Saturday, August 23, 2008

How do I feel without thought?

I have seen your video "What is true feeling?" and I loved it. Now my question might seem foolish but I still have to ask, "How do I make myself feel without thought?"

It is not foolish to ask it since most people do anyway. I get emails from people saying, "My head hurts after reading such profound truth." The head hurts and we ask 'how' because we can't see without thought. We have been so conditioned into believing we are our thinking and beliefs that we can't see the forest for the trees.

Please listen carefully -- to distinguish the difference between thought and feeling is the recognition that will come to you when you are devoted to finding out. You cannot make yourself feel but you can ALLOW yourself to FEEL. FEELING is NOT an emotion, and neither is it an experience or a thought. Feeling is what we already know but haven't recognized yet. For example, what if I asked you, "How do you know you exist?" and you'll reply, "Of course I do, I just KNOW I exist." That's it. It is not a memory; not a thought; not an emotion but a KNOWING. A Knowing does not require thought -- you just know! However, we have taken this 'knowing' so much for granted that we have buried it under tons of thoughts and emotions that we are now numb because we no longer feel but think and emote only from the surface.

A pure FEELING is an awareness that we have not 'looked at' yet. Here's another example -- when does anything happen to you (a thought, an experience, an emotion etc)? It always happens NOW, right? We all know that, and yet, we bury such knowing with thoughts and emotions and reactions without pausing to LOOK with awareness what we already know.
Most people are not willing to LOOK without thought for two reasons -- first they believe it is difficult without realizing that is is their true nature. Secondly, they are not willing to LOOK without thinking about it. This is why many say, "It hurts my head" to read such material as this because we can't stop thinking about it, figuring it out and it is bound to hurt because KNOWING has nothing to do with thought.
Ask yourself, "Who am I?" and you'll find you can't answer it because there is no thought, opinion or emotion that can answer that. Who you are is not a thought, a form or a belief -- YOU JUST ARE!!

Let's go deeper through the process of eimination. It is obvious that you have thoughts; you have a past; you have emotions, you have a body, right? Good! You have all these things, but who is it that has them? You have a body and name just like you have a coat and money in the bank. However, what you HAVE is something that YOU have, you own - but who is this YOU that owns them?
This questioning is NOT easy because it forces you to go into thinking, which is something you have done all your life. Yet, if you relax fully without thinking about anything, keeping your focus on your breathing or looking with soft eyes into the distance such as an empty sky, then thoughts cease. You'll catch a glimpse that 'what you are' is beyond what you have -- it is this SPACE known as NOW! In fact, you are NOT what you think at all -- you are this NOW itself! This revelation can be scary but ever so enlightening. In fact, that's what spiritual awakening is. You don't awaken to a belief or to some religious thought but awaken to KNOWING (pure feeling) to what you have always been and ever shall be. You are this eternal NOW without a past or future. You have never been born and shall never pass away. This 'I' that you are is not an ego or personal self based on beliefs, past or the things you own such as a body or name. This 'I' is your pure awareness, pure feeling or simply pure knowing. You are this Presence of NOW itself. It never leaves you.
Take time to be still and just relax so completely that thought ceases. You can do this by watching your normal breath or looking into empty space with soft eyes (without staring) or just listening to the sounds around you without judgment or involvement. Then ask yourself when there is total relaxation, "who am I?" and you'll find there is no answer. Having no answer is clear that who you are is NOT a thought and neither is it an ego. You are left empty and here-now. As you continue to relax into this not-knowing you'll start catching glimpses that you are this NOW itself. NOW itself has no past or future and, it is also timeless. When you see the obvious without fear of it then that's awakening. Awakening spiritually is knowing two things -- You KNOW you exist and you KNOW that what exists as 'you' ('I') is this NOW itself. You are an eternal being. Once you rise above the fear of it and fully acknowledge it as an obvious fact, then that's it. You're awaken. It is all that simple. Now all your questions are answered and you are free.

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