Transcending the Levels of Consciousness: The Stairway to Enlightenment

David R. Hawkins

(My note: This passage of the book is translated by me from the original Czech version, so there might be some mistakes. The page may not match the original either).

13, Racionality (level 400), page 152 – Random flow of thoughts (mentalization) 

“A major obstacle to spiritual development and overcoming self-identification with the mind is that one processes data, symbols, and words through random streams of thought (mentalization). These “thoughts” are assumed to be real thinking. If we meditate, this eternal mental noise will start to bother us and annoy us. If we try to calm the mind by force of will, it is not effective, because the results are only limited and will only last for a while. However, when we understand where this stream of random thoughts comes from, we can transcend them and reveal the silence from which they arise. Mentalization comes from the ego and its main function is to comment. If we do not intervene, there is a flow of thoughts, full of an endless stream of unnecessary opinions, rationalizations, all sorts of contemplation and evaluation of our thoughts. The ego is enchanted by its life story, in which it plays a major role.

Therefore, he must be confronted with his own vanity and must accept the fact that if he does not solve problems, his mentalizations are superfluous and have no value in themselves. The ego feels “important” and swollenly assumes that it has the right to interfere to silence with its endless childish chatter and gossip. The mind imagines that it has listeners around it, and holds monologues full of self-admiration. He comments indiscriminately on everything. Who asked her that? Who cares? After all, her thoughts are often repeated, they are banal, monotonous and mundane. We will be relieved if we keep our minds quiet and simply “we” are with our surroundings. The result is peace, contentment and peace. To realize that constant commentary on the mind is neither necessary nor, in fact, justified, we give our consent, through our will, that it may be silent. then it turns out that all this relentless thinking was useless and worthless, and we discover instead the joy of the inner silence by which the mind is actually made up of ninety-nine percent. Its chatter is only one percent. A properly disciplined mind should only speak when given a task. When not trained, she behaves like a restless monkey, showing off and harassing. Our selves need to learn to respect the Self and the silence of the Presence. If we observe the mind, we will find that it manifests as a cheerful child, constantly requiring our attention.

Trying to slow it down or force it to go down is usually not worth it. It is necessary to change her motivation and redirect her to other rewards. We will find what actually motivates her to act arbitrarily, and we will give it up. Then it is suddenly surprisingly possible to decide that we will not think of anything at all. This is made possible by harmony with the Infinite Silence from which thought arises. Silence is not between thoughts, as it is sometimes said, but before them, before they arise. A useful technique for avoiding the accidental flow of thoughts is creative visualization, in which we imagine the desired goal and keep its idea in mind. We repeat this during the day. Potentiality then tends to manifest itself as a reality if the connections are appropriate overall and our intention (along with karmic influences) fits into them. We commonly understand things that if we want to do something, we have to think logically and try. Visualization affects the result using a completely different (and easier) mechanism.”