What Do You Think?
Our culture has a strong materialistic bias. We place inordinately high value on material possessions, and our conceptions of what we are and what our world is are often reduced to solely material ones. And yet, we are haunted by the non-material. We think, we feel and we dream.
Thought is subtle, and yet not exactly intangible. True, we cannot touch it, and yet it exerts a force. Who would deny that our words and concrete actions arise from thought? Not always clear, not always articulated, not always completely conscious, but a force nonetheless.
If we observe our minds for only a little while, we witness that thought is continually arising. It is as if thought is the radiance of our consciousness. An ever flowing river (hence the term mindstream). Thoughts seem to arise whether we bid them to or not. When left unattended, they arise spontaneously (although we may observe patterns, even “loops”). When attended to, we can choose to reinforce them or to allow them to dissipate. We can seed them, think specific thoughts. We can focus them into clear and definite mental images, or they can remain blurry and diffuse, like the faintest wisp of cloud. They can be aligned and harmonized with the activity of our bodies, or they can be a million miles away.
So what do you think?
Imagine if a highly evolved being were to come among us to share something of their wisdom and perspective, but knowing that they might have only one opportunity to offer something of use. What would they say?
The first time that those of Ra channeled their thought to the group who would ultimately channel their teaching over a period of four years, it may not have been certain that the contact would occur again. Here is what they chose to say:
The Confederation of Planets in the Service of the Infinite Creator has only one important statement. That statement, my friends, as you know, is “All things, all of life, all of the creation is part of one original thought.”
Let us for a moment consider thought. What is it, my friends, to take thought? Took you then thought today? What thoughts did you think today? What thoughts were part of the original thought today? In how many of your thoughts did the creation abide? Was love contained? And was service freely given? You are not part of a material universe. You are part of a thought. You are dancing in a ballroom in which there is no material. You are dancing thoughts. You move your body, your mind, and your spirit in somewhat eccentric patterns for you have not completely grasped the concept that you are part of the original thought.
The original thought. I don’t believe that Ra was ever asked what the original thought was, at least not in so many words. Perhaps it’s best if we discover it on our own anyhow.
Ra asks, “What is it, my friends, to take thought?” As we noted above, we can observe that thought arises whether we bid it to or not (at least when we’re in the waking state, and when we’re dreaming too). But what is it to”take thought”? Can we not also form thoughts with our intention? Can we not create images in our mind’s eye, utter words without sound, amplify these thought forms with feeling?
I humbly suggest and offer for your examination that when we “take thought”, we are exercising our tremendous creative power. Imagine taking the same thought on a regular and rhythmic basis. What effects might that have on mind and body? What actions might be initiated? Imagine a harmonious group of individuals taking the same thought.
Of course this power might be directed in many different ways. Ra asks additional questions which might offer us clues to the nature of the “original thought”:
In how many of your thoughts did the creation abide? Was love contained? And was service freely given?
In future essays we’ll investigate these questions as thoroughly as we’re able. But in the meantime, here’s a simple yoga practice:
What do you think?