Please repost with this link at the top: Reposted from The Awakening Website
There is an interesting word, calledRumination, for which there are two definitions. One is ‘the act of chewing cud.’ The other is ‘to go over in the mind repeatedly.’In regards to the latter, the inability to stop ruminating is a characteristic of the spiritually unconscious.
The 17th century philosopher, René Descartes, is regarded as the founder of modern philosophy. It was he who gave expression to the famous statement, I think. Therefore I Am.
But the consciousness that says ‘I Am’ is not the consciousness that thinks. And, as long as we are unaware of this fact, we continue to mistake the thinker for who we are.
The core of all of our mind activity consists of repetitive and persistent thoughts, emotions and reactive patterns. This entity is called ‘the ego’. And the ego is the one who identifies with possessions, opinions, external appearances and long-standing resentments. These are the things to which the words I, me, my and minerefer.
Many of us are completely identified with a stream of compulsive thinking, most of which is repetitive and pointless. But, if we understand the basic mechanics behind the ego mind, we can recognize it as such.
What a liberation to realize that the voice in my head is not who I am. Who am I then? The one who sees that.
Eckhart Tolle
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