Day Shift — Being Present vs. Living In Your Head
"The one place I will never find an experience of God is in my thinking."
It’s interesting—this [series] is based on the idea that we can shift our experience of the world, our experience of this day, by shifting our thinking. More to the point, by shifting our perspective. But today, I want to talk about how we misuse thinking, and how paying too much attention to the intellect keeps us from having the life we’re meant to have.
I see life as a continual opportunity to step into an experience of the Divine, to step into an experience of the flow of life. We talk about meditation and the oneness that’s behind everything—the oneness of consciousness—but I am in this body-mind system. I’m in this nervous system that doesn’t feel itself as the oneness of what is. It feels itself in relation to everything around it: in relation to the chair I’m sitting in, in relation to you, in relation to my thinking.
That freedom—that fulfillment of consciousness—can be experienced here in the world, as this individuality in the world. The way that I can experience that freedom of consciousness, of the oneness, is in the flow of energy from here to there. Energy from here to my thinking. Energy from here to my future, to my past. The flow of consciousness in the relative world—the flow of energy and information—is what life is meant to be.
We’re meant to find ourselves stuck in the problem of "How the hell do I do this? What do I do about that?" and find the way to flow to this and flow through that.
So my idea of flow is that it’s synonymous with the idea of God in the relative world. I want to find God talking to you. I want to find God acting in a TV show. I want to find God watching a play. I want to find that experience of flow. And yet... and yet, so many things teach us to step out of that flow, to step out of that relationship with the world, and to step into a relationship with our thinking.
We step into a relationship with our thinking about the world. We step into a relationship with our thinking about each other. We step into a relationship with my thinking about your thinking about me. All of which takes me progressively further away from the one place where freedom actually exists and is available to me at every moment—right here.
The one place I will never find an experience of God is in my thinking. My thinking is a tool for solving problems. My relationship to God is not a problem; it’s a process. My relationship to you is not a problem; it’s a process. If I see it as a problem, I look at it through the problem-solving tool. Likewise, if I look at my relationship with you through the problem-solving tool, all I’m going to find is a problem.
I don’t want you to be a problem. I want you to be a place where I can express and experience the love that I’m here to express and experience. And I wish the same for you.
So today, I will notice when I’m using the mind for something other than its purpose of solving problems.
I will notice when I’m trying to figure out the next right action, when I’m thinking through my conversation of last night for the fourth time—or 14th time. I will notice when my mind starts to tell me all the reasons I’m not successful and not happy. I will notice these things and I will step out of the speculating mind and into present moment awareness, into the loving embrace of nature itself, into the presence of this oneness that wants nothing other than to guide me to my highest good.
Thanks for reading. Have a great day.
Jeff Kober is an accomplished actor, photographer and vedic meditation teacher. He has had regular roles in notable series like The Walking Dead, Sons of Anarchy, and NCIS: Los Angeles, and has appeared in numerous films including Sully and Beauty Mark. Kober is also a writer and artist, and has previously penned screenplays and co-authored the book Embracing Bliss.
Thank you! My "thoughts" exactly!