Life Is Thought

How powerful are thoughts? They are the source of everything we experience.

Reality, as we understand it, is nothing but an interpretation of what we believe is going on around us. Much like Plato’s cave dwellers, mirrored in the words of A Course in Miracles, “Your thoughts determine the world you see.”

The Course goes on to say, “Everything you see is the result of your thoughts. Life is thought.”

Have you ever known someone who continually radiated a sense of inner joy and peace? They are kind with a gentle smile that beams through every encounter. Their happiness has nothing to do with any measure of “worldly success”. In fact, their lives are often the antithesis of what the world would call “rich” or “successful”.

Yet there’s no escaping their infectious level of joy.

They’ve discovered “the secret”. Everything we experience is the result of our thoughts.

That’s why the Course - and every other non-dualistic thought system - encourages us to honestly, and gently, look at what we’re thinking. “It is with your thoughts, then, that we must work, if your perception of the world is to be changed.”

The key is shifting awareness from the daily drama back to the source of thought, which is our mind’s decision for one of two thought systems: ego or presence. The ego mind leads to thoughts of good/bad, attack/defense, victim/victimizer, and other forms of lack, duality, and suffering.

The mind of presence leads to nothing but thoughts of love, peace, and shared purpose. Our eyes no longer stop on externals such as individual bodies and personalities but go beyond form into the love that unites us all. We see in everyone either an extension of love or a crying out for it. And our response becomes a channel of love in its most helpful form for the situation.

This is what it feels like in the presence of those who’ve discovered that life is thought. They understand these lines from the Course: “My holy brother, think of this awhile: The world you see does nothing. It has no effects at all. It merely represents your thoughts.”

It is our thoughts alone that cause us pain. And it is our thoughts alone that can bring us joy.

So in those times when we aren’t blissfully happy, let’s remember that we’ve temporarily chosen the source of painful thoughts - which is the ego mind. And then we can return our awareness to the decision making mind and make a different choice.

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