Brains, Thoughts and Meditation... You've heard the quote from Descartes that says, I think therefore I am. I have one of my own, it goes like this: I am therefore I am. How about: My brain is doing something therefore it is. The point is, that it (the brain) isn't me. The only way I have ever been able to make any sense of the "I am" idea is to get my brain out of the equation. If the equation were: a bunch of variables that equal "I have" then I can put the brain back in there, and suffer no confusion. The chief cause of confusion and the identity problem stems from our associating our Is-ness with the brain.
The brain has information concerning importance, life purpose, creation, spirituality, who we are and what we're doing here. All it's information comes from other brains. It's not really knowledge, it's just information. None of it is necessarily accurate. It's, at best, a collection of observations and speculations. At it's worst it's a collection of imaginings and contrived delusion.
If I, the thing I am without three dimensional input, want to know peace: I must understand my relationship with my brain. I must understand that my brain is just my brain. It is doing things that I call thinking. I call it thinking because I was told that's what it was. It doesn't necessarily mean that it is. It is just what I was told. More accurately it's what the brain was told. It thinks it's thinking. For example I am looking at a situation where I have to meet some one tomorrow to discuss storing my RV. All the information the brain has on leaving things in peoples care, theft, dishonesty, trust, human relations, communication and so on is channeled to the conscious level, where I can see it. Is this thought?
If the brain combines this information into a "life like scenario" we call it thinking. Is it? We say we're thinking about what might go wrong. Or we're thinking about how something good always seems to happen, just when we need it most. Whatever the combination of information looks like, we call it thought. If those combination's, or recollections ( recollecting ) contain past scary events: my body experiences it, as trepidation. I feel afraid of what "might" take place tomorrow. My brain is the source of this fear. Not that it is intentionally trying to scare me. Not that it is even capable of intention. In fact if the brain was capable of intention, or reason, we would rarely experience any fear. The brain would withhold any information that might result in our being afraid. It would do this - for it's own good. That "good" would be done from the understanding that fear is not healthy. So if the brain was actually thinking it would always work in our best interest, knowing that certain information is not beneficial. Doesn't it stand to reason that the brain is not thinking? Does this mean that the brain is faulty? That would depend on our evaluation, our understanding, of what the brain is. I said that fear comes from the brain. This just means that if we are afraid, and we trace back to the source of that fear, we will find that a thought or idea has frightened us. The scary ideas come from the information stored in the brain. It can't come from tomorrow. There is no information in the brain about tomorrow. Not in reality. What information the brain has stems from the past. From memories. The brain is the memory warehouse. The memory library.
Getting a glimpse of this reality is a good start towards "the self determined path". A path we choose because we look clearly at all the possibility's and decide what to do. In truth, I am not afraid of anything and neither are you. My brain produces chemicals that "feel" like fear. I do, right now, feel fear. I know that it isn't me. I could, far more accurately say, "I" am aware of my body experiencing the fear state. My brain is doing something and the result is the feeling, the chemical concoction, we call fear. I no longer say, "I'm afraid", I say, "My brain is doing something". It's always doing something. If I can get it to do what I decide is best, then I won't have to put up with the negative effect of it's non-supportive activities.
Having ended a 35 year heroin and alcohol addiction he is writing about addiction, recovery and life in general....Read more at Addiction Help
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