Think as you please!

Have conviction in what you think. It is said that ‘life’ is an illusion – or – ‘thought’ represents a contextual phenomenon – a personal perception of the ‘world’ out there. Thus, perhaps for us, there is no other reality besides the effect of thoughts on us. The question is – can we control thoughts? Should we control thoughts? Why should we control? 

Fundamental questions these constitute! I have come to realize, that as long as we exist, thoughts entering our minds and exiting is a continuous phenomenon, which one can’t avoid or resist. And if the flow of thoughts can’t be avoided, or controlled, we may have some chance regarding how we choose to think however. Because thoughts create an “impression” of the world – and by impression, I mean any kind of emotion, experience, or an idea. And these impressions “bind” us or “connect” us to the external world in which we live. The connection may excite us or give a feeling of hell or heaven – depending on how we let thoughts affect us.

Fundamentally, a thought can be viewed as a ripple rising in the mind-space. Space, as a reservoir, is neutral. A thought creates a ripple on it. And successive thoughts following the earlier thought, cause more ripples. We believe that “ripples” make our identity, whereas that is not the case. The idea of ripples is important, since it signifies the fluid and fleeting nature of identity. The notion of meaning/ reality is based on these ripples. No ripples, there is no meaning as we understand today! That does not mean we suppress or negate the ripples. For any effort to curb the ripples, may lead to creation of more ripples! 

Having realized the nature of ripples to this extent, we may realize that our assumptions, ideas, experiences, interpretations of everything around us is notional – nothing is permanent and as long as we are aware of this fact, no thought can be claimed as absolute and thus, there is no reason to ‘follow’ a thought or even to react to any kind of a thought. 

So what is expected? Just observation! To realize that the void exists beyond the thought and the void creates all the manifestations. It is the tendency of the void to manifest in billion different ways and such manifestations lead to the creation of thoughts in us. The need is to realize this potential of the void, so in moments of extreme challenges, we continue to nurture hope and compassion. We continue to entertain those thoughts that may give us peace. If that seems to be the case, why not think positively? And why not consider the idea – that is there anything that should be termed as negative?