Have you ever had a thought pop into your head and wonder, "Where did that come from?" It seems some thoughts are intentionally constructed while others may startlingly appear from nowhere. As if our mind has a mind of its own.
That's because it does.
The mind's mind is known as the ego. The sense of self. Every thought we have, whether grandiose or grim, deliberate or desultory, has the intended purpose of reinforcing identity, self-hood.
And what a job it does! Each thought posits a dualistic framework of subject and object, sourced from a first-person thinker known as me. Descartes was right, but for the wrong reason. Thought doesn't prove one's existence, it makes it. An ego-version that is.
Each thought strengthens the self, further distancing ourselves from the source of serenity. Which is why A Course in Miracles counsels, "It is your thoughts alone that cause you pain. It is with your thoughts, then, that we must work, if your [experience] of the world is to be changed."
Are we, then, to give up thinking? Squelch all thoughts? Even if we could, that would not be helpful. The pathway to peace is paved through directing our thoughts into the realm of awareness.
In each moment, our thinking is either directed or undirected. The latter our conditioned state, a separate self fixated on personal concerns. The endless narrative of "me". This undirected thinking perpetuates the illusion of separation that the Course identifies as the source of suffering.
When thinking is directed into awareness, however, everything changes. As the Course notes, "Freedom is given you where you beheld but chains and iron doors." Everything and everyone are seen in the luminous light of love. We've shifted from the mind's mind of ego to the one Mind of perfect peace.
Join me in Thursday's class where we'll explore the nature of mind and learning how to direct our thinking in the welcoming arms of love. I look forward to seeing you then.