Identification with thoughts determines how we experience the world and who we take ourselves to be. We can free ourselves from those limited identifications and touch the vast expanse of who we really are.

Thoughts, and more broadly, conceptual knowledge, cannot lead to the direct realization of truth, of reality. While thoughts are an essential part of surviving and thriving, spiritual awakening only becomes possible when we step out of the trance of thinking. This talk invites listeners into the radical openness and freedom of not-knowing.

Turning our relationship with thoughts from the menace of meditation to a support for sustained awareness.

As meditators, it can be tempting to see the thinking mind as an enemy, but we can instead discover a wise and skillful relationship with it. This talk presents possible ways of working with the wide range of manifestations of thought: from papanca (proliferation) and obsession to creative, reflective and helpful thinking, to seeing the empty nature of all thought.

How does thought operate as a system driving our minds and actions towards incoherence and suffering.

As mindfulness deepens, we can uncover the 4 root causes of getting lost in our thinking, as well as remembering the aliveness of being when we step aside from thinking.

Our thinking mind, when unnoticed, spreads out into imaginary worlds about an imaginary version of ourselves. How mindfulness helps us recognize the various trances our mind spins.

Thinking problems and emotional problems - and how to work with them

Doubt can be an obstacle to meditation or a form of healthy inquiry. It is helpful to ask questions, to ponder, and be willing to doubt our beliefs and opinions. Ask yourself: are my views true? We hold many unexamined beliefs—beliefs about self, about how things should be, about what other people should do. The Kalama Sutta encourages us to question what we think, and to not adopt beliefs based on hearsay or mere tradition. We can use our minds to critically inquire into how things actually are. Doubt as an obstacle, on the other hand, is a painful state that leads to confusion, fear, indecision, and uncertainty. It manifests as obsessive thinking, planning, and anxiety. The Discourse to Malunkyaputta (Middle Length Discourses, M. 63) proposes that if we indulge in speculative thinking we might miss the opportunity to free ourselves from suffering. Specific suggestions are offered for working skillfully with the hindrance of doubt.

Finding freedom every moment, using the power of mindful awareness of thoughts.