Are we our thoughts?

[Actualising]

The Buddha says, "The mind is everything, what we think we become". But then there's the idea that we aren't our thoughts. I get intrusive thoughts and worry about becoming what they are about. Do I have nothing to worry about as I'm not my ego, or should I take care with my thoughts? What do I do?

Edited May 24 by Actualising

[Davino]

Breathe, everything is okay. Don't just read, do with me. Take a deep breathe; everything is fine.

Focus on becoming more present and aware. From the meditation POV thoughts are just phenomena as there are sights, sounds, feelings... when meditating focus on the phenomena that is present and not on thoughts, when you catch yourself lost on the thought phenomena return to your anchor, breathing; once grounded, then let go of the focus on the breath and abide in the present moment, in simple open awareness, like a cat sunbathing. Here is a nice meditation for you. Pranayama is also good.

From the self-development POV we'll need to understand how your mind works with introspection and emotional maturity. Also realize that most of the time worries are an intelligent mechanism designed for you to look in parts of your life that you are denying, although obviously it can enter into cyclic patterns of self-torture. In addition, your ego will develop with you, so it's better to become friends with it and understand models like Spiral Dynamics that explain its evolution with useful conceptual frameworks and maps. The following video presents the ground for understanding mind and its mechanisms.

And a more practical lens to navigate the issues you are facing is Self-Love

From the Psychedelic POV, these tools can offer a tangible way to purge yourself and accelerate the above mentioned processes.

 

[LastThursday]

We are not just our thoughts, we are far far bigger than our thoughts. You may have heard that thoughts are like the weather, always changing, coming and going. Like the weather we don't really control our thoughts, thoughts just arise from nothing and disappear back into nothing. Sometimes it rains and we get our umbrellas out to stay dry - we should treat our thoughts in the same way. 

Instead of trying to control our thoughts, we should find better ways to react to them, take care of that. In the end the ego is also just a thought.

 

[Actualising]

@Davino thank you

[Actualising]

@LastThursday thanks bro

[James123]

1 hour ago, Actualising said:

The Buddha says, "The mind is everything, what we think we become". But then there's the idea that we aren't our thoughts. I get intrusive thoughts and worry about becoming what they are about. Do I have nothing to worry about as I'm not my ego, or should I take care with my thoughts? What do I do?

Yes we are our thoughts. But the ending is Love!!! Just spread the love. 

[Hojo]

If you worry about them you will become them as you are identifying with it whether you say I like the thought or don't. By giving them attention you identify with them and God notices this. Let it come notice it notice your need to react to it because you aren't that and you need to tell yourself that you aren't that and then stop before you do and let it hang.

Worrying about what the mind says is futile as what its thinking isn't even real the thought dosent exist. By reacting to something you create attachment to it even if its not real and you will think about it more.

You are a screen that can think. The context of the thoughts are meaningless you are just an infinite thing looking and thinking.

Edited May 24 by Hojo

[Breakingthewall]

Our thoughts are the manifestation of the pattern of existence that we are. and in some way we are them because the self, the idea we have of what we are, is created by them. But really we are the source of the thoughts, not them, and the source of the thoughts ultimately is the reality. 

[Sugarcoat]

29 minutes ago, Breakingthewall said:

and the source of the thoughts ultimately is the reality. 

What do you mean by this

[BipolarGrowth]

3 hours ago, Actualising said:

The Buddha says, "The mind is everything, what we think we become". But then there's the idea that we aren't our thoughts. I get intrusive thoughts and worry about becoming what they are about. Do I have nothing to worry about as I'm not my ego, or should I take care with my thoughts? What do I do?

Where did the Buddha say this? I think your quote is mistaken or at least misunderstood.

Here someone gave a breakdown on the validity of that quote: https://fakebuddhaquotes.com/what-you-think-you-become/

All mental formations are described to be not self. This includes thoughts or any type of mental phenomena you can conceive of. A crucial element to understand about the Buddha’s teachings is that you do have the ability to control your mind to varying degrees, based upon the amount of practice you have devoted to developing this capacity. You control your mind in Buddhist practice by guarding your sense doors, that meaning you become aware of whenever you are grasping after transient elements of experience as if they will provide some type of lasting fulfillment and stop that grasping once it is recognized. 
 

I’ve been studying The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha (Majjhima Nikāya) lately, and over and over again it is stressed that you should turn your mind from the unwholesome to what is wholesome. What is considered wholesome in the Buddha’s teaching is whatever leads one away from the hindrances and instead leads a person closer to the destruction of the hindrances or otherwise called the taints which is synonymous to awakening. 
 

The hindrances are sloth and torpor (essentially being lazy, unmotivated, and lacking energy when it concerns reaching full enlightenment and liberation), restlessness and worry (anxiety/stress essentially), desire for sense objects, ill-will or hatred, and doubt (mainly referring to doubt in the Buddhist methods as effectively leading to the ending of suffering which is related to ignorance).

You should rightfully be concerned that you are having intrusive thoughts that not only produce suffering now but also condition your mind to further suffering in the future. Consider your mind like a computer’s CPU. Unwholesome thoughts are like viruses or malware on a computer. The higher percentage of the CPU which is taken up by this sort of malicious activity in a given moment, the less ability the computer has to run your desired programs properly. The desired programs in this case would be your mind recognizing the Absolute, being full of contentment, confidence, loving-kindness to all beings, stillness, happiness, etc. Basically this means non-resistance to what is. 

 

The experience which you really want is an awakened mind free from the woes of petty ego worries and problems which are all self-generated of course by seeing reality incorrectly. Intrusive thoughts obviously bring you to more ego bullshit and issues. Watch for those thoughts, and incline your mind to something healthy or productive instead. As you do this, over time you will find that your CPU has less and less viruses and malware up until the point it is running at maximum capacity without issue. 
 

Here’s a video from a Buddhist teacher, Dhammarato, who does a great job of focusing on the essential practices of early Buddhism: 

He has tons of videos on this topic, and his teachings line up quite closely with what you find in the Suttas. I’ve spoken to him a number of times, and it is clear that he knows what he is talking about and has the ability to clear up a lot of misconceptions people pick up from quasi-Buddhist sources. 

Edited May 24 by BipolarGrowth

[Breakingthewall]

1 hour ago, Sugarcoat said:

What do you mean by this

What is the source of everything that exists? That's what you are, the horizon of possibilities, the unfathomable depth that exists, the infinity that is conscious of itself, The source of the infinites universes, the power that arises from the nothingness, the totality that can't avoid being because there are not limits. The absolute freedom. God? That word is confusing. Just existence, what you are

Edited May 24 by Breakingthewall

[Sugarcoat]

5 minutes ago, Breakingthewall said:

What is the source of everything that exists? That's what you are, the horizon of possibilities, the unfathomable depth that exists, the infinity that is conscious of itself, The source of the infinites universes, the power that arises from the nothingness, the totality that can't avoid being because there are not limits. The absolute freedom. God? That word is confusing. Just existence, what you are

Ok I understand. But “infinity that is conscious of itself” is that not describing a self? Isn’t consciousness associated with a self?

Edited May 24 by Sugarcoat

[Breakingthewall]

3 hours ago, Sugarcoat said:

Ok I understand. But “infinity that is conscious of itself” is that not describing a self? Isn’t consciousness associated with a self?

Yes, at the end, you are that, but it's something impersonal, is the substance of the reality, just absence of limits. Is absence of limits a self? Or something? 

[Sugarcoat]

6 minutes ago, Breakingthewall said:

Yes, at the end, you are that, but it's something impersonal, is the substance of the reality, just absence of limits. Is absence of limits a self? Or something? 

I meant more when I think of consciousness I think of duality so a self being the one who is conscious of .. something . So that being the “illusion”  of separation so to speak . But maybe it’s just a different use of the word. 

Edited May 24 by Sugarcoat

[Schizophonia]

We are a film, the ultimate and non-contingency truth. 

[Carl-Richard]

Your Cosmic self (your ultimate nature) is not reducible to your personal thoughts. But your personal self is largely reducible to your personal thoughts. But it's not just reducible to your thoughts. It's reducible to most (technically all) things in your life. This should not be taken as a needless burden but as responsibility, not as fear but courage.

Edited May 24 by Carl-Richard

[UnbornTao]

I take that quote to mean that what you focus on, you end up becoming. What you create with your mind, you'll turn into. Always being angry will turn you into an irascible person. Meditating daily will greatly influence your physiology, mind, and character over the long term. As a result, you are being shaped and formed by your particular "thought" patterns. On the other hand, there's the matter of your nature, which has two aspects:

1. Being: your nature--what you are before artifice, knowledge, and mind
2. Your self: this might as well be essentially a "thought", although not a commonly held one. Such thought is lived "as is" rather than recognized as conceptual in nature. This is why you can transform as a self and still be you in essence. This is a dynamic construction that is also largely socially, and language-, influenced

In any case, this is hearsay, so you tell me after you've had a breakthrough into your nature.

Edited May 26 by UnbornTao

[Chadders]

@Actualising Check out Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. It’s the first step into the eastern wisdom that’s wrapped within a therapeutic treatment model

Bottom line is you are not your thoughts. If my mind wants to think of a purple elephant it just does. Hell I’m not in control of that, so who the hell am I? Awareness 

[Breakingthewall]

4 hours ago, Sugarcoat said:

I meant more when I think of consciousness I think of duality so a self being the one who is conscious of .. something . So that being the “illusion”  of separation so to speak . But maybe it’s just a different use of the word. 

8 hours ago, Sugarcoat said:

 

Think in conciousness as a synonym of existence. What would existence be without self-consciousness? the same as non-existence. there wouldn't be any difference.

[Sugarcoat]

13 hours ago, Breakingthewall said:

Think in conciousness as a synonym of existence. What would existence be without self-consciousness? the same as non-existence. there wouldn't be any difference.

I don’t know but isn’t it ultimately so that there’s no difference between existence and non existence, and there is only a reality and something happening when there is a sense of self that is conscious of it