It has been said 50,000 thoughts arise for most of us every day. That is 2,100 thoughts per hour. Who is the thought counter? “What do you do for a living?” “I am a thought counter.” “And there’s one.”   It’s not the number of thoughts but the kind or type of thoughts that is worth considering. All thought either creates or is generated by its sidekick, emotion. It’s the relationship between thought and emotion which seems to fall under three categories: 1.)Stealth 2.) Lucid or 3.) Reflective.

Stealth thinking is mixed with unrecognized emotion. The emotion directs and imbalances the thought. Anger, jealousy, humiliation, fear, anxiety, grief, shame guilt are obvious examples of emotions that disturb thought. Although peace, trust, love, joy also cause disruptive stealth thinking. The key is it is not the emotion itself which defines stealth thinking, but the understanding that stealth thinking does not know itself. If a good friend comes up to you with a worried look and asks, “Are you okay?” You are probably in the midst of stealth thinking.

Lucid thinking is void of emotion. It works with simple comparison of yes/no, either/or much like a computer. What color is the sky? A non-partial, objective thought arises: “Blue.” We may have had to learn the colors, or if color blind, memorized the answer at some time in the past, but right now, the lucid thought is retrieved without effort or emotion. What is 7 times 5? Back in grade school when we were learning the multiplication tables, stealth thinking may arise as some fear due to uncertainty occurs. Now the answer flows from lucid thinking although I am using reflective thought to “see” it. Lucid thought can see only itself.

Reflective thought is in harmony with emotion. Reflective thought always sees itself, and also all stealth and lucid thinking. Byron Katie once asked me: “Why do you want to live?” Ramana Maharshi taught me the inquiry “Who am I?” Both require reflective thinking.

It is the question “Who am I?” which seems to transcend religion, spirituality or a lack thereof. Don’t we have enough stealth, lucid and reflective ego driven thoughts intentional or unintentional pouring through us minute by minute, day by day that a little balance, a pause for the cause if you will, is warranted? You may answer the question “Who am I?” with the ego. The ego is defined by every word placed after “I am” besides “That”. I am Michael. I am a father of three young men. I am divorced. I am living with a beautiful woman. Even, I am a man. All of these “I am-nesses” are stories. Everyone has a story, and there are no new stories.

What makes the “That” of “I am That” different is That is beyond any and all stories. That is the energy within everything and everyone. That is beyond the body. That watches the thoughts, the emotions and the stories with no involvement.

That cannot be attached to anything because That is one with everything. It’s like separating the rain drop from the ocean.

We have thousands of “non-That” thoughts. Which makes once in a while having the audacity to say with all your love and honor, “I am That” so sublime.

Most have never considered the concept while many know and have experienced the physical feeling and emotion of bliss, yet seldom acknowledge “That” is who you really are. It’s a conundrum because “That” is always on. “That” is always home. But you have to slow the Stealth and Lucid thinking by turning off the noise and seeking silence.

Everyone has their own special noise. It’s the cell phone, laptop, television, I-Pad, conversation, book, music, radio, and of course those incessant thoughts. Noise comes from the Greek and its derivative is “nausea”. We are sick within the noise and don’t even know it. It is not the noise per se that is making us sick, it is the quantity. It is way too much of a good thing. I like a good Snickers Bar but a hundred or a thousand of them? How many text messages, television shows, Youtube videos are too much? Even if you turn all the external stuff and machines off, there is the mind cranking along at hundreds of thoughts per hour.

So how do you slow the thought train down? One way is to turn off all the outside noise and create a reflective thought in the form of an inquiry. For whom has this thought arisen?* No matter the emotion or the story that created or surrounds the thought, the answer is always and all ways: “For me.” You take complete, unadulterated acceptance and possession of the thought. Then, you ask yourself: “Who am I?” The answer is “I am That.” If you are walking down the street you may see everyone and everything in your vision and recognize: “Yep. I am one with everyone I see.” If you look up into the sky, you may feel the entire expanse of the sky come into your heart or top of your head with the in-breath and the entire sky go out through the top of your head or down into your heart with the out-breath. If you are really vigilant you will experience the in-breath and the out-breath fade out into stillness. There is no time in this space where the in-breath ends and before the out-breath begins but you may hang in that silence for only an instant or you may do an Alice down the rabbit hole for awhile longer. Either way, in that stillness there is no thought. You have disengaged from the mind.

What is going to remind you to inquire? How about music? One great source of “noise” in our lives is music. How often do you start your car and a song comes blaring out of the speakers? Music can be a reminder of the One, the energy within, by simply shifting the normal or in most cases intended focus of “you” in the lyrics from a loved one to your own inner self.

This can be done for nearly every song. What if Eileen in the song “Come On Eileen” by Dexys Midnight Runner is Being? Obviously, “the dress and dirty thoughts” are a stretch but “at this moment you mean everything” is right on target. The rhythm combined with the understanding “Come on Being” may blast you into the bliss of the One and remind you to listen to a breath or two.

What if the “I” of Neil Diamond’s “I am I said” is the energy of the one, the witness within? Just the thought of your own stillness may explain “and no one heard at all not even the chair.”

What if every time you heard the word “you” in Ben E. King’s “Stand by Me” you are reminded of the One within?

“When the night has come, and the land is dark

And the moon is the only light we’ll see

No, I won’t be afraid, oh, I won’t be afraid

Just as long as you stand, stand by me”

 

There is a place of fearlessness inside. Find it in the space between the breaths.