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‘I Think Therefore I Am... Unreal?’
The famous quote ‘I think therefore I am’ surely doesn’t make a lot of sense. ‘I think therefore I think I am’ or ‘I think therefore I have a mind’ would seem more accurate because, using thinking as the sole basis, how can the writer know anything about ‘I’ that is not from the mind?
No attempt is made to go beyond the mind in discovering the ‘I am’, but that is precisely where we need to go if we want to explore beyond the mind created idea of ‘I’.
The mind, when used consciously, is a powerful tool that has bought us great progress and technological advances. But we have allowed the unconscious mind to become an all-controlling beast that runs our life without giving us much of a say. It stores our conditioning, fears, guilt, masks, automatic routines and much more, and unless we go beyond it, we will never experience who we truly are – and the deeper self does need to be experienced – just thinking about it leaves us stuck in the mind. And we are certainly not the mind at anything more than a superficial level. But because we have allowed our mind to become our master, it is quite a challenge to go beyond it. Even trying to silence it for a few moments can be frustrating as anyone who has ever tried silent meditation will know!
So when we want to go deeper towards our True Self, our mind is our biggest challenge. Most people in our society are so use to living from their minds (and therefore looking outside for fulfilment) that to go anywhere else to seek what we want in life might seem ridiculous. But that is exactly where we must go to experience the truth about who we are at a deeper level.
So where can I go?
Once you have left the mind, the most obvious and easiest place to go is the body. Here you can connect with how you are feeling in any moment. (Your feelings aren’t your True Self either, but they are closer than your mind – you are going in the right direction.) To connect, you may find it easiest if you stop and close your eyes, and just notice how you really feel in that moment (and not how you think you should be feeling). It could be happy, sad, annoyed, peaceful, angry, frustrated or anything else – just notice the feelings that are there. Just Notice. Just noticing without thinking or judgement is an uncommon activity, but it is far more helpful just to notice rather than start thinking about it (and going back to the mind) because then you lose connection with how you are feeling. And judging feelings as ‘good’ or ‘bad’ is not helpful either (the mind again).
Whatever you feel in any moment is OK because it already ‘is’ - it is how you are in that moment. Accept that’s how this moment is for you.
Don’t be tempted to let your mind jump in here and start thinking I want to feel in a ‘good’ space so I will seek out a good feeling somewhere inside, or remember something nice to make me feel ‘good’. Suppressing feelings may seem like a good idea in the short term but this does not deal with the emotions, just hides them.
Especially at first, some people find that they only want to notice how they are feeling when they are in a good space, or try to veil a less welcome emotion in ‘happy thoughts’. It is crucial that you drop the need to try and be happy as this masks what is really there for you in that moment, and so is counterproductive.
Next, whatever you find, feel it totally. Go deeper into it and, if you can, feel totally happy, sad, angry, peaceful etc. Go with whatever is there for you. By accepting that this is what you feel in this moment and going deeper into it, you can start to let go of whatever you are feeling. But don’t try and force it away, don’t resist it at all. Allow it to be there as long as it needs to be, embrace it, go deeper into it, and if you can, express it as this helps move through the emotion faster. Your conscious effort is ensuring you remain totally in the feelings that are there. Once these feelings go you may notice more clarity and feelings of peace and stillness.
By moving through emotions without becoming attached to them (and some people get attached to ‘bad’ feelings as well as ‘good’ ones) you start to become more real. You can then make decisions based on real feelings rather than from the mind, and so start to live you life more authentically.
In Summary
Notice how you feel, without judging it ‘good’ or ‘bad’ as often as possible. Accept that whatever you find is real for you in that moment. Let go of the mind-induced need to try and find ‘happiness’, just find whatever is real for you in that moment. Go deeper, feel each emotion totally and if possible, express it. Allow emotions (whether ‘good’ or ‘bad’) to come and go without suppressing or clinging on to them. Start to act and live from your feelings rather than your mind – and feel the difference.
The Benefit
The real benefit is that this takes you away from what you think you should do, and moves you towards what you feel you really want to do. And this brings a huge change in the quality of your life.
Just doing this will start to change your life. This can feel scary at first (it’s OK to feel scared!), after all it is a different way of living. For me, this has been my path to becoming more real and discovering what I want my life to be, and who I really am.
So, lets replace ‘I think therefore I am’ with ‘I feel therefore I really am’.
And start living it!
For details of Ankur’s Inner Child and Active Meditation Workshops see ‘Upcoming Workshops’ below.
For details of ‘Discovering True Self’ socials see:
http://www.meetup.com/Discovering-True-Self/
For Ankur’s Spiritual Coaching website see:
www.spiritual-coaching.co.uk
© Ankur 2009
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