AIthough I know I am already that which I am seeking, thoughts still seem to prevent me from truly living in the present moment. How can I free myself from thinking?
There are three kinds of thoughts:
1. Practical thoughts, which are useful in conducting our business or our daily life. For instance, "I need to get some gas." These types of thoughts should not be suppressed. Once they have been given due consideration and the required steps have been taken, they leave us spontaneously.
2. Thoughts related to the ultimate, to our understanding of the non-dual perspective, such as, "I am already that for which I am looking." These thoughts come from the ultimate. If we welcome them, they purify the mind from its dualistic conditioning and eventually take us back to their source. They bring about clarity and foreshadow the bliss which is inherent to our real nature.
3. Thoughts related to the notion of being a personal entity, such as desires, fears, doubts, daydreaming, and other kinds of wishful thinking. Some thoughts of this their kind appear innocuous and are difficult to detect at first. A strong emotion that produces suffering and disharmony, such as jealousy or fear, can easily be detected. On the other hand, we may indulge pleasant thoughts for some time without noticing, such as imagining yourself vacationing on the beaches of the French Riviera.
It is a common error to consider any kind of thought as an obstacle to self-realization. Only the thoughts in the third category are obstacles to knowingly being the absolute. There are two ways to deal with these thoughts as they arise:
If we still believe that we are a limited personal entity and we notice such a thought, we should attempt to find its source, the ego. When we attempt to catch it, it vanishes and we experience our innate freedom for what seems to be a very brief moment. This glimpse of the truth reveals to us that we are not a personal entity. Repeated glimpses reinforce this revelation until it becomes a conviction.
Once we are convinced that we are not a personal entity, the thoughts of the their kind usually keep recurring for some time as a matter of habit, just as inertia keeps an electrical motor running after its power cord has been unplugged. In this case, there is no need to investigate the origin of these thoughts. We can simply drop them as soon as we notice them.
Sri Ramakrisbna once said, "When an onion is completely peeled, all the layers are removed and no substance is left. Similarly, on analyzing the ego no entity can be found Unfortunately, I still have a few layers to go!"
This last sentence is a typical thought of the third kind. Enjoy your thoughts about the ultimate and the peace that comes with them.
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