we (or the culture) think about it. A name is never the same thing as that which it refers. Words, concepts, lexicons, theories, and beliefs are fine for creating maps of reality, but they are not the same as reality. When you intensely examine a bird or a flower or a watch in a consciousness free of thought, you will discover it is far more amazing, mysterious and sacred than all the ideas you have about it.
In the place of more thought, genuine spiritual life takes us into the silence of no thought. Here there are no problems, rules, goals, standards, stories, clocks, calendars, or beliefs. Here, even the idea of you disappears. As the veil of thought dissolves, what's left is a wondrous and continuous flow of magic, miracle and mystery. You knew this place as a child before identity, time and story hijacked your consciousness. You can know it again in aging as you surrender the concepts that make you a "person" with "problems" in a "complicated world" and awaken instead in the timeless and sacred what is.
I tell you, it is such a relief to live in this consciousness free of thought. It is purest kind of freedom. And in this space, you will discover that consciousness is the ground of all being and the source of all love. Mix consciousness with being, and you get bliss. Silence is divinity's consciousness. We live in that. We are that. It all comes back to silence.
Thought is also the cause of duality. We need to distinguish between what is and what we (or the culture) think about it. A name is never the same thing as that which it refers. Words, concepts, lexicons, theories, and beliefs are fine for creating maps of reality, but they are not the same as reality. When you intensely examine a bird or a flower or a watch in a consciousness free of thought, you will discover it is far more amazing, mysterious and sacred than all the ideas you have about it.
In the place of more thought, genuine spiritual life takes us into the silence of no thought. Here there are no problems, rules, goals, standards, stories, clocks, calendars, or beliefs. Here, even the idea of you disappears. As the veil of thought dissolves, what's left is a wondrous and continuous flow of magic, miracle and mystery. You knew this place as a child before identity, time and story hijacked your consciousness. You can know it again in aging as you surrender the concepts that make you a "person" with "problems" in a "complicated world" and awaken instead in the timeless and sacred what is.
I tell you, it is such a relief to live in this consciousness free of thought. It is purest kind of freedom. And in this space, you will discover that consciousness is the ground of all being and the source of all love. Mix consciousness with being, and you get bliss. Silence is divinity's consciousness. We live in that. We are that. It all comes back to silence.