Awakening Beyond the Mind: Freedom from the Trance of Thought [Episode 45]

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

We’ve all heard that spiritual awakening is about awakening to who we are beyond the mind—the self we are that is not the mind, or the person we are who doesn’t live in the mind. There is a self that has been constructed by the mind as a story, a set of concepts about the self, and we go through life believing that’s who we are. Spiritual awakening invites us to discover that we’re something so much vaster than anything the mind can comprehend.

On the spiritual path, learning how to dis-identify with the mind—how to break the cycle of believing the stories the mind tells us or being embedded in its narrative—is an enormous part of the journey. It’s arguably the crux of the spiritual path.

How do we wake up out of the trance of thought? This is what enables us to discover who we are, but it’s also what enables us to discover the natural source of enlightened wisdom that flows organically from our true nature.

“Wisdom” can sound like a big word, but in practice it simply means the ability to be rational and sane, to see things clearly without distortion or bias, and without filtering everything through the layers of our conditioning.

Through meditation and spiritual practice, we have a precious opportunity to cultivate this source of clarity—a place within us that isn’t shrouded by bias or veiled by preconceptions and conditioned beliefs. There is a natural ground of clear seeing within us, an organic source of wisdom and simple good judgment.

The Practical Fruit of Spiritual Practice

Often I talk about the profound, sublime goal of meditation: awakening to our true nature and the glory of who we are beyond the mind. But there are also incredibly practical benefits of spiritual practice and awakening, and this may be the biggest one.

Can we come to a place where we see clearly? Not perfectly, not all the time. I’m not saying we become omniscient or have access to some super-knowledge that’s always available. But we can discover a way of being where we’re no longer under the constant influence of our knee-jerk conditioning and unquestioned biases, where there’s space between us and all of that.

When that space opens up, we gain access to a life of sound judgment, rationality, and wisdom. We live a life of making good decisions—decisions we don’t regret—because they’re aligned with reality as it is and as it should be.

There are many things we can do to learn how to question assumptions. We can challenge preconceptions. We can engage in dialogue with people whose views differ from our own. But meditation may be the most powerful tool of all because it sets the groundwork for any attempt to become a source of wisdom—to think clearly and see things as they are.

In meditation, we have the opportunity to leap beyond the conditioned, biased mind all at once.

Stepping Out of Bias and Conditioning

In other words, in meditation we’re not unraveling our biases one by one. We’re not analyzing deeply held beliefs and convictions, debating with them, or trying to unravel them. In meditation, we take a radical step out of the mind entirely, out of our embeddedness in the stream of thought. In doing so, we step out of the conditioned mind, out of bias, and out of the reactivity rooted in what we already think we know.

There’s long been confusion in spiritual circles about the goal in relation to the mind. Some teachings suggest the goal of meditation is to stop thought altogether—to have no mind. Many people have spent years of practice trying to quiet or eliminate thought entirely.

And there have been spiritual movements with an anti-intellectual flavor. How many times have you heard someone say, “You’re lost in your head”? Being “lost in your head” usually means you’re disconnected from other ways of knowing: your feelings, the impact you have on others, or the larger context of what you’re engaging with. It’s true that you can get lost in the mind’s endless stream of concepts.

But the problem arises when people say that to anyone who is simply being rational, thoughtful, or reasonable. You’ll hear someone say, “Too many thoughts, you just need to feel it and get out of your mind.” That kind of anti-intellectual bias has pervaded much of progressive spirituality in recent decades, and it can interfere with what I’m pointing to: arriving at clear, trans-rational ways of knowing.

I have no anti-intellectual bias. At the same time, I know we cannot discover our true nature or access profound wisdom and clarity if we are fully identified with the mind—if we are lost in thought and embedded in its stories.

A Mind Like Water

What we want is a fluid mind—a mind like water. A mind that doesn’t grasp, fixate, or cling to concepts in order to feel secure in what it thinks it knows. A mind that is open, receptive, agile, and available to what is new.

This kind of mind is more interested in what it doesn’t yet know than in what it already knows. It keeps moving forward, opening, and leaning into the unknown.

That’s the mind we are cultivating through meditation and spiritual practice. That’s the mind that serves awakening.

Narrator: In our next segment, Craig responds to a question that many of us can relate to: if meditation asks us to go beyond the mind, how do we still make use of discernment and good judgment in our lives? He also leads a short meditation practice, giving us a taste of what it means to rest beyond thought.

The Role of Discernment on the Path

Someone asked me about discernment, critical thinking, and judgment: how much of these are truly valuable on the spiritual path? Clearly, in meditation we’re learning to let go of the mind, to not be entangled in it. But at the same time, we need the mind. We need to be able to use it skillfully to navigate life, and certainly to navigate our spiritual journey.

Many spiritual teachings lean toward an anti-intellectual bias: “Just get out of your head. Stop thinking. Be intuitive. Feel your way through life.” And while there is some truth in valuing intuition, I’m not in that camp. I encourage radical discernment. The goal is the cultivation of wisdom—clear seeing, sound judgment, the ability to discern things as they are.

So when I speak of letting go of the mind—going beyond thought, not engaging with it, cultivating a mind like water—I’m not suggesting we should abandon critical thinking in daily life. I’m not proposing that we aim for some kind of “no-mind” existence outside of meditation.

Breaking Compulsive Identification with the Mindstream

The real question is: how does this kind of meditation relate to wisdom, clarity, and accurate meaning-making? I would say this: until we can let go of our compulsive relationship with the mind—our addiction to thought, our knee-jerk belief in the stories the mind tells—we will not have access to deeper wisdom.

When we step back completely, letting go of investment in the mind, space opens up around our thoughts. Frightening thoughts may still arise, but they no longer frighten us because we see them as just thoughts. Intense, compelling ideas may surface, but we can recognize them simply as passing notions. In this way, we break the cycle of compulsive identification with the mindstream.

Meditation makes this possible because, during practice, there is nothing we need to think about. In that stillness, we can take the radical position of letting go absolutely, breaking the cycle unconditionally.

The point is not to become mindless in daily life. Rather, by going all the way in meditation, we find ourselves living with a fluid mind—a mind like water that can move naturally without conditioned reactivity.

The Secret Key: Interest in What Lies Beyond the Mind

This leads to what I see as the secret key to these practices. While they can be challenging, what makes them possible is developing genuine interest in what lies beyond the mind. As we lose interest in the mind as our primary reference point, we become curious about something else: the dimension of being that exists outside thought.

We might ask: Who am I when I’m not identified with my mind? What arises when I am not engrossed in the stream of thought?

Gradually, we lose interest in the stories our mind tells—the endless commentary, judgments, and interpretations. We see how relative and partial those stories are. They are not the full picture of reality. As one student put it, “My mind is always voting: this is good, this is bad.” We begin to recognize that this constant voting is not accurate or final.

When we realize the mind is just a conditioned mechanism, grinding along, we begin to see that it is not the ultimate source of clarity, wisdom, or good judgment. It plays a role, but it is not the throne of our life. When Spirit, the Divine, or the true heart takes the throne, the mind becomes a useful servant rather than a distorted ruler.

Drawn to the Luminous Space on the Other Side of the Mind

The human mind is extraordinary, but it is also prone to error. Our judgments and perceptions are often distorted by cognitive biases, ego defense mechanisms, and conditioned structures. When we see this clearly, the fascination with the mind diminishes.

We begin to ask: What lies beyond? Who am I outside of this distortion? What kind of knowing or being is available when I’m not compelled by thought?

This is when meditation becomes compelling—when we realize that what lies beyond the mind is more trustworthy, more luminous, and more real than the endless commentary. That realization fuels our willingness to let go, to awaken beyond the mind. And that is the key that makes the practice work.

Guided Meditation: Beyond the Mind

Let’s bring this into practice together. Go ahead and settle into your meditation posture.

To begin, I invite you to take the stance of having no interest in the mind. Whatever your mind narrates—whether it’s right or wrong, important or unimportant—let it be. Right now, you are not interested. You are interested in meditation, not in following the thought stream.

At the same time, turn your attention toward what lies beyond the mind. Connect with your natural curiosity—your deep interest in discovering what cannot be grasped by thought but can be fully known and lived.

As we lose interest in the mind, it becomes easy to let go of it. Allow yourself to rest in that letting go.

Interest as the Drive of the Journey

If you reflect on the entire spiritual journey—self-purification, surrender, opening to mystery, emptying out to become a vessel for the Divine—you’ll see that the simplest key to all of it is interest.

If you’re truly interested in transcending ego, you’ll find your way out. If you’re sincerely interested in releasing control, you’ll discover how to let go. If you’re interested in going beyond the mind, you’ll find yourself stepping into that reality.

Interest is the driver of everything on the path. Without it, practice feels like struggle—forcing ourselves through willpower. But when genuine interest is present, the process becomes natural. Not effortless, but lighter, more easeful, more compelling.

Cultivating this interest is a good foundation for our meditation journey.