Breaking Free from the Cycle of Thought and Identity
In today's fast-paced world, the mind is constantly flooded with thoughts. But is thought really the problem? Or is it something deeper—our attachment and identification with those thoughts? Let’s explore how our likes and dislikes shape our experience of life and how we can free ourselves from this cycle.
Thought is Not the Problem
Thought is simply a process of the mind, an accumulation of data from past experiences, observations, and conditioning. It is neither good nor bad in itself. It is like the weather—sometimes sunny, sometimes stormy, but always changing. The real issue arises not from thought itself but from our reaction to it.
See, thought is just knowledge. Without thought, can you even move your little finger? Whether you are thinking of dancing, talking about becoming conscious, or planning a picnic, every little thought is a certain knowledge. But the problem arises when you divide this data into good or bad, positive or negative. The moment you attach yourself to it or try to avoid it, you create a struggle. Now, neurological stimuli seep into this, and suddenly, you experience heart palpitations, a flush of heat, a burning sensation in your ears, or even a sense of losing the ground beneath you. The seed is always there, but the moment you develop likes and dislikes, the body is bound to react. This is how fear, anxiety, and even psychosis take root within you.
When you attach yourself to a thought, saying, This is my thought, this defines me, or when you resist it, saying, I don’t want this thought, you give it power. Either way, the thought begins to influence your inner state. The moment you react based on your likes and dislikes, you allow the external world to dictate your inner experience.
The more you cling to a thought, the more rigid you become. And the more rigid you become, the more life struggles to flow through you. See, rigidity is not strength—it is fragility. A rigid tree is the first to break in a storm. A rigid mind, too, becomes brittle, unable to adapt, unable to embrace life as it comes.
When you hold on too tightly—this is my thought, this is my belief, this is who I am—you are no longer seeing life, you are only seeing your own projections. The world is not the problem, but the rigidity of your mind turns everything into a battle. And when reality does not match your ideas, frustration, anger, even madness sets in.
If you can loosen this grip, just a little, you will see—thought is just a passing cloud in the vast sky of your being. If you let it come and go without resistance, there is no struggle, no suffering. You will walk through life with ease, untouched by its turbulence.
Your brain does not distinguish between what is a real experience and what is just a thought. What is in front of you right now and what you keep imagining—the brain treats both as real, depending on the tension and emotional charge around a certain situation. The moment you start thinking away life instead of acting, the brain gets confused about how to differentiate reality from imagination. For someone suffering from anxiety, this means they have gone into a dreamlike mode, where imagined fears become as real as physical experiences.
This is why people suffering from anxiety are advised to go out, take an adventure, or engage with life. But such temporary diversions will not work permanently unless one addresses the root cause—the seeds of deep-rooted tendencies, or samskaras.
The Trap of Likes and Dislikes
From the moment we are born, we develop preferences—what we like, what we dislike. While preferences in themselves are harmless, becoming fixated on them creates patterns of compulsion. You may say, I am a tea person, or I am a coffee person. But what happens when tea is unavailable? What happens when life does not go according to your preferences? You suffer.
The moment you rigidly identify with your preferences, you unknowingly create a prison for yourself. This is karma—not as a system of reward and punishment, but as repetitive cycles of tendencies. It is these fixations that bind us in cycles of joy and suffering, clarity and confusion, freedom and entanglement.
Liberating Yourself from Identification
 |
| Unlock Your Potential with NMCP – Enroll Now! |
If you can simply observe thought without attaching yourself to it, without reacting based on preferences, life becomes effortless. Instead of being driven by compulsions, you move through life consciously, responding to situations as they are rather than as you wish them to be. This is the beginning of true freedom.
True freedom is not about controlling thoughts but about not being controlled by them. When you transcend the compulsions of identity, life ceases to be a struggle—it becomes an effortless flow. The choice is always yours. This is surrendering to the intelligence or surrendering God.
________________________________
Comments
Post a Comment