Thoughtless: Think Less, Be More

By William Sharkey

We as humans experience much stress and suffering, yet we arent really sure why this is so. We guess that our stress and suffering comes from a lack of money, security, loving relationships, a difficult childhood, lack of religious faith, because we suffer from depression or some other sort of chemical deficiency in the brain or a variety of other reasons. But there is another explanation. We suffer because we think too much. We have stress because we are too attached to our thought. Thoughtless will show you why thoughts are the reason behind the stress and suffering that is common to almost all humans and how to do something about it, how to end it. William illustrates how it is possible to allow joy and inner peace to fill your experience of life, by becoming thoughtless.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: May 16, 2014
• ISBN: 9781493198788

Book preview

Copyright © 2014 by William Sharkey.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Rev. date: 05/13/2014

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Contents

Thoughtless

1. What is the Cause of our Suffering?

2. A Cure for Our Suffering

3. Expect Resistance

4. Conditioning

5. Attention

6. Concept or Reality

7. The ‘I’ Is Not You

8. Emotions

9. Happiness and Sadness

10. Fear

11. Self-images

12. Beliefs

13. Desires

14. The World of Form

15. ‘What Is’ and ‘What Should Be’

16. People and Situations That Pull You into Unconsciousness

17. Taking Out the Trash, Cleaning Our House

ThoughtlessWellness.com

Thoughtless

I was talking on the phone with my friend Paul one day while he was driving. I forget what we were talking about but as we were conversing he pulled up to some traffic. He was on the highway and perhaps someone got into an accident or there was roadwork being done, slowing the traffic flow. Paul said to me, Oh look at this, bumper to bumper traffic. I expected to hear this followed by a curse or a complaint, perhaps a ‘dammit’, but instead my friend said in a cheery voice, great, now I have something to do.

It instantly hit me. I understood what he meant without thinking about it. It made perfect sense. But then again, wait!? Bumper to bumper traffic? Something to do? Is waiting in traffic an activity? A fun one? Perhaps I was confused. It sounded so absurd to speak of waiting in traffic as something enjoyable. But yet I could relate to what he meant.

I do not think Paul is insane for viewing sitting in traffic as something other than a nuisance, for even being happy, feeling lucky, to be presented with the opportunity to sit in traffic. You could say that I am crazy for this, that Paul is too. But if you are intrigued by the idea of being perfectly content having to deal with something that is most considered as an inconvenience or a nuisance, then keep reading.

1

What is the Cause of our Suffering?

Just about every human being suffers and feels stress sometimes, if not much of the time. Just think how you would feel if you asked somebody if they ever get stressed out every once in a while and they answered no, that they never get stressed out. You would think that they were lying. You would think that it was impossible to never be stressed out. This shows how prevalent suffering is for people. Stress and suffering is so common that for one person to not experience any of it is inconceivable.

—

It is very common for human beings to suffer and to be full of stress and yet we don’t have a commonly agreed upon reason for it. There are people who are rich, who have people around them who love them, people who have great talents, people who seem to have a perfectly designed life, and mostly all of them still have suffering and stress in their life. We all know or have heard of somebody, perhaps a celebrity, who has what seems to be a great life yet there is something that prevents them from being as joyful as they ought to be. But what is it?

We venture, we guess, we assume, the reason for suffering has to do with the fact that a person’s relationships are not currently being very fulfilling, that they don’t have enough money or security or a good enough job, because they have a drug problem, because they have some sort of chemical deficiency in their brain causing depression, because they had a scarring childhood, because they don’t recognize their self-worth, because they don’t believe in anything. Yet even if you find me somebody who has all of these bases covered most likely I still will show you somebody who has stress and suffering in their life.

I said ‘most likely I will show you somebody who has stress,’ because it isn’t true that suffering is an unavoidable fact of life. There are a few on this planet who do not suffer, or at least know how to manage it so that it could hardly be called suffering. We do not need to suffer or have stress and there is a way we can end it. But to make it so that suffering and stress doesn’t affect us, to effectively remove it from our lives, we must know where it originates from.

Stress and suffering originate from thought. If one is to backtrack to the source of all of the problems of humanity and of each individual person, it would trace back to thoughts. Thought—or more specifically our attachment to it—is why we suffer.

I do not mean for this to be an enlightening, eye opening, liberating, moment for you just yet. I don’t mean for you to be saying ‘ah ha, that’s it! I figured it out!’ because now you know the secret to it all, that thought is the root of all evil. But I do hope you are at least wondering why and how thought can be the reason for our suffering, and are ready to go into examining whether or not this is truth. I hope you are ready to learn about thought.

—

You probably have noticed how during the times you are heavily caught in your thoughts and you can’t seem to do anything but think, think, think, a million thoughts a second, that this activity is accompanied by some form of unhappiness, whether it is fear of the future, anxiety, getting tired, getting lazy or perhaps making you feel self-conscious. Even when you are thinking so called good thoughts, perhaps pertaining to an accomplishment or a financial success or the happiness that comes from a romantic relationship, this feels more like being on a high than anything else. The high is always eventually accompanied by a letdown, a ‘what-is-it-really-worth’.

But how does thought cause suffering? Perhaps you can see that maybe thought does cause stress, but you still ask, how? To understand why thought is the driving force behind all of our problems and our suffering first we must understand what thought actually is.

—

What is thought? It is easy to make thought abstract. It is easy to make it into a concept or an idea. But what is thought actually? A thought is a bit of energy that arises in the mind produced by the brain in response to stimuli in the outside world or in response to other thoughts. Thought can take the form of a message, a compulsion, an image, a fear, an idea, a voice in our head, or various other forms.

Let’s break this definition down. ‘A thought is a bit of energy…’ It has an amount of power which is actually measurable. When I say power I mean the ability to have an effect on a person, to create some change or impact. A thought has power to do this to a human because it is energy.

‘. . . that arises in the mind produced by the brain…’ The way I am speaking of the brain here is as a separate entity from the mind. The brain is an organ which is in control of various different functions. The mind is the space in which thought comes into existence in. The brain, an organ (which includes nerves that are found all over the body), produces thoughts and makes them arise in the space of the mind.

‘. . . in response to external events and stimuli in the outside world or in response to other thoughts.’ All of the senses (which are part of the brain) take in information from the world –things a person sees, touches, hears, smells, and tastes– and the brain so to speak packages this information into whichever language we speak, and we hear these words in the voice of our mind. These words are the thought. Also, other thoughts can stimulate the brain to create more thoughts.

‘These bits of energy, these thoughts, can take different forms.’ I need to go to the grocery store is an example of a thought taking the form of a message, I need to smoke a cigarette is a thought taking the form of a compulsion, I am a good person of an image, I cannot mess this meeting up as a fear, happiness is bliss as an idea, I’d better hurry up right now as a voice in our head.

This energy which takes on various different forms, thought, is what we are going to be discussing in this book. We are going to look into why this energy exists, how it is capable of helping humans survive and create many great things, innovations, technology and such, and how it is capable of causing wars and great havoc, stress and suffering. I will also discuss how we can use it as a tool to work in our favor and not against us, how we can keep it at bay from bringing discontentedness to our lives.

—

Thought is the language of the mind. But obviously we are not comprised solely of a mind, we have a body as well. And our body has a language of its own. Its language is feelings, which are oftentimes called emotions –fear, anger, desire, love, happiness, sadness, and more. The mind and body communicate with each other using these two languages, and so thoughts and feelings correspond with each other.

Thoughts signal the body to create feelings. When a thought arises in the mind a corresponding feeling, however great or small, will arise in the body. This happens for each and every thought. These feelings may seem quite insignificant and very often go undetected but they do come into existence with every thought. When one begins to look extremely closely at their thoughts and feelings he or she will see that this is so.

There are instances when something external stimulates the body to experience one of these feelings. Let’s say it is fear. A pit bull terrier is chasing after me. The feeling of fear arises in me. The pit bull chasing after me is what spurs the feeling, not necessarily thoughts about it.

Thus sometimes feelings arise of their own accord spurred by external events. These feelings come into existence as survival techniques and we evolved the ability to produce them throughout the evolution of humanity. That feeling of fear when the dog is chasing after me will spur me to get to safety.

So feelings will arise spurred by external events sometimes but the vast majority of the time they arise because of thoughts. And they stay in existence because of thought. When something happens to make me feel jealous my thoughts about the situation keep me feeling jealous. Otherwise, if I stopped having thoughts about it, the feeling would go away.

I am not claiming whether or not feelings –emotions– are good. I just want to state that feelings arise because of thought and are in close relationship with thought, and each and every thought has physical representation, though it may be very subtle, as a feeling.

—

Many human beings are unaware of thought’s existence. Yes they know thought as an idea, abstractly, but the actuality of thought, the reality of what it is, most people are unaware of. Many humans take thought for granted and are oblivious to its role in our life and how it has the ability to impact us. Thought is the most influential factor in the quality of our existence yet we have tricked ourselves to feel as though other things, external situations, possessions, good times, quality of life, good relationships, good memories are the most important factors.

Take the definition I have given thought, a bit of energy that the brain produces and arises in our mind taking various forms, and understand the reality behind the words of this definition. Thought is an experience. I can try to explain to you in words what thought is but all it is in reality is an experience. Thus in order to understand what thought actually is you must be aware of it while you are experiencing it. In other words you must be aware that you are thinking while you are thinking.

This entire book’s purpose is to urge you to become aware and conscious of your thoughts as they arise, and I will discuss in great length how to do that, but the first step is to get acclimated to what thought is, what the experience of thought is. You have experienced it infinite times but most likely you have not been aware of it as being thought. So as you go through your day today and thoughts arise try to be aware of them as being thoughts and become familiar with the experience of them. I would even suggest that you put this book down and come back to it after you have done this.

—

There are different forms which the experience of thought can take. One could say that there are a few different types of thought. From the introspection which I have done watching and trying to be aware of my thoughts I have gathered that there are three different classes of thought. Let’s talk about each one individually.

Mind you there is no particular order in which I bring up each type. The first I will talk about is commentary thought, which is the voice of the mind. The voice of the mind comments on everything that happens to us, how we feel, it attempts to examine the environment around us, it makes assumptions about other people and situations, it tells us what we want, what we need, what we fear, how things should and should not be, and of course much more.

In most people the voice in the mind chatters non-stop. That is because for these people there is no recognition of the voice of the mind as actually being a voice, or as actually being thought. Instead most people just listen to the voice and are guided by it and do not question it. They think that this voice is actually them speaking. Really it is thought and though it is a part of us, it is not us. The voice in my head is not me speaking, it is my thoughts. The voice in your head is not you speaking, it is simply your thoughts.

As the voice in your head chatters on and on try to be aware of it. Try to start becoming aware that it is a voice in your mind, that it is thought. Simply being aware that the voice is a voice, as opposed to being you, is the first step in slowing it down, calming it down, becoming free from its endless ramblings. That is all you have to do. You do not have to try to slow it down, you do not have to quiet it, simply when you hear it be aware that it is the voice in your head. Be aware that it is thought. This might be easier said than done but just try whenever you remember to. It will get easier and you will get more familiar doing this practice.

The next type of thought I call simulation and re-creation. Simulation and re-creation thoughts either simulate events that may possibly happen in the future or recreate events that have happened in the past. Take a moment to recall what these thoughts are. You have experienced them a number of times. They are when your mind imagines a situation, maybe you have an important meeting with a client, and so your mind simulates the event, what the other person will say, what you ought to say, and so forth. Recall your mind recreating scenes from your past, what somebody said to you, what you said or did, recall how when these thoughts arose in your mind certain feelings arose in you depending on the scene you were recreating.

Simulation and re-creation thoughts create a scene which a person lives out, or lives through, in their mind. It could be past or future. When a person thinks these thoughts they are sometimes in what we call a daydream. Still a person can lapse into simulation or re-creation thought in the middle of a conversation or while engaged in an activity. Simulation thoughts may be about something the person fears will happen, wants to happen, or feels like should or should not happen. They could also be about something a person is trying to prepare for in the future. Re-creation thoughts are those thoughts which replay past events.

Simulation and re-creation thoughts are especially effective at grabbing and holding on to a thinker’s attention, as the person will get lost in whatever episode is playing in their mind. These thoughts can also arouse powerful feelings in the person depending on the mood and tone of the thoughts. If the thoughts are about something the person fears a feeling of fear will arise in the person, if the thoughts are about something pleasurable a feeling of pleasure will arise. When the thoughts are about an event which was embarrassing a powerful feeling of embarrassment will come over the person, even if the event took place a long time ago. This is because the mind has the ability to really live out these thoughts. The body and mind are so connected that when the mind re-creates or simulates events the body feels the affected by them.

Simulation and re-creation do have some practical use. Simulation thought can prepare us for the future by sort of practicing for it. When we imagine scenarios and what we are going to say in these scenarios this can help us become prepared. When we relive events that have happened to us in our past re-creation thoughts sometimes allow us to dig up important information that we had not noticed in the moment that they happened. We might remember something that we didn’t realize happened during a re-creation daydream.

Yet still these thoughts do more harm than good. While we are thinking them, especially when we are in a daydream, we are not grounded in the moment. We are not experiencing the present moment. After reading this book hopefully you will be able to appreciate the drawbacks which not living in the moment poses and the mistake that it is to fail to do so. Also when we simulate events or recreate them we cause ourselves much stress, as often we do so without a purpose. How many times have you rehashed something that happened to you for seemingly no other reason than to punish yourself? How many times have you simulated an event that you feared, like giving a public speech, over and over in your head and filled yourself with so much fear that you stressed yourself out and felt like you were driving yourself crazy? Yes for sure you can remember doing this, trying to pick out the words you would say, repeating the speech over and over again in your mind. It almost drove you mad. And when the time came to actually give the speech, or talk to your boss, or your parents, or your significant other, or whatever it was, you fumbled over your words and forgot all of your ‘preparation’. This is because your mind was so concentrated on your thoughts and not in the present moment that you couldn’t possibly be focused enough to do your best.

Try to become aware when you get caught up in simulation or re-creation thoughts. When you fall into a daydream with these kinds of thoughts and then you become aware that you are what happens next is you come out of the daydream. If it wasn’t necessarily a daydream but merely a lapse, your awareness that you have fallen into one will allow you to come out of it. We will talk more about why this is so later in this book. For now, just try to get familiar with becoming aware that you have fallen into these thought patterns, that is all you need to do. Everything will take care of itself just fine from there on.

I call the next type analytical thought. This is a very practical form of thought. It is the thoughts that arise in the mind when we are trying to solve a problem. When one is trying to find their way to a particular location while driving, the thoughts that arise at this time are analytical thoughts. Just as the thoughts which arise when a carpenter is devising a plan to build a porch are analytical thoughts. Planning, or devising plans, is also analytical thought. The thoughts you have when you are creating a game plan for something in the future I would call analytical.

Analytical thought could be called reason or intellect. It is the type of thought which is necessary for us as humans and very likely was what our evolution was aiming at when humans evolved thought. This book is attempting to teach you how to go about your life without an attachment to thought and to not use thought as much as you are accustomed to, yet I will sometimes say that there is a time and a place for thought. When I say this I am referring to analytical thought.

If there is a problem with analytical thought it is that we use it too much. Even this very practical and necessary form of thought has its time and place. Over-analyzing leads to procrastination and likely to mistakes. Hopefully this book will get you in the mode of becoming aware of yourself when you begin over-analyzing and can help you stop doing so.

There are no hard and fast rules for what type of thought a particular one is. These labels which I have given thought, commentary, simulation, re-creation, analytical, are simply labels which I think may help you know what to look for when you seek to understand thought. If they do, all is well. But, if these labels get in the way of your understanding of thought, and you catch yourself attempting to figure out what type of thought one is when you think it, then forget about the labels, because that attempting to figure out what type it is, is thought in itself. Trying to name what category your thoughts fall into will be stressful and is unnecessary. I only categorize them in hopes that it shines a light onto what thought is and makes it easier to begin to understand more about thought so you will recognize it easier when it arises in your mind.

—

A function of thought is to aide in our survival as living beings. The brain produces thought to help