A Perfect Relationship with Thought

A Perfect Relationship with Thought H ave you ever considered what it might be like to have a perfect relationship with thought? If you want to be free, it’s very important to understand that the expression of our spiritual attainment can ultimately be reduced to the depth and profundity of our relationship with thought. One who is liberated has a very different relationship with thought than one who is not. Looking into the question of what is a perfect relationship with thought is an important way of gaining insight into the meaning and significance of the enlightened condition. Indeed, if one dares to question seriously what one’s relationship with thought is, the whole world can be turned upside down instantly. When looking into this question of what is a perfect relationship with thought, it’s very important not to be concerned with one’s relationship with particular thoughts, but instead to be concerned only with one’s relationship with thought itself. That means allowing all thoughts to become perfectly equal. It’s an illuminating exercise to ­re­duce all thoughts to a perfectly equal status and from there to inquire into the nature of what one’s relationship with thought itself actually is. You see, as long as we give our attention only to our relationship with particular thoughts, it will be impossible to find that door, that portal through which we can discover another dimension of perception. If we want to be free, then we have to find a way to literally leave this world behind forever. And the way to leave this world behind forever is to wholeheartedly inquire into the question: what is our relationship with thought? When we begin to question our relationship with thought, then our relationship with all of the objects that arise in awareness, including the world and everything in it, will be seen in a dramatically different light. That is because through a one-pointed inquiry into our relationship with thought, the limitless context in which all thought arises will be discovered. The discovery of that limitless context is the realization of the enlightened perspective. It is only because our attention has always been so narrowly focused on thought and the movement of thought that the context in which thought arises is not perceived. And because that context in which thought arises is not perceived, our fundamental experience of being alive is one of limitation. Our relationship with thought is our relationship with life. Our relationship with thought is our relationship with the world. Our relationship with thought is our relationship with the whole universe. The relationship with thought is the link between the experience of pure, undifferentiated consciousness and the reality of time and space and the whole world of multiplicity that arises within it. An ignorant condition is one in which we are more interested in thought than we are in the context in which thought arises. The difference between the enlightened perspective and the unenlightened perspective is simply that in the enlightened perspective, one is more interested in the context in which thoughts arise than they are in the nature of the thoughts themselves. That context is infinite space. Thought is time and memory. When our attention is rooted in infinite space, our experience is freedom. When our attention is rooted in time and memory, our experience is bondage and limitation. This shift of attention from being fascinated with thought to fascination with the context in which thought arises is the shift from being asleep to being awake. It is a movement from meditation on time and memory to medi­­tation on no time and no memory. Always inherent in this shift of attention from limitation to no limitation is transformation. And transformation demands that all conclusions drawn about the nature of thought prior to the ­dis­covery of that context be reexamined. Those who are more interested in thought than they are in the limitless context in which thought arises are almost always intimidated by the discovery of that context. Indeed, in profound realization, so much that had appeared to be significant is discovered to be completely insignificant. This can be terrifying. One who abides permanently in the enlightened perspective is no longer confused by thought and the movement of thought. Because of this, they seem to be able to move in a miraculous way through the world of time and space. One who is no longer confused by thought and the movement of thought mysteriously emanates that which is limitless and ungraspable. Indeed, we emanate that which we concentrate upon. That is why one who concentrates solely upon thought and the movement of thought expresses limitation. And one who concentrates upon the context in which thoughts arise expresses that ungraspable knowledge of no limitation. Awakening begins when one experiences for the first time a shift of attention from thought and the movement of thought to the limitless context in which thought arises. In the initial perception of that context, there is simulta­neously the discovery of no limitation and the recognition that limitation had been one’s fundamental experience up until that point. Awakening is complete only when the shift from identification with thought and the movement of thought to that context in which thought arises has become permanent. Now one is no longer unduly distracted by any particu­lar thought that arises in awareness. Now one is natu­rally resting in and as that context itself, not as any particular thought whatsoever.