From the contemplative point of view, being lost in thoughts of any kind, pleasant or unpleasant, is analogous to being asleep and dreaming. It’s a mode of not knowing what is actually happening in the present moment. It is essentially a form of psychosis. Thoughts themselves are not a problem, but being identified with thought is. Taking oneself to be the thinker of one’s thoughts—that is, not recognizing the present thought to be a transitory appearance in consciousness—is a delusion that produces nearly every species of human conflict and unhappiness. It doesn’t matter if your mind is wandering over current problems in set theory or cancer research; if you are thinking without knowing you are thinking, you are confused about who and what you are. “Waking Up” Sam Harris
Tag: thinking
Facts or Truth
I had a class in grad school that was pretty tough. It was a class on theoretical aerodynamics (yep I am one of those). We would start a theoretical proof from some basic assumptions that we knew were true like pressure varies with temperature (ideal gas law) and other really geeky boring stuff for most … Continue reading Facts or Truth
The Gate
Since the fall, our brains see through law. When we ate from the wrong tree we took on a law way of thinking. We thought in terms of lists. In the original language, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was a tree that made us aware of what is good or bad … Continue reading The Gate
Fairness or Justice?
I had the privilege of giving the lesson this Sunday morning. I said something that I didn’t believe would be “controversial” but as I said it people in the audience “got the look.” I handled it in stride during the lesson but after there were still questions so here we go. What I said was … Continue reading Fairness or Justice?
Training and thinking
James 4:6-7 Expanded Bible (EXB) 6 But God gives us even more grace, as ·the Scripture [L it; orhe] says, “God ·is against[opposes; resists] the proud, but he gives grace to the humble [Prov. 3:34; 1 Pet. 5:5].” 7 So ·give yourselves completely [submit]to God. ·Stand against [Resist] the devil [1 Pet. 5:9], and the devil will ·run[flee] from you. So we are on vacation and spending some time with … Continue reading Training and thinking
alancetotheheart 