Do I have to stop thinking to awaken? Are thoughts illusions?

 

I have heard a number of spiritual teachers talk for quite a while about these two questions before answering ‘yes’ and ‘yes’. Spoiler alert: my answers will be ‘no’ and ‘no’ and I will try to keep my response brief because my main aim is simply to open up an alternative rather than provide a definitive answer.

Do I have to stop thinking to awaken?

I have heard so many spiritual teachers with negative things to say about thoughts, emotions, beliefs, memories and many more of the mental processes that we are aware of. Tim Grimes (2019) wrote a book entirely devoted to this topic. He makes it clear why in the following quote:

“Thought created all this suffering—and thought itself was not real. Without thought, all was grace—always. It was all blissfully and blatantly simple, yet totally illogical. […] Whatever you thought, it didn’t matter. Thought had nothing to do with anything real. Everything was always perfect, no matter what you thought…

[…] I saw that thought was what caused my suffering. And if I wasn’t thinking, I wasn’t suffering. Suffering was an illusion created by thought. And thought, ultimately, wasn’t real. Without thoughts, there is peace.”

The idea that thoughts are illusions that cause suffering and must therefore be stopped is widespread among many on a spiritual path, particularly those who hold a monist or non-dual philosophy, for whom everything except Brahman (supreme spirit or consciousness) is an illusion.

There are also teachers who specifically link the ending of most or all thoughts with awakening. One such is Gary Weber (see Weber, 2011 for example), but there are many more.

Believing that thoughts have to stop is an idea that leads some people to take on a practice that has the specific aim of putting an end to thinking. But despite having studied this subject for some years, I have found very few people who say that their practice led to their thoughts actually stopping, so it may not be a productive path to follow.

More importantly perhaps, psychologists have been researching the connections between thinking and well-being for decades and we know that some people do have problems with their thinking and they are particularly those who experience anxiety and / or depression. We also know that by correcting errors in their thinking, their levels of such negative feelings can be reduced or even eliminated. In other words, it is not the thinking in itself that is a problem but how and what one thinks. Skilful thinking is actually therapeutic! By the way, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of books on this so I suggest that, if it interests you, have a look through an introductory text or website on Cognitive Therapy (CT). Dennis Greenberger and Christine Padesky are reliable sources so I have linked to one of their books below in the Bibliography.

So, my answer to the first question is thus, no, you don’t have to stop thinking to awaken but it does help to have thoughts, particularly about yourself, that are accurate and compassionate. In fact, if you observe your inner world carefully you will probably find that the relationship between thinking and inner states is a ‘two-way street.’ In other words, as CT has shown, if you change someone’s thoughts you can change how they feel. And it’s also the case that, if someone changes how they feel, through yoga, meditation, deep breathing etc., the mind will become quieter and thoughts will become fewer without any further intervention. You certainly don’t need an inner battle going on between one part of the self and your thoughts as you try to prevent thoughts from arising.

You may find it even more re-assuring to look at the work of Dr. Andrew Newberg, director of research at the Jefferson Myrna Brind Center of Integrative Medicine and a physician at Jefferson University Hospital. Unlike most spiritual teachers, he actually researches people who have had enlightenment experiences. He reports that, although the nature of their thoughts usually change substantially with enlightenment experiences, people who have such experiences still think! For a sample of his work see the link below in the Bibliography.

Are thoughts illusions?

From my perspective, this question is a philosophical idea that has no bearing on whether or not someone will have awakening experiences. You can have awakening experiences whether you hold beliefs that are monist, dualist or something-in-between-ist, or whether theist, agnostic or atheist, pantheist or panentheist, or even whether you think thoughts are illusions or that they are real. It just doesn’t matter…

For what it’s worth, I currently like the perspective called panspiritism, which combines both monist and dualist features and holds that thoughts are real. Like most philosophical models of the mind and consciousness, it too has precedents among older traditions such as Bhedabheda Vedanta, for example. However, the first time I had a profound awakening experience I held a materialist stance, which you might think ought to be completely antithetical to such experiences! If you are interested, a sound introduction to panspiritism can be found in Taylor (2020).

Steve Taylor is also among the few who have studied the experiences that people had before their awakening experiences and it makes uncomfortable reading for those who say that theirs is the best path. Here is a quotation from one of his studies of this topic:

"Findings indicated that the most significant triggers were psychological turmoil (23.6%), nature (18%), meditation (13%) and watching or listening to an arts performance (13%) (Taylor, 2012b). Less significant triggers were found to be homeostasis disruption (i.e. physiological changes due to ingesting psychoactive substances, sleep deprivation or fasting), participating in a creative performance and athletic activity. Around 7% of the experiences had no discernible trigger. In this way, the research found that most awakening experiences were accidental or spontaneous, rather than consciously induced by spiritual practice. In fact, the study found that almost 78% of the awakening experiences occurred outside the context of spiritual practices, in a spontaneous fashion (Taylor, 2012b)."

So any ideas that you have about the reality of thoughts (or anything else for that matter), will likely have little or no effect on whether or not you have an awakening experience.

In conclusion

I have shared one or two ideas about why you don’t need to stop thinking to have awakening experiences, although I have suggested that it is worth being a skilful thinker. It is particularly important not to see thoughts as enemies that must be removed or suppressed. That is more likely to turn your mind into a battlefield. Better to simply watch thoughts come and go in a friendly fashion, and think no more about them...

Hopefully I have also provided a different perspective on whether thoughts are illusions because, as far as I can tell, whether or not they are illusions doesn’t matter to awakening (although if you enjoy thinking about big philosophical issues it’s a good one). Most of us still have to deal with them whether they are illusions or not and compassionate distancing (i.e. just letting them go) is as good a way of dealing with thoughts as any.

And finally…

I just had the thought that I am probably wasting my time writing this blog because very few people will read it.
Aaaaand, it’s gone…

And really finally...

A nice article on dealing with unwanted thoughts: https://bakadesuyo.com/2024/03/negative-thoughts/

Bibliography and Videography

Greenberger, D. & Padesky, C. A. (n.d.) Mind over mood. Accessed on 29th November 2023: https://anxietyanddepressioncenter.com/book-mind-over-mood-depression-orange-county-ca/

Grimes, T. (2019). The joy of not thinking: A radical approach to happiness. Amazon Kindle edition.

Newberg, A. (n.d.). How enlightenment changes the brain and how you can become enlightened. Accessed on 24th November 2023: https://bigthink.com/videos/andrew-newberg-neural-enlightenment-101/

Taylor, S. (2012). Spontaneous awakening experiences: Exploring the phenomenon
beyond religion and spirituality. The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 44(1), 73-
91.

Taylor, S. (2020). An introduction to panspiritism: An alternative to materialism and panpsychism. Zygon, 55(4), 898-923

Weber, G. (2011). Living Without Thoughts - Gary Weber. Accessed on 14th November 2023: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9QdKPgCNfw

Key words

awakening, enlightenment, thinking, cognitive therapy, CBT, CT, panspiritism, bhedabheda, illusions, monist, dualist,

Image

The Penrose triangle illusion

Link

https://herethewaking.blogspot.com/2023/11/do-i-have-to-stop-thinking-to-awaken.html