When I was younger I used to have the OCD of compulsive thinking and at one stage I was obsessed with the question of 'How can I prompt myself that I am thinking about 'something' right now', my thought at the time was if I was aware that I was thinking about something then I was not really thinking about that 'something' but only the awareness of that thinking and vice versa'...I never understood why I was obsessed with those kind of unexplainable questions, in the hindsight I realise it may have something to do with the concept of mindfulness...
Thanks for sharing Cong. I suspect this experience is quite common. As I delved into mindfulness, I started to feel I was making no progress as I tried to answer these kinds of (unanswerable) questions. They’re intellectually fascinating, but to even ponder them and notice we’re “stuck” on them means we are becoming more aware of the nature of our minds (and the monkey running riot inside!).
When I was younger I used to have the OCD of compulsive thinking and at one stage I was obsessed with the question of 'How can I prompt myself that I am thinking about 'something' right now', my thought at the time was if I was aware that I was thinking about something then I was not really thinking about that 'something' but only the awareness of that thinking and vice versa'...I never understood why I was obsessed with those kind of unexplainable questions, in the hindsight I realise it may have something to do with the concept of mindfulness...
Thanks for sharing Cong. I suspect this experience is quite common. As I delved into mindfulness, I started to feel I was making no progress as I tried to answer these kinds of (unanswerable) questions. They’re intellectually fascinating, but to even ponder them and notice we’re “stuck” on them means we are becoming more aware of the nature of our minds (and the monkey running riot inside!).