Thought is not a problem. Thought has never been a problem.
Of course there’s thought. It’s what brings sensation, perception, reminiscence and imagination.
Sensation. The feeling of the senses. Touch, taste, smell, sight, sound. Every single thing you experience of the world, an experience of sensation.
Perception. How you can walk with your eyes shut, or find your mouth with a spoon. Everything you experience of your body, an experience of perception.
Reminiscence. The past. Memory. Stories. Learning. Everything you recall that’s ever happened, an experience of reminiscence.
Imagination. The future. Day dreams. Worry. Hopes. Creativity. Genius. Everything you can see coming into being, an experience of imagination.
Sensation. Perception. Reminiscence. Imagination. Thought.
In thought, a mind arises. A mind of imagination. A mind of reminiscences. A mind which perceives a body. A body which senses a world. But never outside of its own self. In dreams, you take on new sensations, perceptions, memories and imaginings. You take on the limitation of a dreamt body. And that body may adventure, and travel and age. Then the dream ends and the dreamt body dissolves back into the awareness within which it arose.
Thought appears within awareness. As awareness in movement. The same awareness that rests in limitless presence. This thought, this awareness in movement, is the mind. Through habit, through conditioning, through belief, the mind misinterprets the perceptions and sensations that are itself. Believes in a body outside of itself. Believes in a world outside of that body. Believes itself separate, in that world. And then goes on a fruitless journey outward, searching for the love, peace and understanding that echo within it. Searching for what can never be found in a world created by the seeker.
The mind, a thought itself, takes on the role of thinker. Limits identity to the mind and body. And yet, at any point, you can notice the ‘I’ of awareness is constant, even as all experience of the body and the world comes and goes. Just as the dreamt body and world appear in awareness, and dissolve. Like an inhale and an exhale. Breathe in, thought ebbs. Breathe out, thought flows. Breathe in, and rest in the limitless presence of awareness. Breathe out, and notice the rising up of a mind, awareness dancing as thought. Knowingly, awareness dancing. Not pointing outward, but inward.
Breathe in, rest.
Breathe out, dance.
Thought is not a problem. Thought was never a problem. Thought, released from the illusory limitations of a separate self, is free to express itself as the experience of awareness. Free to be love, peace and understanding.
With Love,
Sara
