Thinking forms virtually our sole basis for dealing with life. We are attached to our thoughts. We think they are who we are. Indeed, the whole of Western culture supports the mind’s pre-eminence, and thought as the sole mechanism for organizing ourselves and our civilization.


  However, these notions do not find huge support amongst the mystical traditions. On the contrary, these ancient traditions teach methods that seek to still the mind. “Stop Thinking!” is often the injunction to the spiritual student. Why is this, if thinking has served us so well, both individually and as a society?

  “…we still carry one problem with us: this mind that reasons so intelligently is still basically confused. Therefore, every ‘insight’ is saturated by confusion. I am sorry to say it so bluntly, but human understanding is confused. It is not unmistaken wisdom, and it is not authentic until complete enlightenment.”

  Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche, abbot of Ka-Nying Shedrub Ling monastery, Nepal.

  Thinking, by itself, is subject to inherent flaws. The most obvious is its high degree of subjectivity. Hardly anybody agrees about anything. The world’s problems are created around differences of opinion - often regarding relatively minor issues - around which vast intellectual and emotional edifices are gradually built.

  Are we actually in control of our thoughts at all? Meditators become increasingly aware of their thought processes, and the seemingly random nature in which thoughts move. Many have concluded that it is not they who think, but rather thinking “happens in them”. The more one studies the process of thought, the more it resembles the weather; a mysterious undirected process, created by innumerable causes.

  Thought is rarely accurate. Each person possesses an in-built system of presuppositions, prejudices, societal conditioning, religious background, and psychological complexes. Even the extensiveness of our vocabulary plays an important role in thinking. The precise mix is different for each person, but it all critically affects the way the person thinks, and the kind of thoughts that occur. Also, none of us possess total and perfect information. Even if we did, the deep-seated biases within the minds ensure that our conclusions will almost always be imperfect.  

Certain key human issues are necessarily relative. Morality is a prime example. A person’s moral framework derives from sources such as family, society, peer gròups, religious training, and even the kind of TV programs a person habitually watches. The only way to make morals absolute and to cast them in stone (as Moses did) is to appeal to a moral absolute such as God, who is beyond dispute. However, even here, we can then debate as to which type of God we choose to follow, which revelation from God is true and which false, and so on. Consequently, morality becomes dependent upon the society in which one is raised, and the kind of religious undercurrent present.  

To make it worse, our thought processes, flawed as they may be, are being subtly manipulated by the government and media. Communists and Islamic fundamentalists are not the only ones subject to brainwashing. Those in the West are also told how to think, and usually go along with it compliantly. For example, we are currently being sold war as a remedy for violence, and bombing as a method for achieving peace! Could there be anything more ironic?  

Indeed, the recent international situation highlights another of the mind’s inherent fallacies: the tendency to create polarities. We like to think we are clear-minded enough to be able to judge Good and Evil. In many cases, we CAN determine certain rules and penalties that will enable a society to run efficiently, without degenerating into anarchy. However, to ascribe categories of “good” and “evil, “saint” and “sinner”, as liberally as we do, is almost always unwise. Given our own highly fallible thought processes, who are we to judge? From a metaphysical context, events may be occurring for all sorts of reasons of which we can have no idea whatsoever. Indeed, was it not Jesus himself who said “Judge not, that you be not judged”?  

Polarizing tendencies seem to arise from our need for (a) certainties we can feel comfortable with, and (b) generalizations that enable us to make mental short-cuts to rapid solutions. We need certainties because we want to understand the world we live in, and exercise some degree of control within it. We also need to generalize complex information. Otherwise, it would be too hard for most us to deal with, and we could nèver reach a conclusion, and hence achieve the certainty we desperately need.

  Overall, such thought process leave us with the comfortable feeling that we “understand” the issues, whereas the reality may well be that we understand nothing at all! A good example is the recent labelling of certain people as “Islamic Fundamentalists”. This is a convenient term that enables us to package such individuals in the “evil, insane, brainwashed nutcase” category. Thus, we don’t have to seek to know anything further about them; their history, their motivations, or their desires. After all, it is a disease, is it not? These people are “evil”, and belong to an “axis of evil”. What more is there to understand?

  One disastrous result of polarized thinking is the sequence of attack and counter-attack we see in all the trouble spots in the world; whether it be Israel, Sep 11 2001, and formerly in Northern Ireland. Such a pattern ensures only more of the same. It is the politics of the playground - of five-year old children. Sadly, many adults have not advanced much further than the playground in their problem-solving capacities.

  The above is not intènded as a support for any gròup, but rather serves as an example of how simplistic we prefer to make our thinking, in order to live in a world we can understand. Our governments deal in bite-size explanations of highly complex issues. The general public, the majority of whom know little about history or foreign culture, swallow it whole without question.

  Reality is inherently complex. It is doubtful if anyone is capable of completely comprehending it. For any event to occur, there are a myriad contributory causes. The polarizing mind seeks an easy explanation; often a single cause. In doing so, we do not solve any problems we face, but rather perpetuate them.

  However, thought processes can be redeemed by seeking ever deeper communion with the source of Being; the higher self, the God within, or whatever term you prefer. Realized Masters, who are in perfect union with the Divine, have no need for conventional thought, but perceive reality directly. This is a worthy goal for each of us to aspire to, but it is a difficult one. It may hint at why all spiritual traditions call upon the follower to enter the silent gap between thoughts, and dwell ever more often in that zone.

  That is best done initially through meditation. Through steady practice, this state of mind can follow us outside of the meditation session and into the whole of life. By simply being more mindful of our habitual thoughts, we may also become more aware of the quality and direction of them. In that way, we can catch ourselves engaging in tendencies that are unhelpful or untrue.

  In conclusion, our thoughts and opinions are rarely even a remotely accurate view of reality. We need to be ever watchful to not take ourselves or our opinions - or those of others, particularly those in authority - too seriously. Instead, by working continually within, and by studying in a spiritual tradition, it will be possible ever more into our awareness, the Higher Self, who can redeem, purify, and ultimately transcend, the power of Thought.

Copyright Asoka Selvarajah 2004. All Rights Reserved.

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Asoka Selvarajah is a writer on personal growth and spirituality, and the author of “The 7 Golden Secrets To Knowing Your Higher Self”. His work helps people achieve their full potential, deepen their understanding of mystical truth, and discover their soul’s purpose. You can subscribe to his FREE ezine, and get his FREE ebook “Inner Light Outer Wealth” at: http://www.aksworld.com/AspireToWisdom.htm?imk=Blog _____________________

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