I’ve been trying to wrap my head around it for a while now, and yeah, you are the conscious being that hears your thoughts, but how “deep” does that conscience go?
In: Other
I think therefor I am. — Rene Descartes
“Those people” are wrong, from Descartes’ point of view. These philosophic questions require a framing base, and if you’re not sure where people are coming from it is very easy to talk past each other.
One possible interpretation of “those people” is that just because your ask yourself “Would it be a good idea to kill Sam?” that doesn’t make you a murderer. Similarly asking yourself “What if my problems are connected because I’m gay?” is routine introspection, and not a thought to be concerned about having.
If you actually work on getting ready to kill Sam, that’s a problem you need professional help for,
It’s in my opinion a really over reduced statement to just say “you are not your thoughts”. But it’s implying that we are our thoughts, our feelings and our actions. If we only behave as if our thoughts are the only thing to us, then we live in our head and when we get negative thoughts we are more easily consumed by that negative thinking. The same can be said about our feelings and our actions. You are not your feelings. And you are not your actions. But all of these things are what we are and it’s how we make the use of them all to keep balance in our lives.
It’s the implication that you are your awareness not your thoughts. Spiritual people believe this, that beyond our thoughts and feelings there is awareness and that’s what we really are. If we can separate ourselves from the noise in our minds it can bring peace and reassurance
The idea is that our brain creates thoughts subconsciously. Have you ever had an uncomfortable thought pop into your head? Ever stand on an edge and think, “what if I jump?” It’s very common. It doesn’t mean that you’re suicidal, your brain does it as a defense mechanism. The thought is not what defines you, it’s the choices and actions that you take that define you.
A good question I like to ask myself, and maybe it will help you too, is this:
“who is in charge, the thinker, or the thoughts?”
Im pretty sure I read the following in one of [Haemin Sunim’s](https://www.haeminsunim.com/) wonderful books, and I’ll try to paraphrase here:
We, as conscious beings, are like the sky – limitless and expansive.
Our thoughts, feelings, & emotions are like the clouds.
We cant control their coming and going, we can notice them as they appear, come and go, and disappear…while we remain the sky 🙂
You can just observe your thoughts, you can act on them, or you can choose to not act on them, but you are not the thoughts. Your thoughts just come from your brain, and you also have to decide with your brain (and your heart!) how to use the thoughts.
This is such a rich subject for discussion! Honestly, I found myself thinking about just this a couple months back, and I found this thread:
[https://www.reddit.com/r/Meditation/comments/151wapw/i_cant_quite_grasp_the_meaning_behind_you_are_not/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button](https://www.reddit.com/r/Meditation/comments/151wapw/i_cant_quite_grasp_the_meaning_behind_you_are_not/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
I think it means different things. One is that you’re not defined by what you think. That could be some sort of positive message, such as making you realize that you’re not the worthless person you’ve told yourself you are.
I think the other meaning (similar) is that in some meditative practices you observe your thoughts, detached from them. You are the watcher, for lack of a better word, not that which is being watched.
Hadn’t heard that phrase, but my thought is that if you look at it in the old id, ego, superego theory, thoughts that your id throws out aren’t necessarily reflective of who “you” are. Your ego, in telling the id to pipe down is more reflective of who you are or who you want to be.
Just because your unfettered mind has thoughts, as long as they’re not acted upon they’re not you.
Thank you for coming to my amateur pop psych lecture. 😎
I know how reddit hates most christain-based philosophies, but i heard an old fundamentalist pastor give an analogy kind of echoed this saying.
“You can’t keep a bird from flying over your head, but you can keep it from building a nest in your hair.”
In other words; bad/immoral thoughts come to almost everyone. Whether they are brought by anger, lust, or some other emotion. However, we dont have to allow that/those thoughts to hang around. Just like on a television, you can change the channel to another, better option.
And we certainly don’t have to act out whatever thoughts we have.
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