"We suffer more in imagination than reality", said Seneca. "To perceive is to suffer" said Aristotle. "There is no good or bad, but thinking makes it so", said Shakespeare. "Can a single anxious thought at a moment to your life?" said Jesus. All of the greatest thinkers, philosophers, and teachers appeared to arrive at this same conclusion: our thoughts cause us most of our unhappiness and suffering.
I have a saying which I use quite frequently, which is that the majority of our human unhappiness arises from our inability to stop thinking. Your thinking mind is likely so continuously active, thinking about the past or worrying about possible futures, that it stops you from feeling content and peaceful in the one moment there is - the present.
Your mind ultimately is a survival tool, it is there to keep you alive. So it's primary function for many years has always been to search for problems and danger. So, if it is unable to find an immediate problem to sink its teeth into, it will begin to create some. It will begin to create imaginary scenarios in your future to then start worrying about, or it will start to bring up things from your past you didn't like so you can try to stop them from happening again. This is your mind's key function, and it will keep doing this unless you learn to silence it.
The art of not thinking is exactly what it sounds like, yet very few people still have mastered such a skill. To not think is the essence of zen Buddhism, and in my view the essence of all of spirituality. Spiritual teachings have always aimed to bring us back to who we truly are, which is the conscious awareness that lies behind our thoughts. Rather than being completely trapped in thought, in the spiritual awakening we realise that this has never been the case - our thoughts arise in us, not the other way around.
You do not exist inside your thoughts, your thoughts arise in you. You are the silent awareness in which your thoughts are appearing. In this realisation lies the salvation you are looking for.
When in the normal state of human consciousness, you are lost in your thoughts. Your mind is chatting away throughout the day and you are at its mercy. Your mind thinks, but you cannot stop it. Your mind is running on its own.
As you awaken you simply realise that this thinking mind is only a shadow of who you truly are. There is the mind, and here I am observing it. What an incredible liberation this is!
To awaken spiritually means to awaken from thought. Rather than being identified with every thought that arise you instead rest as the silent awareness transcendent to thought. As you know yourself as the awareness of thought, the thoughts themselves lose their sense of reality. They become more transparent, less heavy, and you can simply see them for what they are - thoughts, nothing more.
Your mind may be calling you a failure, it may be replaying all of that horrible stuff you did in the past, or it may be projecting you into all those horrible anxious moments in your future. But then, you remember - these are just thoughts right now. They need not harm you. They are words and images in your head, nothing more.
And with this, you can become more deeply aware of the present moment you are in. You can become conscious, awake, and present to this moment... without thought. To rest gently as a silent observing presence without the need to think about anything.
This is the liberation to which spiritual teachings point us.
As this happens, a new dimension of consciousness becomes available to you - a state of consciousness that is deeply one and at peace. It is the essence of who you are behind the thinking mind you once mistook yourself to be. It is the spacious peace that lies beyond your name, body, and thoughts.
You are the consciousness in which everything appears. The space for everything to be.
You are an eternal spiritual being having a temporary human experience.
Nothing is needed to be feared.
So whenever your mind is pulling you away, become present. Be there as the observer of your mind as it thinks. This will withdraw power from it and it will begin to slow down.
The way out of suffering is learning to dis-identify from the mind.
And it happens by becoming fully alert and present to the only moment there ever is - the timeless Now.
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