Episodes
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This week's episode is entirely spontaneous without any planned topics and without any featured readings.
I didn't know where this "go-with-the-flow" talk would take me, but I ended up discussing the phrase, "All is well"—which is, in a nutshell, the absolute truth of reality.
All is well.
It is only the false "I" that believes otherwise.
The imagined separate self, which the mind asserts into your life as the persistent I-thought, which attaches itself onto the world in a perceived position of duality, will always define itself (and its happiness) in varying states of conceptual opposition.
See through the false duality of your being. Realize the perfect, peaceful and quiet presence of your true Self—Pure Consciousness, Absolute Awareness.
As always, this episode is best listened to in total silence, free of distractions.
Dive deep into your innermost self. Expose the untruths which you've been clinging to, and realize That which is ever-present... which is, all is well.
Thanks for listening.
Much love,
Brian Thompson
http://www.zenthinking.net
♥︎ If you enjoy my work, become a patron: http://www.patreon.com/zenthinking
Read the show notes for this episode at http://www.zenthinking.net/podcast. -
In this week’s episode, I discuss the importance of observing the activities of mind, as they happen, and not reacting to its illusory mental projections.
The mind is never satisfied. It continually bounces back and forth between desire and fear, sadness and happiness, pleasure and pain, lack and abundance. However, this duality is imagined only, it isn’t real.
You are not relative to the contents of thought, no matter how it might feel. You are pure consciousness—and so too are all your conceptions, perceptions, sensations, and experiences.
Everything is consciousness. Everything is a reflection of your Self—not your imagined self, but your actual self of Absolute Awareness.
Observe the objects of thought just as you would an object appearing off in the distance. Realize yourself as the empty aware presence in which all “things” arise and in which they also disappear.
You are beyond it all, and yet, you are also one with everything. Everything is your Self.
Know yourself as Pure Consciousness—Absolute Freedom—content, peaceful, unaffected, and unchanged by any appearance that happens to arise.
You are not something. You are nothing, but this nothingness, is absolutely everything.
Brian Thompson
http://www.zenthinking.net
♥︎ If you enjoy my work, become a patron: http://www.patreon.com/zenthinking
Read the show notes for this episode at http://www.zenthinking.net/podcast. -
Missing episodes?
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I’m back!
I took an unexpected couple of months off from writing and podcasting, but here I Am… and hopefully the pointings I have to share are even more clear and precise than before.
In this new podcast episode I point towards the knowing of your true emptiness—the Absolute Zero, from which all that seems to be, appears, and in which all that seems to be seen, heard, and felt, arises.
Be the selfless witnessing of all experience.
Let go. Let go. Let go.
Return to Zero.
Know yourself as an empty Knowing presence, nothing more.
Relax and abide in the bliss of nothing, in which the beauty of all somethings effortlessly pass through—free of mental attachment.
Om shanti shanti shanti.
Brian Thompson
www.zenthinking.net
♥︎ If you enjoy my work, become a patron: www.patreon.com/zenthinking
Read the show notes for this episode at www.zenthinking.net/podcast. -
Join me in a meditation of Self, an inquiry into understanding the true nature of this knowing presence that you are and that I am.
Self-Inquiry, otherwise known as atma-vichara in Sanskrit, is a tool used in Advaita Vedanta’s seminal practice of Jnana Yoga, which is the Yoga of Wisdom.
This wisdom is not of the intellect however, it is the wisdom of knowing your Self as you truly are, and not how you think you are. Self-Inquiry is used to dispel the illusion of mind which is continually projected onto the world (and self) you perceive.
Self-Inquiry dissolves the ignorance of the falsely perceived personal self into the silent awareness of pure consciousness, which is the very presence of being which you acknowledge through your utterance of, I am.
I often speak of Self-Inquiry, but few understand how to approach it in their daily life. So, if this interests you, please join me in this podcast for a quiet walk-through of this inner-inquiry, which is the oldest question in the Universe—Who am I?
Delve into the nature of your being, of consciousness, and find your Self.
Om shanti shanti shanti
Brian Thompson
http://www.zenthinking.net
♥︎ If you enjoy my work, become a patron: http://www.patreon.com/zenthinking
Read the show notes for this episode at http://www.zenthinking.net/podcast. -
In this week's new episode I share some pointers to help awaken you to your true nature, which is a peaceful presence of pure consciousness, free from the mind's dream-like influence.
Our continual stream of thoughts seem to rule our every waking moment, but, life doesn't have to be this way.
We don't have to be so overwhelmed by the mind and its contents. We don't have to be troubled by the thoughts the ego projects, nor do we have to identify with any of the emotions that seem to flow through us.
We always have a choice—a choice to not react to the mind and to, instead, abide only in our presence of awareness, empty of influence.
I hope this episode helps point you towards knowing your truth of being—that which is always here and now.
Thanks for listening.
Brian Thompson
http://www.zenthinking.net
♥︎ If you enjoy my work, become a patron: http://www.patreon.com/zenthinking
Read the show notes for this episode at http://www.zenthinking.net/podcast. -
This week's podcast is an exploration of Self.
Join me in this quiet meditation—a contemplation of your aware presence—to reveal the changeless aspect of your being which has always been.
In the silent stillness of non-reactivity, no longer deluded by the mind, your original Self will show itself, and your natural presence of peace will become apparent.
Thanks for listening to the show, I hope you enjoy it.
Brian
♥︎ If you enjoy my work, become a patron: http://www.patreon.com/zenthinking
Much love,
Brian Thompson
http://www.zenthinking.net
Read the show notes for this episode at http://www.zenthinking.net/podcast. -
This week's episode focusses on becoming aware of the subtle quality of "noticing" that enables every experience to appear.
Underneath every sensation and perception rests your presence of awareness, which is the absolute reality upon which all things rely—both conceptual and material.
Listening to podcasts, reading books, and attending teachings can point you towards your own Self, but its realization depends on a persistent practice of mindfulness, meditation, and self-inquiry.
Thanks for listening to the show, I hope you enjoy it.
Brian
♥︎ If you enjoy my work, become a patron: http://www.patreon.com/zenthinking
Much love,
Brian Thompson
http://www.zenthinking.net
Read the show notes for this episode at http://www.zenthinking.net/podcast. -
Underneath every concept of yourself and the world, there exists a still and silent presence of Being which is ever-present.
This is your true Self—a pure and unconditioned Presence.
This aware presence that you are is the universal principle that gives every experience, every perception, and every sensation their appearance of reality. It is this principle alone that is a reality, while everything else is merely a brief appearance of mind within it.
When we forget our true formlessness, however, we suffer. We suffer because we become lost in the world of forms which the mind has created countless stories around, all of which are a threat to the concept called, "me".
In this episode, I attempt to bring the absolute reality of this underlying consciousness to your attention, so that it can be self-realized in the present-moment, which in turn helps you see through the many delusions created by the egoic mind.
By just observing the mind, and no longer believing in its stories, you dissolve the ego's hold over you. In doing so, you begin to awaken from the dreams in which you appear to suffer.
Thanks for listening to the show, I hope you enjoy it.
Brian
♥︎ If you enjoy my work, become a patron: http://www.patreon.com/zenthinking
Much love,
Brian Thompson
http://www.zenthinking.net
Read the show notes for this episode at http://www.zenthinking.net/podcast. -
This week's new episode discusses how happiness is synonymous with the end of desire.
Surrender all desires to your awareness of them—including your desire for happiness itself. If there is any senses of personal lack or wanting, whatsoever, happiness will continue to be obscured by the ego's false projections.
Inner peace can only be realized when you are absolutely content in the present moment, within yourself, as yourself, regardless of whatever appears to be happening around you.
You must embrace whatever is, gracefully. In doing so, happiness will be realized as being ever-present.
In truth, it is only the mind that keeps it hidden. So ignore the mind's grasping for desires and happiness will reveal itself as being the natural reflection of your true Self.
Thanks for listening, I hope you enjoy the episode.
♥︎ If you enjoy my work, become a patron: www.patreon.com/zenthinking
Much love,
Brian Thompson
http://www.zenthinking.net
Read the show notes for this episode at http://www.zenthinking.net/podcast. -
This week's episode points towards the aware presence of your true Self.
Ever since you were young you were taught that you were that face in the mirror—that "that" image is you!
You've then lived your entire life in relation to what you think about that image, always comparing your apparent appearance to everyone else, what it has, and what it has not.
But, this image in the mirror is not your direct experience of actually being yourself.
Your actual experience is one of infinite presence, an unlimited field of awareness in which all things appear—including your supposed self-image.
To believe that you are a moving image in the mirror is to limit yourself needlessly. Your presence then constricts around an imagined concept, and you become virtually lost within it.
Awaken to Presence.
Find freedom and happiness within the clear awareness of your Self, no longer be distracted by whatever appears within it.
Thanks for listening, I hope you enjoy the episode.
♥︎ If you enjoy my work, become a patron: http://www.patreon.com/zenthinking
Much love,
Brian Thompson
http://www.zenthinking.net
Read the show notes for this episode at http://www.zenthinking.net/podcast. -
This week's podcast focusses on recognizing all of the things which condition you—in other words, whatever causes you to emotionally react.
As you observe yourself and become aware of your reactions to people, places, or things, you begin to isolate the ego. You become aware of its false presence.
As you transcend your habitual reactions to the mind and the world, you also begin to transcend the ego. In doing so, you move beyond being stuck in a conditioned and reactionary egoic state, to one of pure, unconditioned presence—at peace with both yourself and the world.
Thanks for listening, I hope you enjoy the episode.
♥︎ If you enjoy my work, become a patron: http://www.patreon.com/zenthinking
Much love,
Brian Thompson
http://www.zenthinking.net
Read the show notes for this episode at http://www.zenthinking.net/podcast. -
In this week's new episode I use the technique of Self-Inquiry to zero in on the stream of "I-thoughts" that seem to pervade every perception and experience.
It is the I-thought that creates the imagined false self (the ego) and that is responsible for creating the illusion of all problems, unhappiness, dissatisfaction, and suffering in one's life.
Through a practice of Self-Inquiry one's underlying true Self is revealed as the empty presence of awareness itself, thereby exposing the I-thought as nothing but a false belief, allowing it naturally dissolve into pure consciousness.
Thanks for listening, I hope you enjoy the episode.
♥︎ If you enjoy my work, become a patron: http://www.patreon.com/zenthinking
Much love,
Brian Thompson
http://www.zenthinking.net
Read the show notes for this episode at http://www.zenthinking.net/podcast. -
In this week’s new episode, I discuss being mindful of your knowing presence. After all, your sense of knowingness is your Self. Unfortunately, however, we are continually distracted from it by that which appears within it.
As we navigate through our daily lives it’s easy to become lost within, and consumed by, the mind’s thoughts. It is the mind’s habitual nature to divide everything it experiences apart from the awareness which is perceiving, and it then brandishes these conceptual discernments with all sorts of egoic beliefs and opinions.
By abiding in your presence of awareness, however, while not being distracted and involved with any of the mind’s divisive chatter, we become free of the ego’s false projections.
When you remain in awareness, as awareness, you no longer view the world as being separate from you—it is found to be just another part of you.
When you know your knowingness to be all that Is, everything is realized to be your own self-reflection.
Thanks for listening, I hope you enjoy the episode.
♥︎ If you enjoy my work, become a patron: http://www.patreon.com/zenthinking
Much love,
Brian Thompson
http://www.zenthinking.net
Read the show notes for this episode at http://www.zenthinking.net/podcast. -
In this week's episode I discuss how the only thing that you suffer from is your own self-concept.
It is what you believe "You" are (or aren't) that is the cause of all your problems, and it is whatever you believe "You" lack that creates all of your dissatisfaction and unhappiness.
After all, if you didn't take anything personally, then how could you possibly suffer, and from what?
You only suffer from the "you" that you believe you are and from whatever imagined problems you mistakenly attach onto its falsely-conceived identity.
Realize that you are not the by-product of any such personalized stream of thought, nor are you the experiencer of whatever drama these thoughts happen to create and imply.
No matter what the mind tempts you into believing, you remain totally free as its witnessing presence of awareness, regardles of whether you are self-aware of this fact or not.
Despite whatever self-concept you hold as being true, you are the theatre of consciousness in which all such concepts appear—free of them all.
Thanks for listening, I hope you enjoy the episode.
♥︎ If you enjoy my work, become a patron: http://www.patreon.com/zenthinking
Much love,
Brian Thompson
http://www.zenthinking.net
Read the show notes for this episode at http://www.zenthinking.net/podcast. -
This week's episode is a little different.
It begins with a slow and meditative exploration into the nature of being. It's an inner-contemplation that examines the presence of awareness that you are, investigating the essence of consciousness itself.
If you've ever considered the question, Who Am I?—this one's for you.
Thanks for listening, I hope you enjoy the episode.
★ If you enjoy my work, become a patron: http://www.patreon.com/zenthinking ★
Much love,
Brian Thompson
http://www.zenthinking.net
Read the show notes for this episode at http://www.zenthinking.net/podcast -
This week's episode zeroes in on the true experience of what it means to be alive—that we are 'reality', experiencing itself.
We are not separate from reality, reality IS what we are. In fact, reality appears within us, as us.
But, the question remains... Who am I?
You are the awareness in which all things appear. You are consciousness, being—not being this, and not being that—just, being.
You are the awareness that is aware. You are Ultimate Reality.
Thanks for listening, I hope you enjoy the episode.
★ If you enjoy my work, become a patron: http://www.patreon.com/zenthinking ★
Much love,
Brian Thompson
http://www.zenthinking.net
Read the show notes for this episode at http://www.zenthinking.net/podcast -
Today's episode focuses on the importance of being aware of your assumptions.
In most cases, our assumptions are subconscious. Since we are unconsciousness to them, they appear to be real and we overlook their unreality—rather than seeing them as the illusions of mind they truly are.
Assumptions create a virtual reality, one that is defined by much needless emotional suffering.
When you are able to recognize these false projections of mind however, you transcend the mind altogether and open yourself to the inner-dimension of pure, unfettered awareness—one that is free of false assumptions.
Thanks for listening, I hope you enjoy the episode.
★ If you enjoy my work, become a patron: http://www.patreon.com/zenthinking ★
Much love,
Brian Thompson
http://www.zenthinking.net
Read the show notes for this episode at http://www.zenthinking.net/podcast -
In this week's episode I investigate the nature of experiencing, which shapes the very nature of our sense of being.
I discuss how the conditioned mind interacts with the processing of perceptions—interpreting each sensation with its prior conditioning, concepts and beliefs, thereby distorting reality and creating an illusory world, one that exists only within mind.
Thanks for listening, I hope you enjoy the episode.
★ If you enjoy my work, become a patron: http://www.patreon.com/zenthinking ★
Much love,
Brian Thompson
http://www.zenthinking.net
Read the show notes for this episode at http://www.zenthinking.net/podcast -
In this week's episode I discuss the many different false projections of mind that distort our perception of reality, and what you can do to ignore them and become immune to them—transcending them entirely.
We never really struggle with reality itself, we only seem to suffer from the concepts of mind which we presume to be true, which we apply onto the world around us, including our own sense of self.
To see through these illusions and no longer believe in them, is to realize our true Self nature and be free of their illusory bondage.
Thanks for listening, I hope you enjoy the episode.
★ If you enjoy my work, become a patron: http://www.patreon.com/zenthinking ★
Much love,
Brian Thompson
http://www.zenthinking.net
Read the show notes for this episode at http://www.zenthinking.net/podcast -
This week's episode is about understanding the nature of pain, no matter if its physical or emotional, and why we suffer from it.
Pain happens. But suffering? That's a choice.
To suffer means to self-identify with both the pain and its apparent causal factors. In doing so, you create a story for yourself, within mind, where you are the sufferer—where you are the victim that something has personally happened to.
However, life doesn't have to be perceived in such a way.
With a practice of mindfulness and self-inquiry, all suffering can be transmuted into the presence of awareness in which it appears—which is, the Self.
And so, like all other challenges in life, pain can be realized as just another opportunity to awaken from the dream of mind.
Thanks for listening, I hope you enjoy the episode.
★ If you enjoy my work, become a patron: http://www.patreon.com/zenthinking ★
Much love,
Brian Thompson
http://www.zenthinking.net
Read the show notes for this episode at http://www.zenthinking.net/podcast - Show more
