Who Are We in Between our Thinking?

I have been participating in a 5 Week Course in Mindfulness Meditation ("Vispana" in the parlance of Buddhism). The course is being taught by Gil Fronsdal at the Insight Meditation Center in Redwood CA. Although there has been a lot building up to what I am talking about here, I thought I would share some insights into something that was taught in the course today.

The question is: "Who are we in between our thinking?" Mindfulness draws awareness to the fact that we spend much of our time caught up in various thinking processes, for example, planning for the future. During Mindfulness meditation, we seek to recognize this process for what it is, and in turn provide ourselves with a sense of freedom and liberation. Fronsdal points out that as humans, there is an epidemic of the following process:

- Something happening to us, or a thought arises
- This thought or eventleads us down a path of: if I do this, then this will happen, then this will happen, then this will happens and therefore this will happen ... etc.
- We then walk around in these thinking processes, not living in the moment for minutes, hours, days ....
- Then we run into other humans who are engaging in similar webs of thought and not living in the present
- So here are two humans down two wholly independent "rat holes" trying to have a meaningful interaction in the present moment

While Mindfulness Practice does not judge thinking as bad, it teaches us to recognize thinking for what it is, and look at it as somewhat of of an outsider. We then come back to the breath as the center of our attention, trying to "live in the breath" in the present moment.

There are also some further investigations which might be made during the meditation, such as recognizing that the thinking is only a flag for some underlying emotion. For example, fear might bring one to an intensive planning process. That thinking tries to bring us to a point of safety psychologically. In that case, with Vispanan practice, you gently recognize the emotion, don't judge it as good or bad, simply put it aside, and then come back to the breath.

So the question again: "Who are we in between our thinking?" I would be curious to hear some answers to that. This Holiday Season, if you turn off that voice in your head that's planning the presents, the tree, the time off from work at the office; then who are we in those independent moments without thinking? Some people are afraid of it. I can say that personally I have been able to catch glimpses of this and I think it is a very beautiful thing that can bring a greater sense of pleasure to the things that are going on around us in the present.

See if you can for just a few moments sit quietly, close your eyes, and turn off the voice inside your head, and only observe your breathing. See if during the day you can recognize when you are going through elaborate (and perhaps somewhat unnecessary) webs of planning, or lament about past mistakes or missed opportunities (for example). How does this thinking prevent you from fully engaging in the present and experience life to the fullest?