In non-duality studies, everything is opposite of what you think, because thinking is the problem. But what if it’s really the language that we’re thinking in—that’s the problem, not thinking itself?
If you look at non-duality in that way, things become a lot simpler, because you can’t stop thoughts, right? And it’s really hard to figure out what is a thought until you realize that it’s just language loops running in your head. So think of thoughts more as that.
It’s just echoes of language running in your head. And most of us only know one language, so we get stuck in a loop of that language. The language that we have, that we’re sharing right this minute, is English.
And this language has a history of division in it. This language is very complicated for us to try to use to describe and be in reality. So think of language—that’s the problem.
How do you think without language? This is one of the reasons that a lot of Eastern traditions use mantras. And the best mantras don’t really mean anything, like Sri Jam Jh, Sri Jum, Jum, Sri Jum J J. You’re just saying, “Yay Ram, yay Ram.”
It kind of doesn’t really mean anything, but you can just kind of use that to let your brain relax. The problem with the way that most Eastern traditions try to use these mantras is they try to have it totally replace the thoughts that are going in your head.
But then you’re just stuck with just the mantra—you still have something stuck in your head. So how do you move beyond the thoughts that you’re thinking?
It’s really quite simple, because your thoughts just really aren’t anything. Sit and just watch your thoughts, and you’ll notice—what? I mean, you watch really closely and you’ll see that you’re kind of having conversations with yourself.
So, in a way, that’s just a loop. See how that’s just a loop? Have you ever noticed that you can sit there and you can have a lot of thoughts—you’re going to have a talk with somebody that you’re really worried about?
And so you think about it, and you think about it, and you decide exactly how the conversation is going to go. Then you go to the person, and you confront them, and they answer back something that wasn’t in the script. But when it’s just in your own head, all the answers back are the script.
You’re asking in the script, you’re answering in the script—so it’s just a loop that you’re stuck in. But there’s always, underneath this loop, inside this loop, on both sides of it, tons of silence.
Thoughts really aren’t that noisy if you just really look at them. And so it’s just useful to just have at the top of your mind that everything is opposite of what you think, because you can’t think truth. So what actually is this truth is the thing that’s down under your definitions.
It’s the thing that’s down under thoughts—what’s opposite. And that is a good way to kind of trick yourself out of your loop.
So when you step out of your loop, then you step into who you are. And you’re just a very, very simple thing that walks around with a loop in your head. And when we find this core of our being, then the chattering in our mind doesn’t become the dominant force of our lives anymore.
And that’s what non-duality is about. It’s really, literally, just tricking you out of the hallucination that this loop in your head creates so that you can enjoy life. And that’s what “beyond suffering” means.
It doesn’t mean that nothing bad ever happens again. It just means that you aren’t stuck in the loop, because you’ve stepped out of the hallucination of it. So stop for a moment.
Who are you?
And just always notice—no matter how chattery your thoughts are—there are moments of silence in there. Start accessing those moments, and that’s where your being is: the simplest, most ordinary self of you.