Need help

[sneha]

I'm reading about mastering the mind.we say we are not our mind or body or thoughts . If we are simply watching them come or go . Why do we practice positive thinking why do we talk about replacing negatives with positives sometimes? What use are affirmations if we are not our thoughts? What's the difference between mental alertness and awareness?

[zenny]

1. "The observer and the observed ,plus, the experience of observing "---these three come under the realm of thinking.........

Plus, let me quote UG's description :

 You have no way of directly experiencing anything. The word "directly" does not mean that
there is any other way of experiencing things other than the way you are experiencing things now.

The knowledge you have about it is all that is there and that is what you are experiencing.
Really, you do not know what it is. In exactly the same way, when you want to know something
about thought, or experience thought, it is the same process that is in operation there. There is
no inside or outside. What there is is only the operation, the flow of the knowledge. So you
cannot actually separate yourself from thought and look at it. So when such a question is
thrown at you, what should happen is [the realization] that none of the answers have any
meaning, because all that is acquired and taught. So that movement stops. There is no need for
you to answer the question. There is no need for you to know anything about it. All that you
know comes to a halt. It has no momentum any more. It slows down, and then it dawns upon
you that it is meaninglessness to try to answer that question, because it has no answer at all.
The answers that others have given are there. So you have nothing to say on that thing called
thought, because all you can say is what you have gathered from other sources--I personally feel that a part of ourselves wants to be good.. You have no
answer of your own.

 

 

2."Why do we practice positive thinking"--------

for this question , let me quote what duane heppner said , “If people like dictators can convince others to self-destruct, wouldn’t it make sense to
create a reality for people to become wonderful.”

[Sven]

"What's the difference between mental alertness and awareness?"

I think they might counter-intuitively be the exact same thing, but we cannot access that insight when our mind is working us instead of us working the mind.

So firstly you figure out how to let go of everything or, in other words, just be aware of everything without judging. That is meditation, of course.

Secondly, if step one is done correctly, from this empty space of clarity actually the most intense focus can take place. This state is called the flow state as you may already know.

Either way, I am very, very interested in this specific question because scientific research is unable to determine what the resource is behind ego depletion (ego depletion is nothing more than simply losing focus). From a spiritual perspective we might say that that resource is just nothingness or pure awareness, but I do not know! I do not experience this in that way.

About the positivity- as far as I am concerned there is no negativity possible whatsoever. Once the mind is clear and cleaned of bullshit judgments, beliefs and ideologies that do not support anything in the world other than pure neurotic behavior only positivity can remain. Because you do have a choice at that point.