Written on October 22, 2008 by Tom Stine
All of our thoughts are conditioned. We all are thinking exactly along the lines we are conditioned to think. Programmed like a computer. Anybody who thinks they are actually choosing of their own free will the line of thinking that they have is completely deluded by their thinking.
But beauty, real beauty, ends where intellectual expression begins. Intellect is in itself a mode of exaggeration, and destroys the harmony of a face. The moment one sits down to think, one becomes all nose, or all forehead, or something horrid. Look at the successful men in any of the learned professions. How perfectly hideous they are! Except, of course, in the Church. But then in the Church they don’t think. A bishop keeps on saying at the age of eighty what he was told to say when he was a boy of eighteen, and as a natural consequence he always looks absolutely delightful.
Intelligent practice always deals with just one thing: the fear at the base of human existence, the fear that I am not. And of course I am not, but the last thing I want to know is that.
Q: Since all is pre-ordained, is our self-realization also pre-ordained? Or are we free there at least?
A: Destiny refers only to name and shape. Since you are neither body nor mind, destiny has no control over you. You are completely free. The cup is conditioned by its shape, material, use and so on. But the space within the cup is free. It happens to be in the cup only when viewed in connection with the cup. Otherwise, it is just space. As long as there is a body, you appear to be embodied. Without the body you are not disembodied — you just are.
So the most important thing to realize is this: Your life has an inner purpose and an outer purpose. Inner purpose concerns Being and is primary. Outer purpose concerns doing and is secondary…. Your inner purpose is to awaken. It is as simple as that. You share that purpose with every other person on the planet – because it is the purpose of humanity. Your inner purpose is an essential part of the purpose of the whole, the universe and its emerging intelligence.
Buddhism stands unique in the history of human thought in denying the existence of a Soul, Self or Atman. According to the teachings of the Buddha, the idea of self is an imaginary, false belief which has no corresponding reality, and it produces harmful thoughts of ‘me’ and ‘mine’, selfish desire, craving, attachment, hatred, ill-will, conceit, pride, egoism, and other defilements, impurities and problems. It is the source of all troubles in the world from personal conflicts to wars between nations. In short, to this false view can be traced all the evil in the world.
The disappearance of this fundamental question [How do I know the state of an enlightened one?], on discovering that it had no answer, was a physiological phenomenon, a sudden ‘explosion’ inside, blasting, as it were, every cell, every nerve and every gland in my body. And with that ‘explosion’, the illusion that there is continuity of thought, that there is a center, an ‘I’ linking up the thoughts, was not there anymore.
on October 22nd, 2008 at 9:21 pm
I always love a good Adya quote. Don Miguel Ruiz talks about conditioning a lot.
For me, most thoughts are indeed the product of habit, conditioned responses and reactions to stimulus.
But there are a few that are not, the ones that arise more deeply. Some call them intuitions. Some speak of a voice within. But they are clearly a different class of thoughts arising in a different way. Those are the ones to pay attention to, preferably before the conditioned mind wrecks them. (laughs) These are the signals that arise from the same place that causes us to be.
on October 23rd, 2008 at 2:51 am
Except Adyashanti?
on October 23rd, 2008 at 6:29 am
@Evan EXACTLY! Even Adyashanti’s thoughts are conditioned. But as Davidya points out, where does the conditioning come from? As long as we are human beings, our mental processes will be conditioned to the hilt. But there can arise, and does arise in us, intuition, from deep within, that can condition thinking in new directions. But conditioned it will be.
The key point: don’t believe your thoughts. They are conditioned. The whole point is that you are not your thoughts. They simply arise in us. They are not who we are. The more remove our identity from the thought, the greater the freedom, the greater the peace, the greater the joy, and the easier life becomes.
To quote Adya again: “Don’t believe your mind. And when in doubt, don’t believe your mind.”
on October 23rd, 2008 at 11:46 am
I find it interesting when thought informs thought that it is deluded and thus, of no value, forgetting that both are the same.
Quite the paradoxical conundrum since it is THINKING that leads one to the truth of Adyashanti’s THOUGHT as expressed through his teachings.
Tom, what THOUGHTS did you subsequently THINK that informed you of the value of Adyashanti’s THOUGHT?
To say “don’t trust the mind” seems hypocritical when it’s the mind that brings you to the “truth” of no-mind. Based on your blog posts it does appear you give things much THOUGHT. But if it is conditioned, then of what use is your THINKING or Adyashanti’s?
Why blog, why teach, why say anything at all if it’s all DELUDED? To teach means to learn to learn means to THINK. You say, “But there can arise, and does arise in us, intuition, from deep within, that can condition thinking in new directions. But conditioned it will be.” So why go in that “new direction” if it continues to be “deluded”?
Many will, and do, sink below surface thought into the depths that lead to concepts untainted or programmed by the world’s values to a place where thought may collapse upon itself.
Absolute Truth/God/Divine Mind (whatever) can THINK or NOT THINK, is MIND or NO MIND, SELF or NO SELF.
To teach that you are this, but not that, is as much a trap as to teach you are that, but not this, simply because it is neither this nor that, that nor this (Neti neti).
Nevertheless, both you and Adyashanti express THOUGHT through words and we are all the better for it.
Thanks for your THOUGHTS!
mike S
on October 23rd, 2008 at 4:12 pm
Hello,
through this post i’d like to share my experience of these teachings about “you are not your thoughts”, “don’t believe your thoughts”, “you don’t have control over your thoughts”, “and so on…”
It is always important, i think, to know in which context we are talking, to know the point of view from which we are talking.
And maybe for the teacher, to make it clear to his students, audience, readers. At least to the beginners
Why do i say that?
Because of my personal experience. I’m a living example of someone who these teachings have helped and trapped. At the same time.
The development of a human has let’s say some stages. Some steps. And each one is important.
First we learn to walk. Then to run.
Seems obvious.
Many traditions talks about these steps.
For example from a yoga/energy/chakra point of view,
we’ll say to first develop the first chakras, then slowly slowly develop the upper ones.
A tai chi teacher would say that the first thing is to ground ourselves. Connect with the earth.
At 18, due to change of country, culture, personality,wrong direction in studies and MOSTLY: lack of sexual and satisfying social relationships i can say that my life was shit.
I came across spirituality, meditation and “no-self” teachings. “Observe your thoughts” teachings
Indeed the teachings helped me to take a distance from my thoughts, see that after all they are only thoughts.
But some ACTION is required, too.
Observing is 50%.
Action is 50%.
I may be tiring with this long me-and-my-shitty-life post. But if i do write it it’s because i truly believe (not think:), we must make things clear.
Especially to new comers.
So what’s the current episode of this story after so many years? I feel trapped in my mind because of staying alone too much and observing myself too much.
Cause the mind is tricky.
You can observe let’s say the thought “i hate him”.
You just see your mind talking and hating. Good. You don’t identify.
But maybe you’ll not notice when, just after that, your mind will say “i have a hate thought and it’s not good”.
So put a not strong character, together with a low self-esteem, a change of cultures, a very observing mind, a good awareness, a good heart, and a perfectionist mind and a trip in asia…And you have me the result. And people knowing me advising me to see a psychologist.
I’d like to give a more down to earth example:
when i was younger and shy of talking to girls,
at that time thinking “i don’t exist”, “it’s my mind talking” doesn’t always help.
Maybe it’s better to have a friend tapping your shoulder and say: “Go! Just do it! Be a man!”
How do we deal with a shadow?
Many say: just see it.
I would say: See it. Then do something about it.
So mind is important in order to have a strong sense of identity. Somehow spirituality requires a strong character.
I’m young and my body needs sex. The the body feeling triggers a thought: “i want to have sex”.
For me, as this has to do with a shadow, i will easily say: “oooh it’s just a thought. Forget it.”
Again, some say: Just see the shadow.
I say: See the shadow. Then dive in it.
It seems there is a thin line between personal development and spirituality.
Each has its right place.
Eckhart Tolle for example, in the Power of Now, emphasizes a lot, from my point of view, the spirituality part of it.
He says kind of things: don’t try to make yourself better, to improve yourself, cause it’s just your ego seeking for something else than the present moment.
Great misunderstandings can come from this.
A guy was pointing at some shadow of mine some years ago saying something like: “You have this bad habit”.
I told him (as a fan of Ekchart Tolle): “You don’t help me like this. You accuse me! Why don’t you just say: Your ego has this bad habit ?”
And he said: Why you don’t first try to have a healthy ego?
A healthy ego. What about that? Nice topic:-)
on October 23rd, 2008 at 4:37 pm
Sometimes i’m wondering if a child, or teenager or whatever, who is developing is ego, his personality, who is building up his character, his sense of self (learning to walk), comes to read “no-self” teachings, or by chance, a web site, anything.
Is it good for his development?
I mean, saying to a teenager: you don’t exist. You’re not who you think you are.
Maybe it’s good maybe not.
Maybe he’ll forget it and just go play basketball.
And 20 years later remember it:-)
Anyway, it’s all about seeing the mind, or rejecting the mind. Subtle differences.
I read a quote from a zen master:
“Don’t grasp the Dharma by rejecting your thoughts and feelings.”
Wise. And very human.
Why did I say at the beginning of the post (many chapters ago:-) that these kind of “no-self” teachings have also helped me?
Because i have already experienced no-mind moments. Glimpses of.. Drops of.. the beauty.
Thanks to all these (teachings, sitting meditation, tai chi, everyday awareness of my thoughts…)
This is the irony of it all. That i’m on the good way.
Cause A has nothing to do with B. But both are important to write a word.
A teacher told me: Your functioning is weak but your awareness is great.
Thank you for your site and sharing!
on October 23rd, 2008 at 5:38 pm
Hi Mike S,
It’s nice to read someone as contrarian as me. I trust we can both be accused of making thoughtful comments. Evan
on October 23rd, 2008 at 6:21 pm
@Mike Please note that the point of the quote was that thinking that you have control over your thoughts IS the deluded thought. The delusion is simply believing you have control over your thoughts. You don’t.
Thoughts occur as long as one is in the human form. But the key, always the key, is do you believe it? Do you believe that these thoughts are YOU? Do you think your thoughts contain the truth? That’s the key. That’s where liberation occurs, at that fine line.
Adyashanti has thoughts. But he believes not a word of them. He speaks words, but he doesn’t believe a single one is true. What he knows is this: some of his words will meet a thought in your mind and BANG! they cancel each other out, as the Zen master said, like two arrows meeting in flight. Words are strategies to help you see beyond them. That is all. Words (thoughts) to help end the belief in thought (words).
So, I have no problem with thinking. Why should I? Thoughts happen. They arise, they fade. As long as we don’t attache to them, believe them, then they are harmless.
@Adi Thanks for the long and interesting comments. I can’t address all of them, but I will say a few things that came to “mind”.
First, there really is nothing that can be done about people coming into contact with teachings about nothing. They will when they are ready. As traumatic as it may seem, or unfortunate, the simple truth is that there are no mistakes. All happens as it should. The proof is in that it did. This view is not going to sit well with many people, but there it is. We come in contact with exactly what we will come in contact with when we should. All happens as it will. A key point here is that you have no control over it.
And so, you do what everyone does: you grab the tiger by the tail and hang-on for dear life. Some find the ride fun, some find the ride hell. But ride you will. You have obviously been on the ride for a while. I know it can be hell, as I’ve experienced my own versions of hell. But as time goes on, the ride begins to make sense. It is seen for what it is: the way your life played out. I wish you had never experienced one microsecond of pain. But I’m smart enough to know that the vast majority will suffer along the way. And they will suffer before they hit the road to awakening. Suffering is built is baked into the world.
As for young people be exposed to these teachings: many young people already “get it” in a sense. They know their identity is fake, and that’s one of the reasons so many suffer as teenagers. They know it’s a crock, and they struggle mightily to find who “they” are.
Even my kiddo gets it. He spontaneously with no prompting on my part has explained some incredibly stuff to me. He’s 8, by the way. He knows virtually nothing about what I write, teach and coach, and yet he knows that he is no-thing. He KNOWS. I am astounded, and sometimes amazed.
As for a healthy ego: the ego is simply a thought. It isn’t a thing, it is a concept. An idea of one’s self. So why not have a healthy concept? In the end it won’t matter, but along the way it can have advantages. But necessary? No, I don’t think so.
Along the road, there is a time and a place for everything. I’ve benefitted from therapy, spiritual retreats, working on finances, being a parent, being a friend, getting divorced, meditating, playing around with manifesting. I’ve tried a pretty significant chunk of personal growth and more spiritual endeavors. All served its purpose. All had its place. Now my focus is on awakening. I see no better use for my time and energy. I see no better focus for my life. All has a place, all at the right time.
I hope the above helps in some way. Namaste.
on October 24th, 2008 at 2:50 am
Friends,
Adyashanti doesn’t say thoughts are “wrong” or “right”. They are simply conditioned. Thoughts are the way they are no matter what you want them to be. All has its reason and ultimately all our thoughts will come to fullfiling their “destiny”.
Have no fear of your thoughts. Watch them, allow them to be, but don’t identify yourself with them.
on October 24th, 2008 at 2:45 pm
@Master Yoda Yes!! You’ve got it exactly. Not good, not bad. Just conditioned by our environments, by our family, by everything we hear and see and touch and taste and smell. And the real key: identity. These thoughts are not you! Thanks for the comment….. Namaste.
on February 12th, 2009 at 7:48 pm
Let’s not complicate something that is really simple……… acceptance!