Brickbat

Science with all it's arsenal has not yet been able to discover the command centre of a thought.

Thought is our world. Thought is like fire. It can warm you and cook your food. It can also burn your house down.

We just need to be masters of thought. Not its slave

What we require is intense training of our own mind , enabling us to think in terms of its vast potentiality. The all pervading mind is the source of all minds, as the ocean operates through all the droplets of water. If a wave assumes individuality, and tries to assert itself , like minds do, it's soon part of the ocean, like we go back into dust. Our prejudiced nature is so hard that it will not permit us to think even what is best for us.. A king in hell rather than a servant in heaven.

But with no mind , how would you know? What is there to experience , because mind is thought , as agreed. Mind has a predilection to enjoy the limitations of its own self, shrinking itself more and more into a very, very limited cocoon of it's prejudiced individuality, so that this tiny tot of a so called 'I' within ourself feels 'happy' within the tortuous cell of our own bodily encasement. All thought is a judgement. Going about our daily business without thought is dangerous. Time set aside to be present ( meditation) would slowly bring us to choice less awareness, a term coins by Krishnamurti.

I agree. But don't you find it's an isolating experience. Because we are surrounded by people who are asleep. We loose our ambition, our non judgement makes us ' boring' , our needs become less, end up like a lizard on a rock. Hence my comment earlier about balance. Be the noumenal and the phenomenal. It's all creation. But we get pulled whichever way we give our attention too.

By "whole" , I mean this entire universe comprising of just the 5 elements. Which is everything. Nothing stands outside the universe.

I presume you mean the drop in the ocean , is the ocean . As Samuel Johnson said, " We are just one stupendous whole, whose body nature is , and god the soul."

Dividing parts into pieces of the whole is , I suppose, mind work.

I do not believe anything can examine itself. A thought cannot examine itself. Just like the eye cannot see itself.

To examine something, it has to be outside. We are all part of , and in this universe. Knowing reality is impossible.

I don't cherish any opinions, in the end. Including mine.

Everything is the universe. Like a drop of the ocean is the ocean. A microcosm within a Macrocosm.

Everything is just the 5 elements. Earth, wind, water, fire and ether.

This 'self' is a part of the whole. And as science has proved what you have said, there is nothing. We are 99.99999% empty space

Energy. Cannot be created nor destroyed . So the universe is infinite. In one form or another.

Mind is nothing but a thought. Called mind because it's bumper to bumper.

Science has now proved that there is no shape, no color, no form. That all is a ceaselessly flowing, ambiguous quantum soup.

The "self' is the oneness of the uni-verse. Our 'minds' being finite, and in this universe, can never ever understand and know the infinite. Just like the eye cannot see itself or the mind know the mind. We have to traverse that frightening abyss of No-thing to be redeemed.

But this tricky little monkey ( mind) won't let go!!

This is what " thought " does. Divide. Separate. Ramana Maharshi was the guru to Nisargadatta who then had all the western disciples who spread the knowledge of non- duality. When we think, we create duality. But thinking is needed to survive. Hence the balancing act.

Buddha never asked anyone to believe him. He actually said we should reason ourselves and " be a light unto thyself". His teachings are the foundations of today's psychology.

Christ said wonderful things. Eg " be in this world, but not of it" .

Samuel Johnson

" we are but one Stupendous whole,

Whose Body Nature is, and a God the Soul"

Mate, an opinion, like everything. We don't have a soul. We are soul. May there are some Ahhhh! souls too. Like moi.

Think about this. We are the world. A microcosm within the entire Macrocosm. We are not outside the world.

So how can we ( anybody) know what's not outside us? No one knows reality. All speculation.

Have a cup of tea. And laugh!! All a big joke

We are all only capable of one thought at a time. Scientifically proven. Bumper to bumper, so we call it Mind.

Mind does not exist. Only thoughts do. ( Bodhidharma said to the Chinese emperor ' show me your mind' . He could not) .

So, when you observe your breath, with full attention, Guess what!! You are in meditation.

Practise this and you are transcending thoughts. You are in meditation. Congratulations

We are all only capable of one thought at a time. Scientifically proven. Bumper to bumper, so we call it Mind.

Mind does not exist. Only thoughts do. ( Bodhidharma said to the Chinese emperor ' show me your mind' . He could not) .

So, when you observe your breath, with full attention, Guess what!! You are in meditation.

Practise this and you are transcending thoughts. You are in meditation. Congratulations

Amazing to see how the " minds" are running amuck. Hard to let go, huh'?

In meditation, thoughts are transcended. Thoughts are the problem.

Acc to Einstien, it will never, ever fix the problem

That's where all the unscrupulous traders come in. And teach garbage.

All one needs is to try this. Invite a thought. And watch for it. NOTHING. NO THOUGHT .

THAT IS WHO WE ARE. THE OBSERVER. CHOICE-LESS AWARENESS

now back to the mind hocus pocus.

Isn't letting go easier? But this Mind won't allow it. And many tools just strengthen the pernicious habit of " thinking" .

It's too simple, isn't it. To just observe the breath. Millions follow Buddhism and Hinduism rituals and rites , yet their original masters taught this basic principle to be Present. A thought can never be in the present. It's only past or future. Analysing the present makes it the past. It can never happen.

By observing the breath, one slowly learns to be mindful . In meditation.

Hi Mudcrab, I see you have an image of Yeashea Ben Yusuf, later known as Jesus. He did say " be in this world but not off it" and " whatever ye seek within you will save you, whatever ye seek without will destroy you" . I believe he was talking about meditation.

It was Paul McCartney that wrote that song. It was George Harrison that followed Hinduism , jumping from Maharishi after his sex scandal and joined the harekrishnas.. He coaxed the others to visit the fool on the hill.

I believe it's an oxymoron to say " I meditate'. As when being in meditation, the "I" gets annihilated into no- thing. The thinker, the thinking and the thought all merge into one.

And that brings redemption if we practice meditation. But the mind ( the thoughts) is not going to easily allow this to happen. So it needs the understanding. And the devotion to practice. Confusing this simplicity with a lot of religious nonsense is what flaws the simple process. Just observe your breathing for 10 mins a day. It will also have health benefits.

It's all a BIG JOKE!! Albert Einstein said that the thing that causes a problem cannot fix the problem. Buddha gave a very simple technique to lose our thoughts. Watch the breath. It goes in. It goes out. Pay attention. OFFCOURSE our little monkey minds won't like this and will kick in. Any one heard of the word Practice.

No one needs any retreats or fancy river banks or mountains when we can retreat to this beautiful place in our hearts.

As the Dilmah bloke so eloquently put it " do try it" a few mins every now and then , pay attention to this amazing inspiration and expiration. Breathe in, breathe out

By the by, Buddha's last words were ' no images, no worship, be a light unto thy self ' . Do we see any evidence of that?? All those statues and supplication baloney. Who made that up? Who needs it when we lose our minds.

The promise of redemption over the abyss of nothing is terrifying. And meditation is going into no-thing-ness. In....out.....in...

Meditation is simply being who you really are. You can watch your thoughts. So you cannot be your thoughts, even though your thoughts influence your life.

Transcending thoughts ( by observing your breathing, for eg) a slow process as mind will constantly kick in, is meditation.

When you paint, play an instrument, cling to a rock face etc, you are in meditation. One pointedness, being truly in the moment, in the Now. This is not religion. ANYONE CAN DO IT.

Far more vital to be kind , gentlemen!!

Until we learn to be kind to ourselves, our kindness will always be hedged and conditional and our confidence will be fragile.

Our relationship with ourself shapes our relationships with others.

That's life. 2 weeks ago in Australia, a 20 year old randomly picked off a Korean student , raped her and then killed her. She was on her way to work. What happened to this lady is devastating, but the crass judgements. Like a mob on heat. An eye for an eye only leaves the whole world blind. Now that he is in custody, I am sure justice will prevail.

Everything is on loan. As the song goes, you are a slave to money and then you die. Verve. My plan is to rent until I fully understand the system . And who knows, patience is a great virtue.

Hello Diddi, I presume it's 'sister' in Hindi. All the best in Chaing Mai, free from the tigers and elephants!! Thanks for your post as I plan to retire soon in Thailand, and thinking of Hua Hin. The advice from fellow members was most helpful. I will be in a similar situation and some guy ( JC who promotes Retirecheap.Asia did touch on this topic as it's apparently a frequent question by newbies. His advice!!! Be a friend to thyself first. All the very best. Writing will certainly ameliorate the loneliness.

If the sky looks like it's falling , hold up your hands! Might catch something.