There’s no joy in thinking!
“There’s no joy in thinking!”
That was a profound message that just emerged into my wife Sue’s awareness after she had settled down into a meditative state after she had for a while been lost in thoughts.
You/we are so used to ‘catching that Train of thought’. We board regularly each day! It has many stations and changes of direction. All in all a very convoluted journey!
How many times have you heard yourself say something like: “How did you get to this point in your thoughts or in conversation with someone?”
You’ve just been following a series of passing clouds merging and passing and perhaps many of them, in truth, all of them of no real consequence.
Why all of them? Aren’t some useful?
It’s important to draw a distinction here between the meanderings of the mind in the form of thoughts and that of true inspiration which comes from a higher place within us.
You already know the difference when you pause and take notice.
The ‘Train of thought,” as we all know goes on very long journeys with many stops, changes of direction, introduces all sorts of anxieties, what if scenarios, worries about the future, sadness from the past and more. You get totally lost in it until you can literally snap yourself out of it.
You may think or come across say happy thoughts. But beware happiness is not joy. Happiness is transient and it has an opposite: sadness. Happiness is built on identification with something, an event. When the event is gone what emerges most often is sadness.
Joy has no opposite. It has no reliance on anything. Joy and I mean TRUE JOY emerges from within. It is quiet, it is still and there is no reason behind it. Joy for no reason. This is True Joy. It is in fact our true state.
So back to inspiration. Inspiration feels different. Very different. You know this. You feel it is different. It bubbles up out of seemingly nowhere. Read that as NOW HERE. For that is where it does emerge from. The NOW HERE. The present and infinite possibilities of this moment of NOW. The only moment you ever experience. Past is a memory and as the saying goes “memory has poor vision” and the future is a projection. You can only live truly NOW.
When you are in this NOW fully you are in flow. You have had this experience I am sure. It feels wonderful does it not! That’s because you are now much closer to the truth of you. You are in the moment in the way that children are. Not identified (see the blog on “A case of mistaken identity”) but purely embracing what is unfolding right now.
Is it possible to deepen this and stay in that state of presence and state of grace permanently? YES. Many an enlightened master has pointed to this over the millennia. But we’ve found it hard to listen. Hard to listen because we’ve been caught up in the identification with a whole host of things that are not our truth.
All of these transient things are fodder for the voracious mind/ego that is never truly satisfied. Is always looking for more and more and more. It goes on that way because its been conditioned that way.
The great news is it or we can be reconditioned, retrained or more accurately remember the truth of whence we came.
The choice is always there for us. Catch that train of thought leading to ever more identification with transient matters or staying centred in the permanence of truth. The former may have many transient attractions. The latter has a permanence of joy.
This Joy is a quieter, stiller and ever flowing stream of pure consciousness. It takes awareness and stillness to listen to it and embrace it. Which do you choose? The transient or the permanence?
So when Sue had the message:
“There’s no joy in thinking.”
it was also followed with this message:
“Moments of unknowing.”
It was a profound moment when she shared them. I felt them within and it I knew she had touched truth.
Truth is like that. If you are ready to hear it it touches you deeply.
In moments of unknowing which is right here right now. No thought about past, present or future. Just a total stillness. There is JOY. Look within you will see it. Feel it.
So to reiterate: If you catch that train of thought it may bring some transient happiness at the start however, you will surely as eggs are eggs at some point be triggered by something that disturbs that happiness. A memory or may be, a worry about something else in your life. You name it. That’s where the ‘Train of Thought’ takes you on random journey of identification with this, that and the other that ultimately takes you away from your true inner joy. Hence: “There’s no joy in thinking.” You’ll see for yourself.
The stillness within though is that: STILL. Your mind will want activity, action results. But wait, quietly, still and you’ll allow the inspiration and the joy to flow. The identification with the transient melts away and truth emerges and as Lisa Robinson Hall at a recent workshop shared the insight that emerged for her when engaging with Infinite Silence:
“Truth births wisdom.”
Profound indeed! Truth.
So take a new look at your thoughts and see them as passing clouds, let them go and it will start a journey that will transform your life if you truly embrace it.
Philip
