Four steps on the road to bliss
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If you are like most people you will have no control over the thoughts and emotions that appear in your mind. You will be tossed like a withered leaf in a squalling gale by whatever happens to come along. However, if you notice what you notice and think about what you think, you will unshackle yourself from thoughts and emotions. You will then inevitably detach from the illusion of ‘having a self’ and the stage will be set for the state of no thought to well up and merge into oneness and the peace that passes all understanding. The following table charts seven states of mind. If you arrange your life with quiet times to ‘just sit’, you will come to know them all.
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with emotion |
without emotion |
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1. unobserved thought |
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2. observed thought |
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3. observer with no thought |
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4. no thought |
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1a – unobserved thought with emotion. This is the common, human condition of a mind out of conscious control and swayed in excitement (love or hate) by whatever happens to enter consciousness. Life is full of uncontrollable ups and downs. 1b – unobserved thought without emotion. This is another, common, human condition where life has lost its flavours. Reality seems dull and grey rather than depressing. There is still a constant flow of thoughts entering consciousness but they lack colour. Life is boring and flat |
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2a – observed thought with emotion. ‘That makes me so angry’. You are aware that your heart strings are being plucked by particular thoughts but there is nothing you can do about it. 2b – observed thought without emotion. In this state you are aware of your string being pulled and the awareness dampens the effect. You learn to smile at the simple ways you normally react. With practice this method makes it increasingly easy to lower your highs and heighten your lows. |
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3a – observer with no thought but with emotion. Here you are aware of being in an emotional state (a mood) but you do not know why. You still have some awareness of ‘self’, but other thoughts are flimsy and short lived; they channel hop in an emotionally tinged mist. 3b – observer without thought or emotion. In this case there is still some awareness of ‘self’ but there are no noticeable moods or emotions and such thoughts as appear are very unsubstantial – quick channel hops in a thick and distant mist. |
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4 – no thought. The essence of this state is no sense of ‘self’. There is no one to think or feel so there are no thoughts or feelings. Significantly, when there is no ‘self’ there is no ‘other’. There is thus the Oneness, the ‘not two’. Because the illusion of self has been transcended there is Bliss, and Consciousness is suffused with the peace that passes all understanding. |
