August 11th, 2023
Hello fellow space travelers!
What does it mean to be a conscious human being? Perhaps we hear the antonym more frequently: Unconscious. When someone is unconscious, they have lost all awareness. It would make sense then that when someone is conscious, they would have access to all awareness, or be aware. Furthermore, there must be a space or a field that lies behind being conscious or unconscious. Both states come from somewhere. To that end, things seem to move in and out of this state of awareness. Whether one is consciously aware or unconsciously unaware, these states simply are. Sounds also come and go. Sights and visions and memories come and go. Sensations in the body certainly come and go. And, of course, our old friends ‘the thoughts’–they assuredly come and go. Where do all of these infiltrators come from? Where does a thought actually come from? We know it’s temporary. So where does it go? I guess most of the time it’s shoved out of the way by another thought. After all, human beings crank up over 60,000 thoughts per day. Think about the conveyor belt of thoughts we experience. A thought is brought into existence, where it’s there existing, and then it’s moving out of existence a moment later. No thought has ever stayed with you continuously for more than a few seconds. Most of us deal with this concept, this ceaseless parade of thoughts, our entire lives. What’s behind all that? Is there anywhere to get a foothold on something existing behind the curtain? What is behind a sensation of your hips hurting? What is underneath feeling tired, or anxious, or excited? We witness and acknowledge these states and then they generally dissolve and succumb to something else. Have you ever had a headache, but went through moments during the day where you forgot about your head hurting until you thought about it again? If these sensations and thoughts are so flimsy, what are they tied to? Perhaps more importantly, how do we access the state of awareness behind everything on a regular basis. It’s one thing to sit and meditate and obtain glimpses of the field of awareness behind it all. It’s another thing to have full access to that plane on a regular basis. Is this part of the evolution of our mind? Maybe one day there won’t be anything outside of our field of awareness when we’re recognizing it 100% of the time.
Now…about all those dang thoughts: It would seem evident that removing thoughts altogether is a futile task. They keep appearing incessantly on their own accord. The content shifts- from memories, plans, people, visions, etc., but they keep flowing. Is seems there has to be some acceptance tied in here. ‘I am a human being, therefore I think.’ Okay, got it. After all, each of us has inherited millions of years of biology. During that time, the thinking, analytical mind has been our edge and our secret weapon against the challenges of propagating the species. To that end, the deluge of thoughts experienced by humans is both a blessing and a curse. Those very thoughts spawn the ideas, creations, and manifestations that make for human progress. But, they do tend to cloud experience. Meaning, they have a tendency to obstruct being here, now. So if we can agree that there’s no eradicating or removing thoughts, then I see two options: One, can we change the thoughts into ones we specifically want – aka beneficial thoughts? Or Two, can we go a step behind that — can we recognize the thoughts as they emerge and therefore allow the awareness space behind them to simply exist and recognize it consciously? If we can watch each thought come and go like blowing bubbles in the wind, does that vantage point as the ‘watcher’ liberate us? Is it not so ironic that we’re often using our mind in order to escape the mind and obtain pure experience? Whoa…who put this damn game together? You did!
Peace and love to all beings,
Jesse
