Inner speech and thoughts

[Esoteric]

So I've been wondering about this lately. If you are going to invest your time to specifically try to view your thoughts without attachment.. If you sit down and your "inner speech" (that commentary which feels like you have control of, I hope you know what I mean) goes off, what is the difference between that and  thoughts? Your inner voice can go like "Ok, now I am watching this voice.. I can keep it going and I am watching it. Still watching it. Lalalala..". If you keep watching that isn't that watching your thought in a way? Yet I know that there is a different thing that pops out of nowhere which I "classically" know as thought. Those thoughts that just come and disappear. How is your inner monologue and thoughts related, how are they different?

I've been doing a lot of Vipassana with observing and scanning the body. I have become quite good at detecting and detaching from negative body sensations like anxiety and physical pain (anger can still be pretty hard), but I have not focused on thoughts because I have always heard it is the hardest thing to observe objectively so I have been kinda avoiding I guess. But now I want to invest a lot more with objectively detaching and viewing thoughts.. What is the best methods for this in your opinion?

Books? Videos? Articles? Anything you've found useful would be appreciated.

[Forestluv]

@Esoteric During my development, the first *major* stage I reached was the "observer + object" stage. Before this stage, I was my thoughts and feelings. Then one day, I began observing thoughts and had a direct experience that "I am not the thought". Rupert Spira refers to this as "enlightened duality". I spent about 20 years in the "observer + object" stage. There are many deep and beautiful teachings at this stage. Many practitioners spend the rest of their spiritual journey exploring this stage.

There is another stage in which the observer is no longer a separate entity. IME, this has been much more challenging than the "observer + object" stage. Even a novice meditator can reach this stage after a couple months of meditation. 

[Esoteric]

@Serotoninluv So what is the best and fastest method/technique for learning to view your thoughts in your opinion? 

[Forestluv]

2 minutes ago, Esoteric said:

@Serotoninluv So what is the best and fastest method/technique for learning to view your thoughts in your opinion? 

Just sit and be aware of thoughts that arise and disappear. No judgement, no identification. 

One meditation I used to do is "Thoughts are logs". I would imagine myself on the side of a river observing thoughts as they float down the river. No judgement or identification. Just let them float.

I found a lot of nuances in the "observer + object" stage. Where is the source of these logs? Where are they coming from. Who is this observer watching the logs? . . . Sometimes a thought goes by without attachment, sometimes with attachment. What is the difference between these two? Exactly when does the mind become attached to a thought? Where does the attachment come from? Can there be different flavors of attachment? Are other feelings associated with attachment? Is attachment a continuum from weak attachment to strong attachment? Where does my brain go once it attaches to a thought? . . . Imagine you are a scientist. Observe like your mind-body is under a microscope.

People assume they know what attachment is. One could spend years investigating attachment. Same goes for identification with thoughts and feelings.

[cetus]

28 minutes ago, Esoteric said:

@Serotoninluv So what is the best and fastest method/technique for learning to view your thoughts in your opinion? 

 Try floating outside yourself and watching all that happens. This is the method I recently found to be useful. I'm still exploring it so it's not  happening 24/7 but in a way it feels like an OBE when it does. The body/mind is silently wittnessed and there is no attachment to it. No judgment. 

[Esoteric]

@Serotoninluv Thanks, I appreciate your input.

[Esoteric]

@cetus56 Thanks.

 

Will try these methods