There is a place inside where awareness exists without thought. One can only access this state through persistent spiritual practice. The primary discipline or key is meditation. Why? Because you cannot think your way to the space beyond thought. Thought must be transcended. When one goes into deep meditation the thoughts start falling away of their own accord. One can envision thoughts as having a certain stickiness, but no matter how sticky the thought, it still requires something to stick to. The thing the thoughts stick to is the ego, the sense of possession, of I, me, mine. When one attains the pure awareness in deep meditation, the ego sense of separateness falls away, taking with it the thoughts that cling to it. This cannot be done overnight! However, one can begin to make progress almost immediately. One only need to sit for meditation regularly.

There are many meditation techniques, but they all have the same goal: to transcend the worlds of thought. That’s it, the entire goal of yoga and spiritual practice in a nutshell. Why? Are thoughts bad? Not at all, it is natural for human beings to think. But it is the attachment to thought, the identification with your thoughts that is the source of all pain and suffering and need be transcended. Thoughts are vehicles, and they are the fastest vehicles in existence. Light speed is creeping slow compared to the the speed of thought. Think about it 🙂

These vehicles are great, as long as you want to go where they’re taking you. Unfortunately most of us are getting dragged along with our foot caught in the stirrups, as the wild horse of ego runs where it will. And we are getting road burn!

Enough philosophy, meditate.

Sit quietly in a comfortable posture. Focus on the breath. Allow your mind to disengage from thought.

And here is a great secret: The awareness of the Self of pure consciousness dwells in the space between two thoughts. Meditate on the space between. In time this space will expand. There you will find The Witness, which is none other than your own true self ;).

Note: It may occur to you that I could elaborate on these concepts. And I will in future essays. But I am writing in a condensed style on purpose. Each small lesson contains a lot of philosophy, but they all are wrapped around the same truth. I am hinting at this truth from different angles. But I am not attempting to spell it out. I’m not elaborating because the truth is not elaborate. We must approach in simplicity. So I’m giving a short little lesson to get the ball rolling and then asking you to practice. And the only practice I have suggested so far is meditation. This website is not dedicated to intellectual conceptions but to spiritual practice. Shanti :).