Licking the Razor's Edge (2015)

Thinking -- A Way OUT
“Conditions are never perfect. ‘Someday’ is a disease that will take your life to the grave
with you. If it’s important to you and you want to do it ‘eventually’, just start doing it
today and then adjust as you go along.” ~ inspired by Tim Ferris
First of all, it is important to remember that these chapters are not about identifying
where we are “bad” or “weak” or “imperfect”. Judging ourselves as “addicts” is not
going to help anyone to free themselves of their self-destructive behaviors … What this
book is designed to do is to provide each of you with enough information to allow you to
make informed choices as to how you are going to proceed with your everyday living.
And this is as true for the addiction to thinking
as it is for any other addictions. Indeed, we are
all riding around in fleshly machines that are
programmed to constantly think … That is
what a sentient being does, and if you are able
to read this post, then you qualify as sentient
and you too are probably a “habitual thinker”.
And yet it is not our thoughts that are the
problem. Rather, it is the way we intensely
engage our thoughts that holds us down – it is
our clinging to particular thoughts (as we
analyze them and criticize them and organize
them and plan with them) that continually
refreshes our dissatisfaction with life.
It is our and kneading those thoughts like
dough between our ears that is keeping us
trapped in a world of meaningless delusion.
In essence, most of you are aware that it is not your thinking itself that is the problem, but
rather your vacuous &/or negative thinking – your “stinky thinking” — that is keeping
you from a Life of Joy.
What is not clear, of course, is just what we can do about it.
“Addictive thinking is the primary cause of suffering. If you are feeling down or troubled,
one thing is certain: you are thinking about something. Thinking and suffering are
inseparable.” ~ inspired by Richard Paterson
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