Thoughts are not important enough to try to stop, so don't worry about stopping them! But can you see anything without using the lens of thought?
Memory is only cultural conditioning. We were taught words for emotions and patterns of behavior.
There are two types of "reality":
1st order reality - what is. That which is before conceptualization. Direct experiencing of reality without conceptual overlay, meaning no words, mental images, or symbols of any kind!
2nd order reality - your thoughts about what is. The concepts, words, images, symbols, associations that start to spiral around what your senses take in.
So what is reality like prior to thought?
When I try this exercise, I have the distinct feeling that I no longer know what anything is. It can feel scary, terrifying even! I practiced this one time on the sound of the AC and my heart started racing, because my subconscious, without the logical explanation of "AC unit", thought it was a bear! It was a lot harder to get rid of the subconscious impression of "bear" than it was "AC".
Thoughts become tools rather than truth. They have social utility but are not true. "Pete is a nice person" really means "as far as I'm aware several people find them pleasant to be around". It's quicker and easier, though, to reduce people to our own stories about them instead of recognizing all the layers of perception.
Can you notice how you can't say anything about the present? Any analysis or concept is always about the past. Go on, try to have a thought that's 100% contained within the space of a nanosecond. It's not enough time to have a thought, is it? So no thoughts happen in the present, we are always reflecting on whatever we saw/heard/tasted/felt a second ago.
What would it feel like, just for a moment, to be fully present?
Imagine this is your first moment on Earth. You have no language, no sciences, no math. Just take a moment to experience the following symbol without trying to assign it any meaning: }
How did that go?
Want more mind-melting meditation? Every Thursday at 6pm and Sunday at 3pm we have meditation at Cosmic Corner!