Find Happiness by Using Your Mind to Fix Itself

As many enlightened beings have repeatedly stated over millennia, to find happiness and experience absolute peace of mind you have to watch all your thoughts as a witness, just like you would watch a movie from the audience. That includes the thought, “I should watch all my thoughts like a witness.” Indian philosophy presents an interesting, time-honored analogy to this.

Indians usually cremate their dead. The cremation attendant first assembles a bed (a “pyre”) made out of firewood, places the body on it and lights the pyre. The whole pyre gradually catches fire and the flames soon move to the body. The cremation attendant stands watchfully by, every now and then turning the firewood with a long stick to ensure constant burning, just as you would turn the wood in a fireplace with a poker. The only difference between the stick and your poker is that when the burn is about 75% done, the attendant throws the stick into the fire and lets it burn with what is left of the firewood!

Back to your mind. You are trying to position yourself as the witness to all the thoughts passing through your head… these thoughts are the firewood in the pyre.

In the early stages you have to keep reminding yourself with the thought, “I should be a witness to my thoughts” … that thought is the attendant’s stick.

When you are at an advanced state of evolution, you will even be able to witness the thought, “I should be a witness to my thoughts” … that’s equivalent to the attendant throwing his stick into the fire.

The analogy is complete.

Moving on, once you are permanently positioned as the witness to your thoughts, your thoughts will flow freely and therefore naturally. They will decide what you should do or not do, after which you will or will not operate your body in accordance with their decision. You as a witness will be still, happy and utterly peaceful.

Try and understand the concept of being a constant witness to your thoughts and begin putting it into practice. Over time, the results will be astonishing and you absolutely WILL find happiness!