True understanding is possible only when we are fully conscious of our thought, not as an operative observer on this thought, but completely and without the intervention of a choice.
Interpretation
True understanding comes from being fully aware of our thoughts without any judgment or choice.
This quote emphasizes the importance of being completely conscious of our thoughts in order to achieve genuine understanding. It suggests that true comprehension occurs when we observe our thoughts without any filters, judgments, or biases, allowing us to connect deeply with the essence of our mental processes.
In practice
In a mindfulness workshop, to illustrate the importance of awareness in understanding, I shared this quote.
The following of authority is the denial of intelligence. [It] may help us temporarily to cover up our difficulties and problems; but to avoid a problem is only to intensify it, and in the process, self-knowledge and freedom are abandoned.
In seeking comfort, we generally find a quiet corner in life where there is a minimum of conflict, and then we are afraid to step out of that seclusion.
If you listen through the screen of your desires, then you obviously listen to your own voice; you are listening to your own desires.
If you have this extraordinary thing going in your life, then it is everything; then you become the teacher, the disciple, the neighbour, the beauty of the cloud - you are all that, and that is love.
Meditation is one of the greatest arts in life - perhaps the greatest, and one cannot possibly learn it from anybody, that is the beauty of it.
All of us have been trained by education and environment to seek personal gain and security and to fight for ourselves. Though we cover it over with pleasant phrases, we have been educated for various professions within a system which is based on exploitation and acquisitive fear.
Relaxing with something as familiar as loneliness is good discipline for realizing the profundity of the unresolved moments of our lives. We are cheating ourselves when we run away from the ambiguity of loneliness.....Rather than persecuting yourself or feeling that something terribly wrong is happening, right there in the moment of sadness and longing, could you relax and touch the limitless space of the human heart?
It's the journey that matters. Learning is more important than the test. Practice well, and the games will take care of themselves.
[E]xceptional claims demand exceptional evidence.
Battles are not won by strength alone!
I am what I am. I love me! And I don't mean that egotistically - I love that God has allowed me to take whatever it was that I had and to make something out of it.
I'm attracted to subjects who overcome tremendous suffering and learn to cope emotionally with it
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