超越不斷思考的頭腦
人類的現狀：在思考中迷失
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絕大多數人畢生都將自己囚禁在他們自己的思維之中。他們從未超越過一個受過去制約的、狹小的、人為的、貼上個人標籤的自我感。
和每個人一樣，在你裡面，有一個比思維深得多的意識的向度。這正是你的本質。我們可以稱之為臨在、覺知、無限的意識。在古老的教導中，它被稱為內在的基督，或是你的佛性。
當你只知道這個頭腦製造出來的“小我”，而且你的生活完全被它掌控時，你在給自己和他人製造痛苦，而找到那個臨在的向度會將你和這個世界從這痛苦中解放出來。只有通過這無限的意識的層面，愛、歡樂、創造性的擴展，和持續的內在祥和才會來到你的生活中。
如果你能夠認識到那些經過你的頭腦的念頭只不過是念頭而已，如果你可以在你的頭腦-情緒的反應模式發生時觀照到它們，哪怕只是偶爾做到，這就表示那個向度已經在你的內在開始整合，它就是那個覺知，你的思維和情緒正是在它之內發生 – 它就是那個無限的內在空間，你的人生內容正是在它之中展開。
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念頭的續流有著巨大的力量，它能輕易地拖拽著你與它在一起。每個念頭都假裝它非常重要。它想要吸引你全部的注意力。
這兒有一個新的靈性練習給你：別把你的念頭太當真。
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人們是多麼容易受困於自己觀念的牢籠啊。
人類的頭腦，總是想要知道、瞭解和掌控，它總是將自己的意見和觀點誤認為是真理。頭腦總是說：“情況就是這樣。”你必須超越你的頭腦，你必須意識到無論你如何解讀“你的人生”或其他人的人生或他們的行為，無論你如何判斷一個情境，這都只不過是一個觀點，只不過是很多可能的視角之一。這只不過是一堆念頭而已。但是實相是合一的整體，在這整體之中萬事萬物都互相關聯，沒有什麼東西是獨自存在的。思維活動割裂了實相 – 它將這整體切割成一個一個概念性的碎片。
思考的頭腦是一個非常有用且強大的工具，但是，如果你的生活完全被頭腦所掌控，如果你沒有意識到頭腦只是你真正所是的無限意識的一個很小的面向而已，那麼它也是非常狹隘的。
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智慧並不是思考的產物。當你將全部的注意力放在某個人或者某件事之上，藉著這個簡單的動作，內在深處的知曉，也就是智慧，會自自然然升起。
注意力就是原始的智性，它正是意識本身。它消融了頭腦製造的障礙，然後你將認識到沒有什麼是獨立存在的。它將觀照者與被觀照者在合一的覺知裡連接起來。它是分離的療癒者。
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無論何時，當你深陷於不由自主的思維活動時，你就是在迴避當下。你不想存在於此時此地。這裡，當下。
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Beyond the Thinking Mind
The human condition: Lost in thought.
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Most people spend their entire life imprisoned within the confines of their own thoughts. They never go beyond a narrow, mind-made, personalized sense of self that is conditioned by the past.
In you, as in each human being, there is a dimension of consciousness far deeper than thought. It is the very essence of who you are. We may call it presence, awareness, the unconditioned consciousness. In the ancient teachings, it is the Christ within, or your Buddha nature.
Finding that dimension frees you and the world from the suffering you inflict on yourself and others when the mind-made “little me” is all you know and runs your life. Love, joy, creative expansion, and lasting inner peace cannot come into your life except through that unconditioned dimension of consciousness.
If you can recognize, even occasionally, the thoughts that go through your mind as just thoughts, if you can witness your own mental-emotional reactive patterns as they happen, then that dimension is already emerging in you as the awareness in which thoughts and emotions happen — the timeless inner space in which the content of your life unfolds.
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The stream of thinking has enormous momentum that can easily drag you along with it. Every thought pretends that it matters so much. It wants to draw your attention in completely.
Here is a new spiritual practice for you: don’t take your thoughts too seriously.
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How easy it is for people to become trapped in their conceptual prisons.
The human mind, in its desire to know, understand, and control, mistakes its opinions and viewpoints for the truth. It says: this is how it is. You have to be larger than thought to realize that however you interpret “your life” or someone else’s life or behavior, however you judge any situation, it is no more than a viewpoint, one of many possible perspectives. It is no more than a bundle of thoughts. But reality is one unified whole, in which all things are interwoven, where nothing exists in and by itself. Thinking fragments reality — it cuts it up into conceptual bits and pieces.
The thinking mind is a useful and powerful tool, but it is also very limiting when it takes over your life completely, when you don’t realize that it is only a small aspect of the consciousness that you are.
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Wisdom is not a product of thought. The deep knowing that is wisdom arises through the simple act of giving someone or something your full attention.
Attention is primordial intelligence, consciousness itself. It dissolves the barriers created by conceptual thought, and with this comes the recognition that nothing exists in and by itself. It joins the perceiver and the perceived in a unifying field of awareness. It is the healer of separation.
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Whenever you are immersed in compulsive thinking, you are avoiding what is. You don’t want to be where you are. Here, Now.
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