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An appointment with Reality

Thoughts are so integral to our lives that it is almost impossible to be thoughtless even for a few moments. Some or other thought always accompanies us. Mostly we are busy worrying about worldly matters. Even when we think of spirituality, whether we read spiritual books or meditate to examine the depths of our being, we are mostly busy with thoughts. Thoughts are so integral to our existence that there appears no difference between us and our thoughts. That is why breaking free of the frame of thoughts is almost impossible.

In the deeper states of meditation, when our complete attention is on the breath and sensations in different parts of our bodies, there do come moments when thoughts disappear and we become a witness to our own body. In those moments we break free the frame of our thoughts. We happen to witness the relativity of our own thoughts. We get to witness this world and even ourselves from a very different perspective in those moments. The entire world appears to be quite fluid in those moments. However, when we get back to the world of thoughts, the same solidity takes over. 

When we return the world of thoughts, worries, concerns, frustration, irritation, and agitation, everything appears to be equally real. We again start reacting to situations and people's behavior. All these things appeared like a movie on the screen while sitting in meditation. In the normal world, it appears as if we are fighting the battle like the hero. We get perturbed with every conspiracy and every defeat. Insults and appreciation appear to be so real. 

I think it always so happens to us in the material world also. We go to schools and colleges to get an education and in the process fun and entertainment become primary and we lose awareness of the purpose for which we went to the school. We make rules to provide a smooth ecosystem to the people and in the process, rules themselves make life more complicated for everybody. We enter into relationships so that we can grow together and in the process, we start preventing the growth of each other. We start taking medicines to cure a disease and in the process, we acquire a new disease as a side effect. Probably, the reason is that our attention is quite limited. We can stay aware of one thing at a time and therefore when we get engrossed in a frame, we lose sight of the things that lie outside the frame. 

Probably that's what happens to us when we become engrossed with the world of thoughts. There is a constant bombardment of thoughts. Every conversation in the family and office ignites new thoughts and reactions, every book we read gives rise to so many thoughts, every WhatsApp message and social media post leads to the commencement of a new chain of thoughts, and every reaction of colleagues and every news produces new reactions within us. Even when we are sitting silently, we keep ruminating about the past, present, and future. Even the dreams are full of thoughts that lie deep in our psyche. When every moment of attention is booked, there is a long waiting time for an appointment with reality. Mostly reality hardly gets an appointment in our lifetime. Even if it gets an appointment necessitated by some emergency or disaster, it hardly gets an audience. Even if it gets an audience, we are too busy with thoughts that that appointment gets converted into a pleasant reminiscence and nothing more than that. I feel that the biggest challenge of human life is to break free of the frame of thoughts. 

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