- A positive thought is much less likely to become obsessive, some
that you can't get rid of, than a negative thought. (bell rings) Well, the first thing I think that anybody would probably say, it's more pleasant to have nice thoughts
than negative thoughts. It feels better, certainly. The body likes it more too,
because negative thoughts, you use, the negative
thoughts influence the body in some way, obstructing the energy flow. You can test it out for yourself, when you feel stressed or,
repetitive, negative thoughts, then your body doesn't like it, it reacts. Even mainstream medicine is discovering there is a link between,
well some still say no, but there is a link between
your predominant state of mind or consciousness and
the physical functioning, not that, (mumbles). Now you may also find
that negative thoughts proliferate and multiply much more readily than positive thoughts. A negative thought wants to proliferate, and it wants to produce
more negative thoughts. So, and then you may
find a positive thought is quite happy to stand alone. There isn't the the pull
towards proliferation of more of itself. A positive thought is much less
likely to become obsessive, some that you can't get rid of, than a negative thought. So when you are trapped in the mind, it's very rare if ever happens that you are trapped in
obsessive good thoughts. (laughs) (audience laughs) You are usually trapped in
obsessive negative thoughts because that is what
negative thoughts love to do, they love to take you over. They want to, for some reason, they're like certain insects
that suddenly reproduce and become from one, you
get, they give birth to 50 and the 50 give birth to another 50, and suddenly you have millions
and billions of them, ah. And so the difference, the
fundamental difference then is a negative thought is actually, (indistinct) makes you feel better, is easier to experience that which funnels the thought because often,
after a negative thought, you just experience the reality of what the thought just pointed to. Life is beautiful, the
person here mentions as an example of a positive thought. Life is beautiful. What's wrong with that thought, because after that
thought, you're actually going to have a certain experience
of life being beautiful. So the thought was no more
than a pointer, a signpost, and that's perfectly fine. You use thought as a pointer. It does not absorb all your
attention as a thought, it's quite happy to be just a pointer. Life is beautiful, and then perhaps for the next few minutes,
you appreciate everything that is around you, and it
becomes a true experience. So as a pointer, it can work beautifully, and the negative one is
just one after another after another, it becomes obsessive. So, but even if you
change all your thinking from negative to positive,
the most vital thing is to realize that which
is beyond all thought. Positive thought in itself
is not yet liberating. It doesn't liberate you. It can be nice, but it
doesn't liberate you. Only to find the place that is beyond all thought liberates you. Now does that free you
from negative thoughts? Yes, after awhile, the negative thoughts need your identification, which
means your unconsciousness in order to proliferate
continuously in your life. It's only if you identified with them, you give them your total attention and practice not only
that, you become them, they come out of your
mouth when you speak, they're in your thoughts,
they take you over, they possess you, you become them, and that's how they
continue to grow and grow and take over your
life, and it can happen, some thoughts or thought patterns, have the same function in the human mind in many cases, as a virus has in the body. A virus can proliferate
and takes over the body, and so there are many mental viruses that people get taken over by, and can't get rid of. Sometimes, you have that
virus your whole lifetime. Persistent, deep-seated negative thoughts that occupy either your entire mind or a particular section of your mind. And sometimes, the virus
that can take over, can take over collectively
an entire collective entity of human beings, be it
a nation, or a tribe, or a religion, or a
section within a religion, it can be a political
movement that suddenly has all the answers and who
knows who worthy enemies are. It happens when national
socialism in Germany was an infection of a
collective mental virus. Soviet communism, which
started, of course, with good intentions, but of course, there had been absolutely
no change in consciousness of good intentions are not enough, unless there's a shifting consciousness. Good intentions will lead
you to more suffering if there's no shift in consciousness, so Soviet communism became an awful thing, and it took over as again,
a collective mental virus. China under Mao Zedong, a
collective mental virus. Millions and millions died in China, communism, obviously Nazi Germany, millions and millions under Mao Zedong. Children would denounce their parents. If a child was unhappy with their parents, the children, somebody
at school would say, "My parents are saying this and that," the next day, they would be taken away to a labor camp and never be seen again. Total insanity, so a collective, flowers were declared illegal. They had to tear out all the flowers. Bourgeois infection,
we don't want flowers. (chuckles) And many, countless things being taken over by a
mental, an entire nation, being taken over by a mental, obsessed with certain mind forms, and many passes, it doesn't,
it lasted a couple of decades, and Soviet communism lasted fairly long. National socialism, the 1,000 year rise lasted, I don't know,
15 years or something. (chuckles) So it runs its course, and then like a virus
infection, after awhile, the virus disappears, and a
semblance of sanity returns, certainly sanity compared
to what was there before. There's still the normal
insanity that's part of the normal state of consciousness, but not the extreme
unconsciousness that can take over when a thought form becomes a virus. And of course, it happens to individuals. They have then, they interpret the world through their mental virus. You might have certain ideas. If you go on the internet too much, (chuckles) you might see
things that suddenly put, the virus infection can
happen by looking up certain things on the internet
and you certainly believe totally in what this, it
could be a total fantasy, but it looks so convincing but it becomes a thought form in your mind, and then from there, it
grows, and after that, you only have contact with those people that are also infected
by that thought form, and you think that
becomes then your reality. That is the case with
many conspiracy theories. I'm not saying that one
out of 10, 20, or 50 conspiracy theories may not be correct, it could be, (chuckles) but many of them are fictitious constructs, but cultural. The world is pretty insane,
so it's probably more insane than you realize and that includes particularly politicians
and political power play, and so on, so I'm not
denying that absolutely, there is no conspiracy, there
are quite mad things happening that we don't know about, and yet, I wouldn't go that way. Even if it's true, don't
get drawn into that. Your job is to be present. Your job is to embody a
different state of consciousness. You cannot fight unconsciousness
on its own level, you have to rise above unconsciousness. So good thoughts, yes, good
thoughts are preferable to bad thoughts, but then,
go beyond thought also, then negative thoughts
will lessen in your life even if you've been
around for a long time, as more presence arises. Good thoughts can arise naturally, and a lot of your consciousness
is no longer dependent on what thoughts you have. There's just more presence,
and you appreciate life through presence rather than trying to convince yourself that
you should appreciate life. (laughs) You appreciate life directly. Gratefulness is another important thing. Gratitude is of course wonderful, a very transformative, gratitude implies a deep appreciation of what
you are perceiving around you. Whether or not you have
the thought in your mind that accompanies that,
that says thank you, it's secondary, and after awhile, you don't need thank you anymore, but when you first practice gratitude, thankful can be helpful. When you say something beautiful, thank you for things that otherwise you wouldn't even acknowledge. Thank you for how this, the light reflects off this table, thank
you for this shiny clock. I know it's not real gold
but it shines beautifully. Thank you for this amazing substance that we call water, got these little, like tiny bubbles in it, and it is, I can look at it, drink it, it's alive, it's an amazing thing. And you can appreciate it,
it's filled with light, life-giving substance,
might not appreciate it. And whether or not you say
thank you is up to you. Thank you is not, the
main thing is the act of giving it attention, that again, is perceiving it through presence. And then, everything is
something to be valued that's around you, so
you, that's wonderful, spiritual practice, and
of course for awhile, it's a spiritual practice,
then it becomes second nature that that's how you live. So, there is some association
with certain thoughts, yes, expressing gratitude,
but it's not the main thing. The thoughts are more
like pointers towards that which is beyond thought. But in many people's lives, the beginning of spiritual practice and realization is that they suddenly realize
how much they've been trapped in negative thinking over the past years. And they suddenly wake up to
their own thought processes, whereas before, they were trapped in their own thought processes. That's the beginning
of spiritual awakening. If you realize what kind
of thought processes have been predominant in your life over the past few years, and every day, through which you interpret other people, the world, yourself, your life, and so on. And that's an amazing
jump, because it implies certainly awareness or
presence has emerged. (waterfall rushes)
Consciousness vs nice thoughts