A Beautiful Thought

I welcome you to the final episode of A Beautiful Thought.

Looking around us, we might notice there are many strange inversions in the world. Things seem to be the exact opposite to what they’re supposed to be.

For example, once there were grand books telling stories that would appeal to the masses, and at once teach high spiritual ideas, such as the Mahabharata and its extract, the Bhagavad-Gita.

Now the popular stories we see seem to be mere backdrops to act as propaganda for powerful organizations such as BlackRock. The spiritual ideals are eliminated, the entertainment reduced, and the message they want to push is most prominent.

Another example is the concept of “mother”. In the tradition of yoga, once men would mentally refer to women as “Mother”, controlling their lust and attempting to see them as the Divine Feminine. Now in TikTok videos, young men leave comments calling attractive women “Mommy”, for quite another purpose.

We might say our innocence has been taken from us, or we might say that we willingly gave it up. But even in a world like this, our innocence can be regained. The solution can take time and effort, but it is simple.

By pursuing sexual continence, control of one’s own thoughts, and keeping God in mind, we can regain that innocence. Instead of moving deeper into the world, we move deeper into ourselves, into self-control, and into our own spirits.

The rewards are numerous, and perhaps they are even perfect.

(Read the transcript and find important links on the site: A Beautiful Thought – Purity Of Mind: Episode 480)

If you’re a verbal thinker, you’re likely a highly linear thinker. That can mean it’s easy for you to get stuck in a thought pattern.

One thought leads you to the next, then to the next, and then it leads you back to the first thought. As our brains operate with state-based memory, we may find more and more things that bother us.

Unable to perceive the overview of our mental patterns, we might stay like that for days, or possibly years.

One solution is meditation. When we take the time to observe our thoughts, we do gain that overview.

Another method is journaling. By putting our thoughts on a page, we can begin to recognise the patterns and the structure, and we can more easily find a way out.

(Read the transcript and find important links on the site: A Beautiful Thought – Getting Lost In Thought: Episode 479)

Often a memory will come to mind, and we get a glimpse of something we did. In that moment we might sense an incongruence.

We grasp for a sense of self, an idea that we had about who we were. That leads us to resist what actually happened. The inevitable result is suffering.

In fact, grasping and resisting are so closely related that we might say they are the same thing. To grasp for something we wish were true is to resist the reality.

In a single moment, we can let go of grasping, let go of resisting, allowing, embracing or even worshipping what we once were, and what we now are.

(Read the transcript and find important links on the site: A Beautiful Thought – Grasping And Resistance: Episode 478)

In Allen Carr’s Easy Way To Quit Smoking, he describes a situation where a recent former smoker has a thought: “I want a cigarette.” Carr informs us that, even though we might literally have the thought telling us we want a cigarette, that doesn’t mean we actually want a cigarette.

It’s similar with many fleeting desires that surge in our bellies and heads. We get the whim to go to the fridge and stare to see what there is to eat, even though we’re not particularly hungry. We feel a sexual urge, even though we do not wish to procreate. While that urge’s fulfillment may give us satisfaction for a moment, it is unlikely to grant us happiness.

On the contrary, a life spent chasing whims is commonly a depressed one, and a lonely one.

Many desires are like these urges - mere caprices. Though they present themselves as very important and urgent, they normally are very different from our souls’ dearest wishes. Finding those requires a lot more patience and looking within.

When we do have a whim like this, it presents us a chance to find out more about who we really are. Watching the thought and the desire within us, we might quickly find that, however much it demands, it is not in control.

(Read the transcript and find important links on the site: A Beautiful Thought – Fleeting Desires: Episode 477)

Our breath is a bridge between our conscious and unconscious minds. At any moment, we can take control of it and start to influence those deeper parts of ourselves.

One classic technique is the Nadi Shoshana, or "channel cleansing" breath. The index finger and middle finger are placed on the forehead, as if either side of the third eye. Then the thumb and ring finger are used to alternate the nostrils.

By timing our breaths we can quickly settle our passions and our minds, calming them and allowing us to enjoy life a little more.

(Read the transcript and find important links on the site: A Beautiful Thought – Breath Control: Episode 476)

Matt Welsh is a musician from the United States, creating conscious music intended to bring awakening to the mind of the listener. Matt is known by his stage name “BLUVBU” (“Be love, be you”).

In this interview, Matt tells a story of teenage heartbreak, struggle and grief. Getting out of high school, he decided to break up with his sweetheart Sarah in order to pursue his passion, touring the east coast of the US as a drummer in the band Bright and Early. It was a hard decision for Matt, not wanting to leave his girlfriend behind, but also believing that it was important for him to go and experience the world.

When he finished touring, he went back home and eventually reunited with his girlfriend. He found that they’d both changed, both being more mature and more experienced - through good and bad.

Then Matt woke up one morning to a strange phone call from Sarah. He got in his vehicle and went to see her, as something seemed to be wrong. Tragically, that was the last time anyone heard from Sarah.

After that, Matt faced the difficult challenge of overcoming his grief, figuring out who he was and what he wanted to do with his life. By way of this tragedy, he decided to live life to the fullest and become something great.

Hear Matt’s story in this interview.

(Read the transcript and find important links on the site: A Beautiful Thought – A Life-Changing Loss With Matt Welsh: Episode 475)

Many people receive their view of the world primarily through television and news sites, without putting into context what the media is telling them. They may even have personal experience seeing the media lie about some subject they know well - but they don’t hold that in mind when they see the news talk about any other subject.

In media there still exists this saying “If it bleeds, it leads.” The most shocking, most sensational stories go to the front page, and if the news isn’t sensational enough, they may well change the title to make it seem more alarming.

In this age, it’s not just the news who twists the truth this way. There are even scientific papers which present a very uncertain conclusion in the paper itself, and a very different version in the abstract to show to the public.

When something seems alarming, it’s very important to ask: Are they trying to make me afraid, and why?

(Read the transcript and find important links on the site: A Beautiful Thought – Fear Is Here:Episode 474)

In Swami Muktananda’s Play of Consciousness, he recounts the story of visiting his guru, Baba Nityananda. Muktananda observes Nityananda fulfilling his morning routine - spending an hour or more worshiping himself.

In another part of the book, Muktananda tells aspirants more directly to follow Nityananda’s example and worship themselves - turning their attention and praise within and basking in their own divine consciousness.

Perhaps it’s difficult to conceptualize exactly how to do it. Many people in modern culture are not familiar with what it means to worship.

Even so, the process is quite simple. If we imagine bowing to a great saint or to our god, we might start to feel a little twinge, a feeling of praise or glory. Then we can turn that feeling towards our own inner light.

(Read the transcript and find important links on the site: A Beautiful Thought – Worship Yourself:Episode 473)

When we grow as individuals, we might find ourselves making new classes of error that were previously unimaginable to us. For example, having gained new confidence in speaking with friends and strangers, we make a faux pas and we don’t know how to talk ourselves out of it.

We might feel shame or guilt, wonder how we could have said such a thing, or even think “This would have never happened when I was more of a quiet person.”

It’s true, it never would have happened to the old you - the old you didn’t have the power to make such a mistake, nor did they have the power to relate or inspire as you do now.

Here you stand on the brink between what was comfortable and what we might become; here we honor our errors.

(Read the transcript and find important links on the site: A Beautiful Thought – Our Wonderful Errors: Episode 472)

In this age of information, when we’re curious about something it can be easy to pull out a smartphone and search for what we’d like to know. The ease of access to information means we don’t always have to stop to think any more.

There are many things that are valuable to figure out for ourselves, without the use of Google. We can engage our memory, our logic, and our creativity to fill those gaps in our knowledge. Whether we’re right or wrong, we have pumped juice into those forgotten parts of our brains, again awakening that potential.

For example, a beginner guitarist might wonder how to add a seventh note to a G chord. He could look it up, or he could stop and think about which notes are being played on which strings, and which fret he might finger to add that F note to form the seventh chord.

Then there are things which an Internet search won’t yield easy answers. For example, the feeling of a chord progression going from the first chord to the fourth, and back to the first. Nobody else can tell us exactly how that feels. We must feel it for ourselves, noticing with attention and purpose.

(Read the transcript and find important links on the site: A Beautiful Thought – Learn For Yourself: Episode 471)