Addicted To Thought

In this talk, Adya points to our addiction to thought and our desire for understanding and control. He invites us to examine our resulting thought-induced identity and to consider the cost of this addiction. In dialoging with students, Adya explores the fears and experiences that can arise from the death of the self, living with an awakened mind, and moving forward when unexpected experiences bring your world view into question.

Topics:

• The Uncreated Freshness of Being
• Addicted to Thought
• No Need for Understanding
• Self-Image Will Never Be Enough
• Living with Awakened Mind
• When Your Interior World Crashes

Quotes:

“Most human beings are used by their mind. They’re at the whim of their mind, in the same way that an addict is at the whim of their substance of choice.”

“Almost every war is a war of thought.”

“It’s an immense inner freedom when none of your identity is being derived through thought, through images, through memories, through pictures in the mind. Even if you have thought, you see that no identity is being derived through thought, through your beliefs, your opinions, your ideas.”

“When you see an illusion without judgment, your tendency to want to follow it just disappears.”

“When you get right down to it, there’s going to be fear, survival issues, all of that, and this beautiful truth of being. And when you want this beautiful truth of being more than the rest, the rest no longer has power over you. It’s powerless.”

“On the other side of it, you’re not less capable of surviving—you’re more capable of surviving. You haven’t lost your instincts to put food in your mouth and do a good job and be good with clients and handle your money and finances and keep a roof over your head and a car under your butt. You haven’t lost those skills. You’ve just lost the fear around those skills.”

“The death of the self might sound very spiritually romantic until it starts to happen to you. It’s not romantic. It’s a bloody mess inside yourself. It’s messy and it’s unpleasant. And whether you sought it or not doesn’t much matter. It is what’s happening. The only question is, are you ready to let it happen?”

Please Note: This recording was formerly available on DVD.

Recorded in Mill Valley, California on February 5, 2006.
© 2006 by Adyashanti. All rights reserved.