Untethered Mind

Untethered Mind

Our thinking, typically, is purposely “logical,” or linear, and as such it is limited: it permits us concrete exposure to only three dimensions and five senses. Discovering that logic is limited, we logically limit our reliance on it. How is one to function in an irrational world, as long as one depends on rationality? Is thought a product of the mind, any more than the mind is a product of thought? Does the brain think—or is it thought which alleges that the brain thinks? Thought being limited, does it fail to recognize how utterly limited it is? In the same way that the accuracy of words is established only by other words, the legitimacy of thought is confirmed only by thought. “Reason” is whatever reasoning says that it is.

Originally, the words think and thing were related. It is “things” which “think,” and it is things that are thought about. There is no tomorrow, without thought; but the thought of tomorrow is not tomorrow. In the same way that we attempt to name every object (”thing”), we attempt to name every event (”think”); whatever we name, changes— and so we name the changes. This is “reasonable,” or “logical,” we suppose. We have come to believe that the event or change was isolated, in form, before we named it (”tomorrow”). What do you need to know, in this very moment? Thought, knowledge, information could lead to truth only if truth was a conclusion. Though truth might be said to be a fact, all the facts in existence, added together, do not total

the Truth. Open the mind, and empty it. Come not to a comma or colon, but to an ellipse… A light appears in the dark, of an instant, and you glimpse what you have not seen before; it may, or may not, appear again, but you are now aware of its existence—not as a vision in the speculative mind, but as a sight of truth. Before Einstein had explanations, he had insight. This is not the same as to “reflect” on truth; reflection is an indirect experience, a seeing delayed by time and space, the same time and space occupied with thought. To end self-centered thought is a change of mind. And we arrive at this ending through awareness, not through thought. It is not that thinking per se is eliminated, it is that awareness transforms thought—freeing it from its pattern of speculation and calculation—so that it is ended as we normally know it. We could say that thought is form, and awareness is void; and the balanced relationship of the two is reestablished. Understanding the true nature of the linear mind and of the non-linear mind, one understands how to use which, and when. And one stops depending upon thought to explore and express that which is beyond thought, that which is capable of finding expression without thought. As long as awareness is what you think it is, it is thought and not awareness. Awareness is not a matter of speculative choice. It is more a process than a product. It is a letting go. It is awareness of our “normal” unawareness, our chronic inattention to the present. It is awareness without really trying. Awareness is perception is wholeness. Into this wholeness, when present, all added information fits effortlessly.

Being present in the moment, the moment changes—and we change with it, without friction, without resistance. The moment is not ideal: can we be at peace with that? Not “can we accept that?”; can we be at peace with even what we cannot accept? We live in a culture which is resistant to—unaccepting of—change…and yet we long personally for inner change (peace) and collectively for social change (brotherhood). Concomitant with awakening is attention—awareness— in the moment; calculative thought is inattention in the moment, un-awareness. To be attentive only to the moment represents a radical shift, from our normal way of life. Follow the moment to the very end, and you will come to that place where you truly reside now, as a native. This is not a place which thought will lead you to, thought will rather lead you away from it. Can peace possibly be something which is isolated from the other activities or processes in your life? As Alan Watts has said of perception, it is “being aware of life without thinking about it…then carrying this on even while one is thinking.” Fully attentive to the present moment, there is none other to compare it with. Awareness cannot exist except in the present. It is when thought has been stripped away that intelligence operates. It is through letting go that we learn the truth of who we really are—and then thought can find its necessary expression. To know thyself, be attentive from moment to moment; why are you doing what you’re doing? “The Self is realized,” said Ramana Maharshi, “not by one’s doing something, but by one’s refraining from doing anything—by remaining still and being simply what one really is.” This is not a realm of opportunity for calculative and speculative thought.

While there may not likely be a dramatic change in mankind’s consciousness anytime soon, there can be a critical change in your consciousness—immediately. It is possible for each of us to be a source of the profound energy that transform the lives of others. But that source is not issued from second-hand revelation, but from firsthand perception and awareness.