I Know the Mind Arises in Awareness — So Why Is It Still as Loud as Ever?

[00:00:00]There's the duality of I am awareness and the thoughts are arising. When [music] you witness, the thoughts will still arise. But when you become aware, thoughts [music] cannot arise because when I become aware of the thoughts, none of them appear. The thoughts that arise are not mine. Becoming aware [music] is a function of the mind. You can only become aware of. You can only become conscious of. The suffix -ness >> [music] >> means the quality of the word that precedes it. The assumption that thoughts should stop. When you pay attention to a thought, [music] it develops. That's the thought that would bother a seeker. That's how suffering happens. Now you have a choice. Think all [music] the thoughts you need to think without identification. Here's what is bothering the seeker. [music] Okay. I understand that the mind arises in awareness.

[00:00:54]So why is the mind still as loud as ever?

[00:01:00]That is the question we'll examine today.

[00:01:03]Let's take a look at what the questioner or the question is asking. What is it directly looking for as an answer? What is it assuming?

[00:01:15]And then we'll experience it directly together.

[00:01:19]So I understand that the mind arises in awareness.

[00:01:24]I understand.

[00:01:26]Understanding is a part of your intellect. I understood something. So I understand that the mind arises in awareness.

[00:01:36]So why is the mind still as loud as ever? That means why do thoughts still keep coming?

[00:01:44]Because I've understood. So the assumption here is that I've understood that the mind arises in awareness.

[00:01:52]So now the thoughts should stop coming.

[00:01:56]Because I am not doing them.

[00:01:58]Why is the mind as loud as ever? Why are there so many thoughts still flooding the mind?

[00:02:06]There is a distinction between witnessing the mind and really examining what the mind is.

[00:02:17]You know, we we do this all the time. I I tell you all the time, uh become aware of what your next thought is going to be and you find that your next thought will not come.

[00:02:28]There's a difference between witnessing your thoughts and becoming aware of your thoughts.

[00:02:35]One is passive.

[00:02:37]One sits back, observes, and lets the thoughts come. So, you there's a separation. Like the question says, I understand that the mind arises in awareness.

[00:02:49]So, I am awareness and I find thoughts arising in it. Yes. So, but what has happened in this is there's the duality of I am awareness and the thoughts are arising. I am not the thoughts, but there's still duality.

[00:03:05]When you witness, the thoughts will still arise.

[00:03:09]But when you become aware, thoughts cannot arise.

[00:03:16]And let's take a look at why and we'll do this directly experientially as well. So, why is the mind still as loud as ever? So, in the thought experiment where you realize that when you become aware of your thoughts, the next thought does not come. The moment you stop becoming alert, awake, and aware of what your next thought is going to be, thoughts start coming up again.

[00:03:44]So, the realization of the recognition here should be that thoughts are arising on their own. They're not mine.

[00:03:52]That's one big uh realization that I am not thinking them.

[00:03:59]Because when I become aware of the thoughts, none of them appear.

[00:04:07]So, number one, the thoughts that arise are not mine.

[00:04:13]Now, when you become aware of what your next thought is going to be, becoming aware is a function of the mind. You can only become aware of You can only become conscious of.

[00:04:28]That's why in non-duality, we use the words awareness, consciousness.

[00:04:34]What can awareness do?

[00:04:37]It can only become aware.

[00:04:40]What can consciousness do?

[00:04:42]It can only become conscious.

[00:04:47]And you, as a human being with a mind, can only become aware of something. You can only become conscious of something.

[00:04:57]That's why the suffix ness, awareness, consciousness, it's the quality of being aware without the mind. It's a quality of being conscious without the mind.

[00:05:15]The suffix ness means the quality of the word that precedes it.

[00:05:24]I understand that the mind arises in awareness, so I observe, I witness, and the mind arises, and I am not that.

[00:05:33]So, why is the mind still as loud as ever? Why are thoughts still coming up?

[00:05:38]The assumption that thoughts should stop.

[00:05:42]No.

[00:05:44]Thoughts arise. They are not yours.

[00:05:50]Actually, that's the direct answer to the question. Thoughts arise, they are not yours.

[00:05:57]So, why are they as loud as ever? Here's what is bothering the seeker.

[00:06:04]See, thoughts would arise.

[00:06:06]They only bother the seeker when the seeker pays attention to those thoughts.

[00:06:13]A thought arises, and if you don't pay attention to that thought, that thought subsides. It arises and subsides. It does not bother you or anyone.

[00:06:27]But, a thought arose, and you paid attention to it, and you followed it.

[00:06:32]This happened, then I went there, I ate this, and this is going to happen, and that's going to happen, and I need to do this. The whole trail of thoughts, and now that is bothering you.

[00:06:41]It's because you're paying attention to those thoughts.

[00:06:48]When you pay attention to a thought, it develops.

[00:06:54]When you don't pay attention, the thought arises and subsides.

[00:07:00]Goes away.

[00:07:01]Does not bother you.

[00:07:04]You will never have a problem with thoughts that arose and that came and went.

[00:07:09]You will only have a problem with thoughts that arose and made you feel in a certain way or experience a certain sensation or an emotion, and then left.

[00:07:22]Left you feeling that.

[00:07:27]That's the thought that would bother a seeker.

[00:07:31]I know I'm not my thoughts, yet thoughts are still coming up, and I seem to get bothered.

[00:07:41]And if you say I am getting bothered, then the initial root cause of the identification with the thoughts is not completely seen through yet.

[00:07:52]Because I say I am not my thoughts, but then when a thought comes and I experience it as though as I am going through it.

[00:08:01]The ego is subtly identified with that emotion.

[00:08:06]With that thought.

[00:08:08]And that can be a good pleasant experience or painful experience. That's how suffering happens.

[00:08:17]You're assuming you're imagining things that could happen in the future that have that are not happening right now.

[00:08:25]And you identify with them.

[00:08:30]So something uh sadness occurs, I am sad.

[00:08:40]So in the same way with the thoughts, I thought about that.

[00:08:45]I am I have been constantly thinking about this and that.

[00:08:51]It's because you're paying attention to those thoughts. Now you have a choice.

[00:08:57]If you know you are not your thoughts and then thoughts still keep arising, realize you have the choice and the power to pay attention to the ones that you want.

[00:09:15]When you realize that, then you stop paying attention to negative thoughts.

[00:09:24]See, any thought is a belief anyway.

[00:09:27]You can have a thought about what happened in the past. You can have a thought about what's going to happen in the future.

[00:09:33]You can't have a thought in the present moment.

[00:09:37]So a thought is about the future or the past.

[00:09:43]Now, you can identify with that thought and say, "I went through this or I'm going to go through that."

[00:09:52]The identification is the problem. And when that is seen through, why would you identify yourself with any negative thought? Why would you pay attention to those thoughts?

[00:10:08]And necessary ones, say something in the future is likely to happen, which is negative.

[00:10:16]I understand that.

[00:10:17]That something you can see something next week that's not really good and it's going to happen.

[00:10:28]And you need to think about it.

[00:10:32]And it's not necessarily positive, it's negative. You need to think about it.

[00:10:38]You think about it without identification.

[00:10:41]Pay attention to that.

[00:10:45]And do what needs to be done without identification.

[00:10:49]Think all the thoughts you need to think without identification.

[00:10:57]The entire problem arises when the identity, the ego, claims, "This is happening to me.

[00:11:08]And I am not in control."

[00:11:13]So, like the questioner says, "Why is the mind still as loud as ever?"

[00:11:18]That means, "Why is it not in my control?"

[00:11:26]It is not in your control as the ego because the ego is not there to begin with. It is imagined.

[00:11:34]It's not real.

[00:11:37]We're not going to get into that.

[00:11:44]Now, let's take about 3 to 5 minutes, experience it directly instead of just talking about it.

[00:11:57]So, you as awareness let's just settle down.

[00:12:03]Yes, let the mind calm down.

[00:12:09]Let silence reveal itself. Let all the noise of the mind go down.

[00:12:29]Now, if you're just abiding as awareness in the passive way where you're observing what's going on in the mind or what's going on around you witnessing.

[00:12:49]You can see a lot of things maybe going on around you or thoughts still coming up.

[00:13:03]So, this is what the questioner said, "I understand that the mind arises in awareness." So, in awareness right now thoughts can come up.

[00:13:21]You can also witness things that are happening around you.

[00:13:35]The realization here is that they are not your thoughts.

[00:13:41]You are not the thoughts.

[00:13:45]The identification that you earlier had that I am experiencing what the thought is or what the thing is.

[00:13:57]That is seen through.

[00:14:07]Yet thoughts do not stop coming.

[00:14:12]But your identification with them should have stopped.

[00:14:19]And like I said only the thoughts where as they arise the ones that are worth paying attention to.

[00:14:30]You have a choice to pay attention to the important ones.

[00:14:42]So in this witnessing state you're witnessing or observing thoughts and things happening around you.

[00:15:02]Now if we pay attention not witness not observe pay attention become alert, awake, and aware of what your next thought is going to be.

[00:15:28]>> So, you're paying attention to what the next thought that is going to arise is going to be.

[00:15:48]It doesn't arise.

[00:15:51]It doesn't come.

[00:16:11]So, just to answer the question, when you realize that all your thoughts in the mind arises in awareness, and you are none of them, the identification with the thoughts drops or is seen through.

[00:16:33]The thoughts arising do not stop.

[00:16:38]That belong to the mind.

[00:16:41]They belong to the person, not to you.

[00:16:49]The I that used to claim ownership of them has been seen through.

[00:17:01]Anything that is bothering you after awakening means there's still the subtle sense of identification with either emotions, thoughts, or actions that still need to be seen through.

[00:17:35]We'll leave it at that.