All, tell your friends about this stuff, people like Angelo add immense value to community, he is not 'talking about' this, he is 'being' this...this is where we should all be (I don't mean to pressurise anyone 🙂), I wish you all well 'polishing your mirrors' and finding true self.
It usually helps when i see the contrast between the space outside and the noise in my head. Something about it makes these thoughts impersonal & helps view them objectively.
Lol when I settle to do a bit of self inquiry, I would ask 'who am I?' or rather 'who or what is having these thoughts?' Then sit still with it and just acknowledge whatever thought or mental image that comes to mind which would invariably be something surreal or abstract like a donkey wearing a hat and whistling, this would morph into a banana smoking a cigarette, then into Angleo doing the birdy song lol so all in all what is 'suppose' to happen? other than the thought stream slowing down which it sort of does, then I get lights shapes which I stare at and try to relax with as it is isn't a image or dialogue but I know its still a figment of my mind. Still, I'm just taking it as it comes and will stay with it with no expectations. Many thanks for all your videos throughout 2021 Angleo. I appreciate all your hard work in compiling and uploading them. Best wishes to you and all your subscribers for 2022 😊
Cheers Sean! 🍻😀 Hope you have an awesome 2022! Thanks for sharing your all too relatable experience with thoughtstream!! Thoughts themselves aren't problematic, it's the relationship and entanglement with identifying with a thought. They're the fly in the ointment, and when standing as awareness to thoughts, they def ramp up in an attempt to distract and draw attention to it and thus identify with it. Abstract thinking is very sticky. Remaining in netrual observer mode has been key for me. The less I fixate on a thought the faster it dematerializes. My mind can wander pretty quickly so when I recognize it moving I stop, and regroup back to the breath and try let it go, don't hold on. My concentration is becoming clearer and thoughts are definitely ceasing to control my awareness through diversionary distractions. Yay...
Angelo, I happened upon your work a couple months ago and it's really given me a new approach to non-dual inquiry, an approach that seems to be working better than what I was doing before. Disidentification is happening! Sometimes a thought arises, it is believed for a moment, and then it is noticed that it's "just a thought" and I'll laugh that it was ever believed. Slowly I am orienting toward awareness, what's there between thoughts. At first it seemed there was no space between thoughts at all. Then, the space between thoughts seemed so foreign and uninteresting, it seemed like "nothing" or like something gone wrong. It is great to hear from you that at first it can be disorienting. There will be a space between thoughts, then thoughts arise such as "I don't know what to do here," "I don't know who I am," or "There is nothing here". I can see that in that space there is no self and no time and no concepts. Will I eventually start to feel at home in that space?
Awesome, keep at it, you are getting to those more fundamental thoughts ( "I don't know what to do here," "I don't know who I am," or "There is nothing here".) that seem to define the moment. AKep recognizing these as thoughts and keep on. ALSO "I can see that in that space there is no self and no time and no concepts." THAT is a thought (conclusion) recognize as such and turn your lens of attention just beyond :) Good work!
Im experiencing the silence @ the bottom of the “well” of thought… the birthing of a thought… the quiet beneath… when posing the question “who am I “ or “who dies”… often it is initially silence and then weird visual… and eventually the silence is hijacked by some weird or strange thought or vision
LMAO never 'thought' of checking your videos on self inquiry. I don't know why but this is interesting. I've observed the thought commenting on thought and commenting on thought and at one point I just got tired, found it hilarious and smiled! Sometimes the thought just morphs into nonsensical dreamlike sequences and it will present themselves to me like real memory (I believe them, until I snap out of it!). That was fun. But you're also right about the experience of thought. It's almost like it's the same substance as everything! Wild things going about!
Thank you, Angelo! This was exactly what I needed today, and it just popped up in my UA-cam feed. I was practicing noticing thoughts and moving toward them this morning, and I started to feel the stickiness of certain thoughts - almost like I’m trying to observe them and move towards them, but then they hook me and it feels hard to disengage, meaning it feels hard to even notice that the thought of it being hard to disengage is itself a thought. Other thoughts feel so nebulous it’s hard to figure out what they are saying in the first place. So I guess I should modulate between the two approaches you mention - trying to see clearly what a thought is saying and then moving towards it, versus just feeling the movement of consciousness for the more nebulous thoughts? Thanks again for everything you do! ❤️
Yes that’s a good approach, that’s how it feels when we approach unbound consciousness. There’s a balance between alertness and relaxation. Have to be alert enough to dis identify but not cause a watcher state. If you were going to err on one side however I’d err on the side of dismissing each thought, even subtle ones outright. Particularly after awakening the ability to rest in consciousness becomes obvious. From there you will notice partially firmed thoughts but not through identification, you are simply aware of that movement. The discernment requires awakening.
@@SimplyAlwaysAwake Thanks. So since I have not had an awakening, do you mean I shouldn't try to move towards thoughts at all? Doesn't dismissing them mean ignoring them, essentially? Or does it mean recognizing them and letting them go?
@@flyingsneetch once you have recognized a thought as such the moving toward will occur pretty naturally if you’re not convincing yourself there is a watcher state, which itself is a thought. So both of those are elements of disidentification.
Would “dismissing” a thought feel markedly different from the experience of “resisting” a thought? Or when you say dismiss the thought outright, would that be simply labeling a thought a thought, thus dismissing any inherent importance?
When I was a Zen student (in my 50's), at least one of my teaching colleagues said she couldn't meditate because of too many thoughts, that she couldn't focus, as if she was different from others. Scientists have known for decades that the average person has thousands of thoughts a day. But even as a Zen student, I wasn't given a better way to dis-identify and let the flow happen. Angelo's teaching has added to my ability. But when I try to move towards one, it seems to disappear. Merging seems elusive though it may just be that I am interpreting the experience incorrectly. But I will keep at it.
@@SimplyAlwaysAwake In my case, attention shifts to some other phenomenon, such as bodily sensation or sight on eyelids. Then another thought arises. Sometimes I can be aware that all of these arise in a space, but it doesn't feel limitless or comforting. It just feels like I'm napping on a train to a gulag. BTW, I have not for a long time thought that I am my thoughts, but I do still think I am the "person" the thoughts describe. (Just being honest.) I know the theory that I am not, but don't want to just take it on faith. I have been part of several communities devoted to this but most of the participants haven't transitioned, either. They seem to me to siimpl be comforted by the idea of oneness and eternal life, but I believe that it can be better than that. I have also read/heard many teachers invite looking for a self and then claiming, you can't find it. I feel like I can, although sometimes I can vaguely sense that that is an interpretation of phenomena. I know of one person who supposedly can do one-on-one inquiry to root that out, but I have listened to him at various times and just can't imagine working with him. Also, I know of at least one person who in public made it sound like he is successful, but in private admitted that they did not feel released after an expensive and long session with him. Any suggestions? Thanks for all you do! You and Peter Brown are keeping me afloat, though I am having to go on faith for now. But what is my option? Father Sun and Mother Moon? Can't go back to Catholicism, and I know depending on consensus reality is extremely risky, especially with not much of a close social network and a rather dismal personality traits per Big Five personality traits. "I'll take disassociation for 1000, Ken."
@@oolala53 I appreciated your comments. Me too... pre Vatican II Catholic F. I am successfully glueing 'temptation' on to the 'thought drive' I conditioned to distract myself or blame my experience. Then I confess to my self Inc absolution bingo. Free to eat the universal host. He has yet to address biological imbalances related....esp gut biome now FINIALY interesting to so called science. Get your gut passengers happy they will like calm! And help. Spocksdaughter in the UK/Idaho hm.
Most of my thoughts float by like clouds...if I have areally persistent ones or a full dialoge I notice that deeper inquiry is required ...looking into dissolves it's hold and the story ends
1- A lot of thoughts come in the beginning 2- Background: it was only an appearance that there were not so many thoughts before, now we start to disidentify 3- what do you do with it ? In meditation, its a matter of just sitting (ex: retreats) 4- otherwise recognize the ackwardness of not being identified, then release the belief that you must keep paying attention to all the thoughts, just notice the stream 5- if you do inquiry specifically, you Orient towards one thought, but you dont believe the content: where is a thought ? Get closer
Hi Angelo, I was hoping you could help. When the thought comes up relating to, lets say, anxiety, and I notice it and ask the question "who needs to not feel anxious?", I notice the thought and any further emotion or thought sequence drop away. I was wondering if this was a subtle way for my ego to avoid/repress the thought? Or is it self enquiry doing it's job?
For me, I don't think the disorientation is from trying to understand them all. Often I'll have a barage of strange dream like thoughts which are quite random, I find it confusing and disorientating not because I want to know what it's about... It's nonsense. I would say I feel confused and disoriented because my experience is so unstable
All, tell your friends about this stuff, people like Angelo add immense value to community, he is not 'talking about' this, he is 'being' this...this is where we should all be (I don't mean to pressurise anyone 🙂), I wish you all well 'polishing your mirrors' and finding true self.
Thanks for all these much love ❤️❤️
Welcome :)
It usually helps when i see the contrast between the space outside and the noise in my head. Something about it makes these thoughts impersonal & helps view them objectively.
I love the metaphor of riding the waves of consciousness. It often feels like surfing to me.
Lol when I settle to do a bit of self inquiry, I would ask 'who am I?' or rather 'who or what is having these thoughts?' Then sit still with it and just acknowledge whatever thought or mental image that comes to mind which would invariably be something surreal or abstract like a donkey wearing a hat and whistling, this would morph into a banana smoking a cigarette, then into Angleo doing the birdy song lol so all in all what is 'suppose' to happen? other than the thought stream slowing down which it sort of does, then I get lights shapes which I stare at and try to relax with as it is isn't a image or dialogue but I know its still a figment of my mind. Still, I'm just taking it as it comes and will stay with it with no expectations.
Many thanks for all your videos throughout 2021 Angleo. I appreciate all your hard work in compiling and uploading them. Best wishes to you and all your subscribers for 2022 😊
Cheers Sean! 🍻😀 Hope you have an awesome 2022! Thanks for sharing your all too relatable experience with thoughtstream!! Thoughts themselves aren't problematic, it's the relationship and entanglement with identifying with a thought. They're the fly in the ointment, and when standing as awareness to thoughts, they def ramp up in an attempt to distract and draw attention to it and thus identify with it. Abstract thinking is very sticky. Remaining in netrual observer mode has been key for me. The less I fixate on a thought the faster it dematerializes. My mind can wander pretty quickly so when I recognize it moving I stop, and regroup back to the breath and try let it go, don't hold on. My concentration is becoming clearer and thoughts are definitely ceasing to control my awareness through diversionary distractions. Yay...
Thanks Sean
This should be in a self inquiry playlist!
added
Thanks, every day I choose a couple of videos to watch that relate to what my thoughts have been up too. Finding them all beneficial.
Great, thanks for your comment
Angelo, I happened upon your work a couple months ago and it's really given me a new approach to non-dual inquiry, an approach that seems to be working better than what I was doing before. Disidentification is happening! Sometimes a thought arises, it is believed for a moment, and then it is noticed that it's "just a thought" and I'll laugh that it was ever believed. Slowly I am orienting toward awareness, what's there between thoughts. At first it seemed there was no space between thoughts at all. Then, the space between thoughts seemed so foreign and uninteresting, it seemed like "nothing" or like something gone wrong. It is great to hear from you that at first it can be disorienting. There will be a space between thoughts, then thoughts arise such as "I don't know what to do here," "I don't know who I am," or "There is nothing here". I can see that in that space there is no self and no time and no concepts. Will I eventually start to feel at home in that space?
Awesome, keep at it, you are getting to those more fundamental thoughts ( "I don't know what to do here," "I don't know who I am," or "There is nothing here".) that seem to define the moment. AKep recognizing these as thoughts and keep on. ALSO "I can see that in that space there is no self and no time and no concepts." THAT is a thought (conclusion) recognize as such and turn your lens of attention just beyond :)
Good work!
Im experiencing the silence @ the bottom of the “well” of thought… the birthing of a thought… the quiet beneath… when posing the question “who am I “ or “who dies”… often it is initially silence and then weird visual… and eventually the silence is hijacked by some weird or strange thought or vision
Thats great. Just wade into that warmth of pure knowingness
LMAO never 'thought' of checking your videos on self inquiry. I don't know why but this is interesting. I've observed the thought commenting on thought and commenting on thought and at one point I just got tired, found it hilarious and smiled! Sometimes the thought just morphs into nonsensical dreamlike sequences and it will present themselves to me like real memory (I believe them, until I snap out of it!). That was fun. But you're also right about the experience of thought. It's almost like it's the same substance as everything! Wild things going about!
Good work
The flow of thoughts originate unsolicited from our minds; not by control of our I or me. Choose to be Teflon to your thoughts not Velcro.
Amazing pointers!
Hey you are awesome. Thanks for helping me realize.
Any time!
Thank you, Angelo! This was exactly what I needed today, and it just popped up in my UA-cam feed. I was practicing noticing thoughts and moving toward them this morning, and I started to feel the stickiness of certain thoughts - almost like I’m trying to observe them and move towards them, but then they hook me and it feels hard to disengage, meaning it feels hard to even notice that the thought of it being hard to disengage is itself a thought. Other thoughts feel so nebulous it’s hard to figure out what they are saying in the first place. So I guess I should modulate between the two approaches you mention - trying to see clearly what a thought is saying and then moving towards it, versus just feeling the movement of consciousness for the more nebulous thoughts? Thanks again for everything you do! ❤️
Yes that’s a good approach, that’s how it feels when we approach unbound consciousness. There’s a balance between alertness and relaxation. Have to be alert enough to dis identify but not cause a watcher state. If you were going to err on one side however I’d err on the side of dismissing each thought, even subtle ones outright. Particularly after awakening the ability to rest in consciousness becomes obvious. From there you will notice partially firmed thoughts but not through identification, you are simply aware of that movement. The discernment requires awakening.
@@SimplyAlwaysAwake Thanks. So since I have not had an awakening, do you mean I shouldn't try to move towards thoughts at all? Doesn't dismissing them mean ignoring them, essentially? Or does it mean recognizing them and letting them go?
@@flyingsneetch once you have recognized a thought as such the moving toward will occur pretty naturally if you’re not convincing yourself there is a watcher state, which itself is a thought. So both of those are elements of disidentification.
Would “dismissing” a thought feel markedly different from the experience of “resisting” a thought? Or when you say dismiss the thought outright, would that be simply labeling a thought a thought, thus dismissing any inherent importance?
5:32 That "someone" was me haha and it brings me great joy to see you struggle to choose the right word :)) Thank you for the amazing videos~
lol... it's been a rough week I've both had to learn to use the term disidentify AND pronounce Ramana correctly
Always awesome.
💜
When I was a Zen student (in my 50's), at least one of my teaching colleagues said she couldn't meditate because of too many thoughts, that she couldn't focus, as if she was different from others. Scientists have known for decades that the average person has thousands of thoughts a day. But even as a Zen student, I wasn't given a better way to dis-identify and let the flow happen. Angelo's teaching has added to my ability. But when I try to move towards one, it seems to disappear. Merging seems elusive though it may just be that I am interpreting the experience incorrectly. But I will keep at it.
That’s exactly right, it disappears, and what is left?
@@SimplyAlwaysAwake In my case, attention shifts to some other phenomenon, such as bodily sensation or sight on eyelids. Then another thought arises. Sometimes I can be aware that all of these arise in a space, but it doesn't feel limitless or comforting. It just feels like I'm napping on a train to a gulag. BTW, I have not for a long time thought that I am my thoughts, but I do still think I am the "person" the thoughts describe. (Just being honest.) I know the theory that I am not, but don't want to just take it on faith. I have been part of several communities devoted to this but most of the participants haven't transitioned, either. They seem to me to siimpl be comforted by the idea of oneness and eternal life, but I believe that it can be better than that. I have also read/heard many teachers invite looking for a self and then claiming, you can't find it. I feel like I can, although sometimes I can vaguely sense that that is an interpretation of phenomena. I know of one person who supposedly can do one-on-one inquiry to root that out, but I have listened to him at various times and just can't imagine working with him. Also, I know of at least one person who in public made it sound like he is successful, but in private admitted that they did not feel released after an expensive and long session with him. Any suggestions? Thanks for all you do! You and Peter Brown are keeping me afloat, though I am having to go on faith for now. But what is my option? Father Sun and Mother Moon? Can't go back to Catholicism, and I know depending on consensus reality is extremely risky, especially with not much of a close social network and a rather dismal personality traits per Big Five personality traits. "I'll take disassociation for 1000, Ken."
@@oolala53 I appreciated your comments. Me too... pre Vatican II Catholic F. I am successfully glueing 'temptation' on to the 'thought drive' I conditioned to distract myself or blame my experience. Then I confess to my self Inc absolution bingo. Free to eat the universal host.
He has yet to address biological imbalances related....esp gut biome now FINIALY interesting to so called science. Get your gut passengers happy they will like calm! And help.
Spocksdaughter in the UK/Idaho hm.
Most of my thoughts float by like clouds...if I have areally persistent ones or a full dialoge I notice that deeper inquiry is required ...looking into dissolves it's hold and the story ends
Perfect.
You should sell Always Awake merch... tshirts that read, That's a thought. 😄
😂😂😂
That made me laugh
I’m not good at design but if someone comes up with something good…
Super helpful
1- A lot of thoughts come in the beginning
2- Background: it was only an appearance that there were not so many thoughts before, now we start to disidentify
3- what do you do with it ? In meditation, its a matter of just sitting (ex: retreats)
4- otherwise recognize the ackwardness of not being identified, then release the belief that you must keep paying attention to all the thoughts, just notice the stream
5- if you do inquiry specifically, you Orient towards one thought, but you dont believe the content: where is a thought ? Get closer
Hi Angelo, I was hoping you could help. When the thought comes up relating to, lets say, anxiety, and I notice it and ask the question "who needs to not feel anxious?", I notice the thought and any further emotion or thought sequence drop away. I was wondering if this was a subtle way for my ego to avoid/repress the thought? Or is it self enquiry doing it's job?
For me, I don't think the disorientation is from trying to understand them all. Often I'll have a barage of strange dream like thoughts which are quite random, I find it confusing and disorientating not because I want to know what it's about... It's nonsense. I would say I feel confused and disoriented because my experience is so unstable
🌊🏄🙂🙏❣️
💫🌱🎶
You are talking here from unwanted thoughts, right? İ know of thoughts are things and the most dominant ones create what we experiencing or not?
Save by the,,,,,,space,,!