Who Chooses What You Think?

I met my sister yesterday. She has recently moved to Cyprus. I have never been to Cyprus. She talked about her new home, the cafes she visits, the shops that she goes to. As she described each location an image came into my head.

For example, when she mentioned a small place where men sit drinking coffee, I saw the scene, a dark interior, men smoking, talking, drinking coffee.  Of course I had never been to the cafe, but that did not stop my mind creating an image of the cafe.

Where do these images come from? There is no sense of me choosing the images. They simply appear without deliberation, deciding or being aware of the process of creation. What my mind does is draw on memories of cafes that I have seen and constructs an image with reference to these memories.

Does a similar thing happen when I see something in the present? Yesterday I had a meal with my partner in a restaurant in Manchester. We have been there before. As soon as I walked in images of the last time we were there came to my mind. There was also the expectation that the food would be good and value for money.

Is it possible to look at things without a reference to the past? Can you, for example see a tree without naming the type of tree, or comparing it to other trees that you have seen, or calling the tree beautiful?

Who chooses the images that appear in your mind when there is no conscious recognition of choosing? Who chooses what you think? Have you ever started a sentence with no idea what the end of the sentance will be?

By simply observing what is happening in your mind and questioning without answering the questions, a sense of non-duality can emerge, as the distinct and separate sense of self breaks down.

Ramana Maharishi famously used to ask the question’ Who am I?’ Instead of answering the question he recommended that you find out what you are not. So you say:

• I am not my body
• I am not my thoughts
• I am not my feelings

By removing who you are not, you can discover who you are.

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