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Originally Posted by Edwin;13149[QUOTE
]This is meditation allready  Keep it up, you are doing great ! |
Thanks for the vote of confidence, I thought I was just dong the technique, but unsuccessfully.
The thoughts subsiding can be a pleasant byproduct of meditation. You have made it your goal. Making a goal for meditation is the second big no no in meditation. In case you are wondering, the first no no is putting in effort, or straining to stop thoughts.
Meditation is not about stopping thoughts. It is about losing attachment to those thoughts. If you stop believing those thoughts instantly, but simply observe them indifferently, the thoughts will slow down. Why spend energy on creating thoughts if you aren't going to act upon them, will be the brain's conclusion.
About being present in the moment: you can do that while having thoughts allready. People who have realised their true nature, or to use the common phrase, enlightened ones, don't turn into zombies because they don't think anymore.
They just know that the thoughts that come up are not about their person, because that person is also imaginary. So, thoughts that come up can be useful for their situation, and they can act upon it, or they can simply let the thought go effortlessly.
So, meditation is not about stopping thought, it is about losing your attachment to that thought. 
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Thank you Edwin, your insight has cleared this up for me now. I hope.
Of course!!!, one can't stop thoughts while one has a mind, and as humans it is just part of our nature, as compared to "lower life forms" like all the other animals and plants etc. which don't have as a developed mind.
So in summary the mind is a useful tool for being creative and organizing our daily living and making choices etc.
And meditation is not about "stopping the mind or thoughts" it is about losing attachment to the thoughts or not identifying with the thoughts.
So by using a meditation technique (in this case a mantra) we create a space or a gap between the observer and our thoughts (mind).
And the observer is who we really are (like consciousness, awareness) and the thoughts (especially thoughts about who we think we are) are the ego.
So meditation is about losing attachment with one's thoughts and one's ego.
So that's it !!! ???
Sorry for getting bogged down in semantics but I'm just trying to get a handle on it all.
First time I've used this "quote" thingy !!!
