I think therefore I am

The purpose of the brain is not for us to realise we are the agent of all our actions. This is the ultimate egotism. A sense of self was an evolutionary necessity so that external behaviours could be fed back for examination and improvement, for an advantage to be gained over bigger teeth or longer claws. The ego is merely a by-product, not the cause of thoughts, or ‘our’ actions. ‘I think, therefore I am’ is a sham. The truth is there is no independent ‘I’, just the thought that thinks ‘I am!’

Destiny

Destiny, does it exist? Clearly it does. But no-one can see it in advance. You have to live it to get there.

Shadow of death

The shadow of death is cast by life itself

Forever Poor

Enjoying life involves both engagement and detachment
To see the trees I look at the sky
To see the flowers I look at the trees
And to see myself forget myself
It is this dual focus that makes wisdom possible
And helps us to find meaning in any situation

Ask yourself this:
If you cannot find meaning in any situation
Any happy or horrible circumstance of life
Then how can you find meaning in anything at all?
For if our happiness is dependant on outcome
We are forever poor

The Optimist

An optimist does not lie to himself
about the true nature of the world,
Picking a good grain from a bad field,
He finds the optimum path
Making the best of whatever is.

Live for…

When we have so much to live by,
Why do we have so little to live for?

Life

One should not expect anything from life, but instead ask:
what does life expect of me?

No way beyond thought with thought

And yet thought cannot go beyond thought. We cannot put ‘I’ away, for that would be nothing more than one thought saying ‘shoo’ to another. This just creates more division in the mind, where we think ‘I must do this’, ‘I must not do that’. This has led to the world we live in today, with country against country, and ethnic, religious and political groups all opposed to one another on the basis of nothing more than an idea made with thought.

Next: A question that cannot be answered.

More than thought

Yet the fact that we can be aware of our thought and not be absorbed entirely into it proves that we are not thought, we are more than thought. Then, when we become wearied by the weight and repetition of our incessant thoughts, we seek a way to quieten them, a way to go beyond them. This is the spiritual quest.

Next: no way beyond thought with thought.

A basis for thought

Thought operates based on a framework of space – the reference ‘I’ implying the existence of others, and time, the brain’s store of past events. Both of these reinforce one another. For example memories build a picture of ‘I based on relationships with others, whilst each recollection of the past strengthens subsequent recall. This mutual reinforcement makes it very easy to become completely occupied by thought, and believe that thought is the basis of what we are.

Next: more than thought.