"Don't Think"

[Andrew Gubb]

I got deep into spiritual material a couple of years back, and it was a major restructuring for me, because it told me to remove my intellect from centre stage, when I had been brought up to think that my intellect was the solution to all my problems.

I remember one of Eckhart Tolle's summarising statements. He said that the essence of spiritual teachings was: "Don't think". This stark statement stuck with me. (I swear to God I didn't make that last sentence like that on purpose).

I strongly believe that Eckhart Tolle's message is very true, but he himself would be the first to warn you that there are multiple levels of interpretation you could use, and some of them would be false. For me, "don't think" seemed to have become a mental virus saying "don't be intelligent" or maybe "don't think ever, not even when you need to." This is a bit dumb when analysed in such clear terms, but I guess my mind liked to latch onto easy principles I could make into a hard and fast dogma-like rule for myself.

I have to emphasise that these rules came from me and not from Tolle or anyone else. I idealised Tolle so my mind took him too literally. I think it's just one of the traps that exist for spiritual seekers, and you have to move through them to get to the good stuff.

So if we're interpreting "don't think" on the level of mind - which wasn't the level I think Tolle was using - what should we say about it? Obviously it doesn't mean "don't think ever". I think a better interpretation, if we're trying to make a guideline for living, is to say, "Don't think thoughts that waste your time and energy, or which bring you into negative states (or hide positive states) unnecessarily".

The interesting thing about this statement is that it then makes you ask, "how much of my thinking is necessary?" "how much of my thinking drains my energy or keeps my state more negative than it could be?" Instead of having a reactionary rule, you move into curiosity, which lets you explore yourself more. It lets you be more responsive and continue using the thinking mind as a tool. It also helps you find and bring into conscious awareness the ways you are using it addictively, which then gives you the opportunity to end that.

[Arz Sra]

Good Observation . Copy pasting a very relevant piece I wrote about a month back -

When you go to a master seeking a solution, the master ,instead snatches your problem away. Giving you a soluton means joining in your madness. Without problem the question of solution does not arise at all. You are left blank, gazing into the silence.

Even a solution, if he gives you one, is a means to pointing at the absurdity of the problem. Even the solution would be but a hammer on your very grounds. He holds a mirror and you cannot hold on to the problem anymore. You may even laugh at yourself; at what you have been doing all this time.

But this does not mean you realize. You are caught in habit. You just get a taste of something else and then You again revert back to the old habits. You again revert back to the blindness. You go to the master again and he gives you a taste again. Many people spend their whole life visiting the master to get that taste again and again. This becomes another addiction. It just becomes another issue. Master becomes just a solution – temporary as all solutions are. We are so good at creating issues. We have m aterialistic issues, and we have issues we call sacred. Its all the same. Only the label has been changed. The same habit is going on under the covers.

Making you Realize ( intellectually) that the raising of a problem is the problem itself is all that a master can do. He can show you the mirror that raising issues is the problem itself and solution is itself a problem. But people get addicted to mirrors. They get addicted to the awe that the mirror inspires; to the jerk that the mirror instills. To be stuck at any point is being stuck after all. Be it with the master or be it alone. You are dead when you are stuck – out of admiration or out of criticism.

No one can give you that final jerk. Even you can’t. It happens on its own volition when you are ready. But we want solutions; we fear uncertainity of life. This keeps us in seeking solaces through entities/objects – physical as well as supernatural.

[BillyTheAdult]

i don't really know what to tell you about what/when to think. I had a similar experience although not exactly the same. Tolle it seems to me doesn't really give the greatest practical advice on how to achieve the state he's in, just a good description of what it's like.

[Andrew Gubb]

Originally Posted by BillyTheAdult

i don't really know what to tell you about what/when to think. I had a similar experience although not exactly the same. Tolle it seems to me doesn't really give the greatest practical advice on how to achieve the state he's in, just a good description of what it's like.

Well, I think that's on purpose; practical advice is meant for the mind, which can then chew it over; but he's trying to get you to actually feel the state, and the words aren't advice so much as an induction into it, or stimulation for directing your awareness in its direction.

[Andrew Gubb]

Originally Posted by Arz Sra

Good Observation . Copy pasting a very relevant piece I wrote about a month back -

When you go to a master seeking a solution, the master ,instead snatches your problem away. Giving you a soluton means joining in your madness. Without problem the question of solution does not arise at all. You are left blank, gazing into the silence.

Even a solution, if he gives you one, is a means to pointing at the absurdity of the problem. Even the solution would be but a hammer on your very grounds. He holds a mirror and you cannot hold on to the problem anymore. You may even laugh at yourself; at what you have been doing all this time.

But this does not mean you realize. You are caught in habit. You just get a taste of something else and then You again revert back to the old habits. You again revert back to the blindness. You go to the master again and he gives you a taste again. Many people spend their whole life visiting the master to get that taste again and again. This becomes another addiction. It just becomes another issue. Master becomes just a solution – temporary as all solutions are. We are so good at creating issues. We have m aterialistic issues, and we have issues we call sacred. Its all the same. Only the label has been changed. The same habit is going on under the covers.

Making you Realize ( intellectually) that the raising of a problem is the problem itself is all that a master can do. He can show you the mirror that raising issues is the problem itself and solution is itself a problem. But people get addicted to mirrors. They get addicted to the awe that the mirror inspires; to the jerk that the mirror instills. To be stuck at any point is being stuck after all. Be it with the master or be it alone. You are dead when you are stuck – out of admiration or out of criticism.

No one can give you that final jerk. Even you can’t. It happens on its own volition when you are ready. But we want solutions; we fear uncertainity of life. This keeps us in seeking solaces through entities/objects – physical as well as supernatural.

I like this. Thanks for sharing!

[zeitgeist]

Originally Posted by BillyTheAdult

i don't really know what to tell you about what/when to think. I had a similar experience although not exactly the same. Tolle it seems to me doesn't really give the greatest practical advice on how to achieve the state he's in, just a good description of what it's like.

Hi Billy, what's up with the 'sigh' - I remember you had some great quotes in the past.

All the best,

Zeitgeist

[BillyTheAdult]

Originally Posted by zeitgeist

Hi Billy, what's up with the 'sigh' - I remember you had some great quotes in the past.

All the best,

Zeitgeist

I put it up a while back when I was feeling a little discouraged and "why bother" ish. I really have not been too active on the site lately, the odd post here and there, and just never bothered to change it. I tried once but it said the quote was too long and I haven't had anything that really struck me that much since then. Truth be told I've still been feeling a little like this quote fits my mood as of late anyway unfortunately. I did a lot of great things, life improvement wise this year and all my motivation and momentum seems to have fallen off for the past month or two.


I think I'll change it.

[desertrat]

On Dick Sutphen's self hypnosis tapes he says , " its not positive thinking , its non thinking " Make your mind blank . Its not that easy . desert rat

[Maguru]

Originally Posted by Andrew Gubb

Well, I think that's on purpose; practical advice is meant for the mind, which can then chew it over; but he's trying to get you to actually feel the state, and the words aren't advice so much as an induction into it, or stimulation for directing your awareness in its direction.

So is the statement "don't think" not actually about your thoughts but a state of being void of thought?

[Andrew Gubb]

Originally Posted by Maguru

So is the statement "don't think" not actually about your thoughts but a state of being void of thought?

Not sure how to answer that >.< "Don't think" was one of those phrases Eckhart Tolle was using as an induction into the state. In a way it's not about anything. It's just a tool to get you to see what he sees.

In another way it's about what it seems to be about; it's about not thinking. But it's an overly simplistic, even destructive statement if we just consider it at this level without going deeper.

[evolutionarypathways]

Originally Posted by Andrew Gubb

Not sure how to answer that >.< "Don't think" was one of those phrases Eckhart Tolle was using as an induction into the state. In a way it's not about anything. It's just a tool to get you to see what he sees.

In another way it's about what it seems to be about; it's about not thinking. But it's an overly simplistic, even destructive statement if we just consider it at this level without going deeper.

I remember a martial arts teacher of mine once commenting, "You need to know when to think." He said this many years ago, but I've been thinking about ever since.

Of course, the only way you can put this teaching into practical use is if you know how 'not to think'. So how do you 'not think'?

As Maguru pointed out in the post above, you can't think yourself into 'non-thinking'. You need to have experienced something that is beyond thinking to even have a reference point. Without this experience all you have is thinking. When all you have is thinking or concepts you have no ground to stand on. And you do need to be standing on the ground if you are to deal with this 'animal' called thinking.

Luckily we are already in possession of something that is beyond thinking - the body. We can use the body to step out-of-the-mind. There are many mind-body disciplines and practices that can help with this.

To my mind having a practice is paramount. Without a practice or a path if you will, I think you are spot on to conclude that the simple instruction 'Don't think' isn't very useful and can in fact be destructive to someone who wouldn't even know how to begin to apply such a thing.

[Maguru]

Originally Posted by Andrew Gubb

Not sure how to answer that >.< "Don't think" was one of those phrases Eckhart Tolle was using as an induction into the state. In a way it's not about anything. It's just a tool to get you to see what he sees.

In another way it's about what it seems to be about; it's about not thinking. But it's an overly simplistic, even destructive statement if we just consider it at this level without going deeper.

I just thought it was such a strange thing to say, especially coming from Tolle.