Are my thoughts a habit of mind that I acquired as I grew up? Were they planted by my family . . . cultivated and nurtured by my peers, experience and education? Or are they “closer to being instincts” as Robert Wright proposes in his book Why Buddhism Is True? A classic conundrum – nature vs. nurture.
Wherever they’re born, it’s easy to fall into the trap of believing I am my thoughts. I am not.
“A thought is harmless unless we believe it. It’s not our thoughts, but our attachment to our thoughts that cause suffering. Attaching to a thought means believing that it’s true, without inquiring. A belief is a thought that we’ve been attaching to.” – Byron Katie
All those stories I tell myself and others about who I am, what I know, are just that – stories. Believing my own stories, that drama; the spectacle – creates suffering. Letting go, releasing my expectation that a certain something must happen, brings a relaxed sense of calm.
Holding tight to the story – attaching to it as Byron Katie says; brings resistance – and ultimately suffering.
I have a choice. Calm, relaxed awareness – or resistance and suffering. What will I choose today?
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“To me the ego is the habitual and compulsive thought processes that go through everybody’s mind continuously. External things like possessions or memories or failures or successes or achievements. Your personal history.” – Eckhart Tolle
