Observing Your Thoughts and Discovering the Real You
Written and Posted by Remez Sasson in Spiritual Growth- What happens if you observe your thoughts?
- What happens if you ask yourself where do your thoughts come from?
- Who is thinking all these thoughts?
- Are you your thoughts, or are they something that occur to you?
- Do your thoughts belong to you, or do they just pass through your mind?
If you keep asking yourself these questions, in time, you will discover that you, the Real You, is not your thoughts and is not dependent on your thoughts. By trying to observe your thoughts, with a bit of detachment, you will develop calmness, inner peace and silence, and the ability to look inside, beneath your thoughts and the ego-personality. This sometimes leads to awareness and knowledge of the Real Self – the Spirit.
Concentration exercises and meditation, can also lead to the same experience. They too, calm down the mind, which is always busy with thoughts, and lift the veil of thoughts hiding the Consciousness within – the Real Self.
At first there might short glimpses of a “different consciousness” of peace, inner silence and bliss. These short glimpses can in time grow longer and become more frequent. In some cases, this state of consciousness becomes one’s natural, everyday state of consciousness. This is the experience of nonduality and spiritual awakening.
In this state of consciousness there is peace and bliss and awareness of who you really are, being beyond body and form. Thinking stops being compulsory, and you don’t feel the need to think, though you can think whenever you want. It is a state of full awareness, the five senses are alert and sharp, and you can continue living your life, working, talking and interacting with other people in a most efficient way.
Since this experience is beyond the mind, it is not so easy to describe it in words. This is why you will find differences in the description of this state between one writer and another. Some are more eloquent with the use of words than others. When reading about this experience, try to look beyond the words, try to catch the essence of it, without too much mental analysis, so that your intuition awakens.
“The mind is only a bundle of thoughts. The thoughts have their root in the I-thought. Whoever investigates the True “I” enjoys the stillness of bliss.”
-Sri Ramana Maharshi -
“See who is the doubter, who is the thinker. It is the ego. Hold it; the other thoughts will die away – the ego will be left pure. See the source from where the ego arises and abide in it. That is pure consciousness.”
- Sri Ramana Maharshi -
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Interesting quotes at the end. I find meditation helps to achieve peace of mind, and ultimately promote spiritual awakening.
I’ve posted some articles on my blog related to this topic. It would be great if you could take a look and comment.
Spiritual Awakening
Luke.
this is very interesting to me, and I tried this so much, but I find my self becoming my thoughts instead, first there is stillness in my mind, then suddenly I find that a thought has sweept me away and Im totally consumed by the thought, with no observing at all, how does one get to stand beside the thought so one can observe it?
it cannot observe it self. huge problem:/
Observing your thoughts requires:
1. Some degree of concentration.
2. The ability to be at least a little mentallyand emotinally detached while observing your thoughts.
3. Daily practice.
4. It can help, if before you begin, you tell yourself that any important thought will be dealt later, after you finish meditating.
5. No matter how many times you get distarcted, don’t be discouraged, just start again and again.