really want to meditate at home.
Here you might ask, “What is the difference between a thought and an emotion?” An emotion is a series of thoughts that seem to go through you mind so fast that you don’t notice them. These thoughts could trigger or be triggered by a belief that you hold about who you are, what the world is, what your mind is, or what life is.
Now I said that you apparently don’t notice these thoughts. But you do notice them. If you didn’t notice them, you wouldn’t react to them by getting angry or afraid etc. If you think, “Here they go again,” there is obviously a belief about who you are, who your boss is, and what he can do to your happiness and freedom. The reaction might be anger or fear. We discuss this more in the chapter, “Freedom from the grip of anger.”
Once you see that real freedom comes from within you, you will see these thoughts clearly and laugh at them as if they were a joke. By shining your understanding on them, you will release these thoughts naturally. You may think these thoughts again. But the hook, the sting goes out of them. Then they become like the thousands of thoughts going through your mind that you don’t react to.
So when you see one of these thought patterns, don’t resolve never to get angry again. Just leave an open space where the pattern was and life will flow in ways that you never expected.
Free from these patterns, life gets very interesting. Then your emotions become responses to life, part of the variegated responses that makes life beautiful. If anger in itself was bad, would Jesus have manifested it when he kicked the moneylenders out of the temple?
This also applies to any other thought pattern that seems to trigger suffering; the suffering comes from the automatic emotional reactions that seem out of sync with your life.
Most important, when you notice these thought patterns, which up to now seemed to be automatic, you are on the verge of freedom; so don’t bring in self-judgment.
In the next chapter, “The New Radar that Finds Freedom,” we will show you a quick way to ferret out your freedom. With a little practice you will never again be fooled into thinking that limitation is normal.
Your New Radar that Finds Freedom
As we discussed on our website www.light-up-your-life.com, and the first chapter of this book, the source of happiness is inside. Now we are showing the same thing in more detail, this time by taking off the coverings that seem to limit us. We are working our way towards expansive freedom.
We also discussed the guises such as, “This is just the way I am,” or “This is just the way life is.” Finally we discussed how to do away with self-judgment.
With this background, it is time to unveil our new radar that seeks and finds freedom; that quickly and efficiently gets rid of suffering and limitation. You can find this radar by adjusting your definition of life.
Our radar is that life does not equal suffering in any way shape or form. If you find yourself suffering or feeling uncomfortable, or feeling that something isn’t right, in any way or to any degree, remind yourself that life does not equal suffering. Once you know that you can be completely free, then suffering becomes God’s way of saying, “Look here.” Suffering is the opportunity to eliminate limiting assumptions so that you can remain in freedom.
How powerful is this freedom? It is so powerful that your environment is not strong enough to destroy it. This means even if you find yourself in poverty or hardship, you can still be free. If you’re with a job or without a job, with friends that you love or with people that seem to bring you down, at a job that you love, or at a job that you hate, no matter what your circumstances, you can still be happy and at peace. Think about it. This happiness and peace that passes all understanding is so deep; it is so close to you that nothing can destroy it.
Ok, what about your physical condition, such as old age, disease, and death? Your happiness is greater than your body, isn’t it. You cannot always control what happens to your body, but you can remain at peace.
You might ask, “What if my physical pain gets too great?” This would certainly affect where you put your attention. Your whole attention would be consumed with trying to get rid of the awful pain. This is one of the marvels of discovering the place of happiness and freedom. With all of the pain, with all of the reactions to the pain, you can still remain at peace. I know you will discover this. Then you will know for sure that your happiness and peace lie beyond the condition of the body and the focus of the mind. A bad headache will never again have the power to pull you out of your freedom. For more on this see the chapter, “Finding Peace When I’m in Pain.”
And finally what about your thoughts and emotions? Can they pull you out of this peace and freedom? In the next chapters we will show you in more detail how to eliminate the suffering caused by conceptual frameworks in the mind. Now that you know that you can be free no matter what the circumstances, environmental, physical or mental, keep your radar tuned to find even the least suffering. If you don’t assume that suffering is normal, you will now be able to turn this suffering into freedom. You will then discover a peace and joy that has no conditions and lasts forever.
Now here’s a question that many people ask, “How should I concentrate my mind when I meditate?” In the next chapter, “Should I concentrate my mind?” we will look into just this.
Should I concentrate my mind?
People, in their meditation practice, can spend many years trying to focus and concentrate their minds. Sometimes they attempt to concentrate on one thought, such as a mantra, to the exclusion of all other thoughts. Sometimes they focus on their breath or a mandala, sacred shape, to the exclusion of all else.
We are not criticizing these meditation techniques. They can give you a sense of calm and, at the highest level, the mind, body and world can disappear altogether in high states of Samadhi.
However, an intense physical pain, or a shift in your environment such as a war, or an argument with your spouse can shatter this type of concentration. Some unwanted thoughts drifting through could also bring this type of concentration to an abrupt halt.
This type of concentration comes to an end. There is no way to keep it forever. The nature of the mind is to think about many different things. In your attempt to concentrate, if you try to control your thoughts by promoting the ‘good ones’ or eliminating the ‘bad ones,’ you are setting up a battle in your mind. Which side will win the, ‘good thoughts’ or the ‘bad thoughts?’ Getting rid of ‘bad thoughts,’ is like putting your hand out to stop the ripples in a pond; the more you try to stop them, the more they seem to increase.
Similarly, when you try to hold on to the ‘good thoughts,’ it is like trying to hold on to ripples in water; the more you grasp, the more they seem to slip away.
Fortunately, you are aware if your mind is concentrated or not, aren’t you? You will see that you are the light that shines on the mind no matter what state it is in. You are aware if it is dull or sharp. Remain as the light that shines on the mind and let the thoughts take care of themselves.
While we are on the topic of concentration, we should mention that some people meditate by trying to always be aware of their mind. They split their mind in two. One part they call ‘I’ and the other part they call ‘thoughts.’
How can you ever do anything in life if half of your mind is always trying to be aware of the other half; or if half of your mind is trying to think about being aware, while the other half is trying to write or read this book.
Here’s some good news. There is no need to split up your mind. You can concentrate fully on writing your book or doing your job. Doesn’t that feel natural? Awareness is not a thought, so even without thinking about it, you are still aware. After an intense job that takes all of your concentration, reflect on this for a few minutes. You will find that even without thinking about it, you were aware the whole time.
Now I would like to talk about Love. Do you really have to concentrate your mind on Love?