YOU ARE NOT YOUR MIND. PART I

“I cannot live with myself any longer.”

“But am I one or two? If I cannot live with my self, there must be two of me: The ‘I’ and the ‘self’ that ‘I’ cannot live with.” “Maybe,” I thought, “only one of them is real.”

Enlightenment — what is it?

Enlightenment is the end of suffering. — Buddha

In other words, it is simply your natural state of felt oneness with Being. The word Being(not to be confused with GOD) represents the eternal ever-present one life within you and is beyond the forms of life that are subject to Life and Death. And thus, Enlightenment is the state of connectedness with something immeasurable, indestructible. It is to regain awareness of Being and to abide in that state of “feeling-realisation.”

What is the greatest obstacle to this reality?

Identification with your mind.

We are all unconsciously controlled by the mind, and we identify with it. It is the ultimate sense of who we are. Because, after all, our thoughts mould us to the person we are today. And yet, it is our greatest enemy. It is a continuous machine that echoes a voice that is part of your unconditioned brain, a result of your past history as well as all the collective cultural mind set you inherited.

There is no denial that the mind is the greatest tool when used properly, but it can also be greatly destructive. We are subject to the endless noise in our heads, the ever flowing stream of thought that never seems to stop. If only it pauses for a few seconds, only then will we experience ourselves beyond the realm of thought. What results is a state of consciousness that is still and at peace.

Enlightenment, therefore, is not only the end of suffering and continuous conflict within and without, but also the end of the dreadful enslavement to incessant thinking.

Think of it this way — your mind is always in control, the laziest organ in your body is in control of you. You can simply prove this by trying to free your mind whenever you want too. Have you found the off button?

The good news is you can free yourself from your mind. This is the only true liberation. You can take the first step right now. Start listening to the voice in your head as often as you can. Pay particular attention to any repetitive thought patterns. This is what I mean by “watching the thinker” which is another way of saying: listen to the voice in your head, be there witnessing the presence.

When you listen to that voice, listen to it impartially. That is to say, do not judge. Do not judge or condemn what you hear, for doing so would mean that the same voice has come in again through the back door. You will soon realise, and here I am listening to it, watching it. This I am realisation, this sense of your presence, is not a thought. It arises from beyond the mind.

So when you listen to a thought, you are aware of the thought but also of yourself as the witness of the thought. A new dimension of consciousness has come in. Your conscious presence. The thought suddenly looses its power and you no longer identify with your mind. This is the beginning of the end of involuntary and compulsive thinking.

So the single most vital step on your journey towards enlightenment is this: learn to misidentify from your mind. Create a gap of no-mind, and your consciousness will grow stronger.

Enlightenment: Rising above thought.

When we say to silence the mind and go beyond the stream of thought, it does not mean to stop thinking or to dwell below it to the level of an animal or a plant. The essence of consciousness is far greater than the thought itself, and thus we must rise above it.