(This article was written by Alsibar, who has studied spiritual guides extensively, and the original text in Portuguese can be read at this link.)
What is the importance of ceasing thought for awakening? How does this process work? Can control and repression stop thought? What is the relationship between thought and suffering? What is functional thinking? Let's reflect together on these and other questions.
Why are some "spiritualists" horrified at the idea of ceasing thoughts as a necessary condition for spiritual awakening?
I've read some who claim it's some kind of "absurd idea from the exotic East." I can imagine the ego's satisfaction in saying that: "Everything's under control! This fool will hardly break free or wake up!"
Well, it's precisely the opposite, and it is through thought that the ego dominates and imprisons the human mind. As Krishnamurti said, "Thought created the thinker (ego), not the other way around."
When enlightened beings preach that thought must cease, they are not advocating that people become fools or idiots. No. We are all already fools, idiots, and ignorant in our current condition as prisoners of Samsara, the Matrix, Maya, the Ego.
Ceasing to think doesn't mean controlling or trapping it. It dies naturally when one achieves self-awareness. This doesn't mean we stop feeling, reasoning, or remembering things. Furthermore, thinking doesn't cease overnight. No. What ceases is unconscious, automatic, reactive thinking. The incessant chatter of the mind—a true torture for meditators—continues for a while.
The greatest folly for a meditator is to want to "stop" thoughts. Thought is movement. It is in its nature to be restless, unstable, and fluctuating.
What happens at the moment of understanding is that thoughts cease to have power over us. By understanding that thoughts are reactive, automatic, and conditioned, the meditator no longer worries about them and simply observes them without judging them as good, bad, wrong, or right.
In this observation, a chain maintained by unconsciousness is gradually "broken." Now, this chain begins in childhood, when the first glimmers of thought appear, doesn't it? Then comes the unconscious—automatism—illusion—pain... And so the wheel of Samsara continues!
Unfortunately, we aren't taught how to properly manage our thoughts. If we had an education that guided us from a young age on how to deal with them, we would suffer less, and the world certainly wouldn't be so chaotic.
No one teaches us this. Not school, not parents, not family, not friends tell us, "Watch your thoughts! Observe them, be careful they don't control you!" No one. The truth is, many people are unaware of the danger of reactive thinking. Therefore, common sense dictates that we should have "good thoughts."
But that's a paradox; because all reactive, automatic, and unconscious thinking, even if it's good, is harmful. Only conscious, deliberate, and functional thinking is truly healthy and positive.
Do you talk nonstop all day?
No
You only speak when necessary, in a conversation or debate, but you don't just talk to yourself (you might even talk a little). But there are times when talking nonstop is absolutely unnecessary.
So why does the mind have to talk constantly, every single moment? Why can't we use our thoughts as a tool, effectively utilizing them at the right times?
In fact, teachers have always preached that thinking should be functional. We should use it when necessary, but when it's not, we should disconnect from it. Just like we do with a computer, a book, a car, language, words, clothes, and everything else in this life.
So, try this experiment. The moment you observe your thoughts, you'll see the "chain" of pain begin to break. Thoughts cease to influence us because the process of disidentifying with them begins. This undermines their power because we start to perceive them as phenomena separate from ourselves, and not as part of ourselves.
And when Identification ceases, what remains?
All that remains is awareness and tranquility.
Why not try it instead of just talking nonstop?
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