FREEING YOURSELF FROM YOUR MIND

When someone goes to the doctor and says, "I hear a voice in my head," he or she will most

Likely be sent to a psychiatrist. The fact is that, in a very similar way, virtually everyone hears

A voice, or several voices, in their head all the time: the involuntary thought processes that

You don't realize you have the power to stop. Continuous monologues or dialogues.

You have probably come across "mad" people in the street incessantly talking or

Muttering to themselves. Well, that's not much different from what you and all other "normal"

People do, except that you don't do it out loud. The voice comments, speculates, judges,

Compares, complains, likes, dislikes, and so on. The voice isn't necessarily relevant to the

Situation you find yourself in at the time; it may be reviving the recent or distant past or

Rehearsing or imagining possible future situations. Here it often imagines things going wrong

And negative outcomes; this is called worry. Sometimes this soundtrack is accompanied by

Visual images or "mental movies."

Even if the voice is relevant to the situation at hand, it will interpret it in terms of the

Past. This is because the voice belongs to your conditioned mind, which is the result of all

Your past history as well as of the collective cultural mind-set you inherited. So you see and

Judge the present through the eyes of the past and get a totally distorted view of it. It is not

Uncommon for the voice to be a person's own worst enemy. Many people live with a

Tormentor in their head that continuously attacks and punishes them and drains them of vital

Energy. It is the cause of untold misery and unhappiness, as well as of disease.

The good news is that you can free yourself from your mind. This is the only true

Liberation. You can take the first step right now. Start listening to the voice in your head as

Often as you can. Pay particular attention to any repetitive thought patterns, those old

Gramophone records that have been playing in your head perhaps for many years. This is

What I mean by "watching the thinker," which is another way of saying: listen to the voice in

Your head, be there as the witnessing presence.

When you listen to that voice, listen to it impartially. That is to say, do not judge. Do not

Judge or condemn what you hear, for doing so would mean that the same voice has come in

Again through the back door. You'll soon realize: there is the voice, and here I am listening to

It, watching it. This I am realization, this sense of your own presence, is not a thought. It

Arises from beyond the mind.

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