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Nature of Thoughts

Such a vast cosmos, with the known universe comprising hundreds of billions of galaxies, and each galaxy comprising hundreds of billions of stars, and we are stuck on Earth. The reality of Mars or Jupiter would be quite different. When we move away from the solar system to a different star, the reality undergoes a significant change. The concept of "time" changes completely. Even on Earth, when we move from one place to another other our perception of reality undergoes a significant change. Yet, we get stuck in the place where we are. What about thoughts?

Thoughts are just like the clouds in the sky. Our brain has around 100 billion neurons with around 100 trillion connections. When we think, many neural connections get activated simultaneously, and there are infinite combinations and permutations, with each combination being unique. That's why no experiment can be repeated. Even if we visit the same place for the second time, our experience will be different. Our perception of the experience will depend upon our mood, and that changes very quickly. 

The strange thing is that we get stuck on some thought. Fear of criticism by society drives our lives; we spend our entire lives making efforts to fulfil our dreams; we like some person, and pass through depression when we are unable to hold on to that person; we feel powerful or powerless depending on the widely prevailing mental stories; we carry strong beliefs based on what stories we have listened to since our childhood. We get stuck on some mental cloud and make a whole mental world for ourselves around that thought. Story after story. Thought becomes complex like entangled threads. 

We identify so strongly with these thoughts that these thoughts become our primary identity. As if the sky identifies with the clouds. Dances and cries with the movement of the cloud, forgetting about its vastness. The vastness of the sky is not limited to the movement of a cloud. The sky can witness all the clouds passing by its vast existence. We can also witness every thought that passes through us. That witness mode brings equanimity and non-reaction. Spending our entire life fixated on a thought is a complete waste of time. Yet, clouds are too tempting and people choose their favourite cloud and spend their entire life thereon without ever realizing that clouds are just little tiny particles of dust in space. We identify so strongly with the surnames, caste, religion, nations, organizations, services, positions, beliefs, and ideas. It's difficult for the fixated minds to appreciate that vastness.

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