12 Jul One Ten-Thousandth of a Second – July 13 2020
Consciousness is the field which supports the phenomenon called ‘mind.’ Consciousness itself is without form. Just before you think a thought, what you’re experiencing is awareness, which is radiating out of… is an aspect of consciousness. If you want to, you can watch and see. Right before every thought you have an opportunity. The opportunity presents itself continuously. It lasts about one/ten-thousandth of a second. Got to be quick, eh?
When we say that, it sounds very minimal… but in that space of one ten-thousandth of a second, you’re looking at eternity, which is outside of time. So you have a window open on that which is beyond time. Infinite…
With a little self-reflection – riding in a taxi, in line at the supermarket, when thoughts go by nonchalantly – one sees one instant right before the thought. That’s who you are. And you pull back into that no-thinking-ness prior to thought. It’s there all the time.
It’s said that the entryway into enlightenment is in the instant of now. That ‘now’ is always present. It only takes a curiosity, really…
Out of sheer curiosity – forget about God, forget about enlightenment – out of sheer curiosity, watch and see that each thought arises in an empty space. Be with the empty space; and as the next thought arises, the empty space is there again. The empty space is there continuously. And then one sees ‘I’m the space and not the thought.’ It’s simple…
So to become enlightened is to see that one is the field and not the content of the field. You’re the field in which the thought presents itself. One/ten-thousandth of a second…
David R. Hawkins, M.D., Ph.D.,
The Way to God: Perception and Illusion
–Distortions of Reality
All this by way of saying: I am not my thoughts.
Why does it matter to know this?
Because my thoughts tell me so much that is untrue about myself and about the world, and listening to or acting upon these untruths always leads to suffering, in myself and in the people around me.
And because by paying attention to my thoughts rather than to the world, I am missing my life. I am missing all the precious moments in which I may find joy, love, God, happiness. I am missing the only place – the present moment – where I may find these things.
I am not my thoughts. I am the field in which the thoughts arise.
Today I will find moments to be curious about the space from which thoughts arise. I will remind myself that I am not my thinking and see if I can become aware of what I might be that is other than my thinking. I will make a decision to put my self-definition and my feeling of well-being in the hands of something other than my thoughts about myself or the world.
