THINKING

Thinking is entertaining, as when we write a poem, play a game, or watch a sporting event.  Thinking is helpful in solving problems, constructing something, or learning a new language.

Thinking moves through time, enabling us to look at the past, the present, or the future.

Thinking, at the same time, has a dark side, as when we are depressed, the result usually of something we are frustrated about. Thinking can be delusional.  Bad dreams come from thinking.

The problem is, we never stop thinking.  As a result, we have, as philosopher Alan Watts put it, nothing to think but thoughts.

We think we are our thoughts.  How we see ourselves, our self image, depends upon what we think about ourselves, our perception of ourselves.  We identify ourselves with our thinking mind.

Spiritual teachers, be they from the ancient past like Shankara, or from the present day like Eckhart Tolle, emphasize that we are not the thinker.  We are not who we think we are, or that our thinking thinks we are. We are the consciousness behind the thinker.

This consciousness does not think but rather watches, witnesses. When our lives have ended, our thinking mind, the computer, stays behind, leaving only the timeless, witnessing consciousness.

The witnessing consciousness is described in Vedanta as sat-chit-ananda, meaning pure being, pure consciousness, and pure bliss or love, considered the three fundamental attributes of Brahman, God. The witnessing consciousness behind our thinking mind is, accordingly, Brahman, God.