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Amen ! Amen! Amen ! :thumbsup: :smile: :hug3:

For a while but breathing starts to kick in that’s it’s a subconscious behaviour… subconscious thoughts alike…

I really try it all the time…

Breathing is a part of our human body lostsoul13,I believe awareness without thought is what it is like in the afterlife.:smile:

"Dear friends, have you ever observed without thought intruding ?

Also I would like to draw a distinction between consciousness and awareness. Consciousness is the residue of awareness in the mind. Awareness is not of the mind but is the fundamental substratum of existence. The equivalent of awareness in the mind is consciousness or memory or the thinking, naming process."

For me, this question depends on the timescale. Yes I have plenty of gaps between thoughts, and even gaps within thoughts so at the micro level (measured in seconds) then thought-free observation happens all the time. During deep meditation this extends to minutes at a time; thought is just another process of the human being and like any other conditioned process it is impermanent.

Mind you, this also depends on what you mean by observation: if I'm observing something in particular, then it implies I've differentiated my field of awareness and separated out that particular thing to observe. Which is a form of cognition and thought that's a basis for language (thought generally appears like internalised language). On the other hand, if we are talking about observation without distinction, observation of oneness, "taking it all in", then what we have is pure sense perception without layering over with abstract interpretations of language.


"then, what is the relationship between memory and consciousness ?"

A good question, as memories are mental objects which come into and out of consciousness repeatedly. A conventional explanation is that consciousness is but a limited portion of mind. Subconscious or unconscious mind also exists, and memories are impressions existing in the subconscious layer of mind, which go through a process of becoming conscious. I can't tell if consciousness and subconsciousness are different places of mind with information passed between them; or the same place which undergoes a process of changing from subconscious to conscious.

Indeed, memory is a bit of a mystery.

So I can consciously recall what I did yesterday but I have no conscious memory of what I might have been doing on a particular Tuesday in 1984. Yet no doubt that information is stored somewhere, which we may call the subconscious. But such subconscious memories may have little impact on my current life.

But then there are those subconscious memories which do affect our current life. For example, a child is startled by a barking dog. As an adult he or she has no conscious memory of this incident but they always feel uneasy around dogs without knowing why. This information may never be transferred from the subconscious to the conscious unless perhaps they undergo a form of therapy such as hypnosis.

We spend much of our lives having to deal with our subconscious processes.

Peace

Yes. That is the basic, restful or default state of Consciousness. Babies and small children are always in that state. They don’t have memory yet, so they can’t think, so they are in that conscious state without thinking.

Adults have become habituated to think almost always. Sometimes they think, what they want, during other times, thinking is involuntary. Stopping to think is often essential. Continuous thinking deprives us of the present mindedness. So we should be able to be conscious always, and think only when necessary. Then we can think accurately and respond appropriately.

By merely voluntarily and temporarily disconnecting or shutting of the memory, Adults can be conscious without thinking. That is why, it is also called as the ‘childlike state’.

Problems of man isn’t due to using memory as it is natural and necessary for life. The problem is only due to the damage or aberration of consciousness, which has resulted in a part of consciousness is firmly attached to conditioned to a part of memory. This is causing ‘double perception’ or duality, leading to errors in perception and resulting in matching responses.

Going back to the original question "Can you be aware without thought?"

Yesterday I read the following in David Godman's three volume biography of H.W.L. Poonja where David Godman was interviewing a disciple of Poonjaji.

David: Do you still have many thoughts? How often do they appear?

Disciple: Thoughts are still there but if I want them to stop I just tell them to go away. It is like a switch in the head. Sometimes if there is no work to be done I just switch off the thoughts and enjoy hours of thought-free peace. But if thoughts are needed they arise and do their work. It doesn't matter to me whether thoughts are there or not because I know that I am neither the mind nor the thoughts. I am not the thoughts nor the absence of thoughts. I am that in which both states appear and disappear.

Interesting.

Peace

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That's a good question with an interesting response. :smile:

For the complete response, here's the link to the post in its entirety:

https://www.spiritualforums.com/vb/s...2&postcount=37

NOTE: That response seems consistent with my own teacher's translation of the 2nd Sutra in Pantanjali's Yoga Sutras. (Yoga is the perfect control of the vrittis - modifications of the mind).

I'm not sure if I understand your question, but in meditation you can just "be", you can be aware of just "being" (itself), progressively in the present moment and there can be no thoughts at all. I've done it many times, it's beautiful :)

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:smile: :hug3: