Sri Ramana Maharshi

As we meditate, we begin more and more to notice there are those voices, or thoughts, that seem never to end, and there is something, some other place from which we are able to observe those thoughts. This other place is that part of us which never changes, that part that underlies all that we are and all that nature is. From this place we are at one with everything. The word for 'that which never changes' is truth. This is the truth of who and what we are.

Our meditation takes us to this place of pure Being, this place that is the source of all thought. We transcend thought, go beyond the level from which thoughts arise, and in so doing we begin to know ourselves as this place that is other than our thoughts. When we come out of meditation, we may begin to enquire, as we go through our day, who is having this thought? If we are having an argument within, who is arguing against whom? And who is watching this argument take place? While in the middle of doing or in the midst of much happening around us, is there a place of peace within? Where is it? Where is the place from which we may watch our reaction to things?

With these sorts of questions, we move in the direction of realization. It is not enough simply to lay ourselves in the arms of nature and allow healing to take place. Yes, that does happen each time we meditate, but meditation is twenty minutes, twice a day. During the other 23 and a third hours each day, at least occasionally, we want to step forward in partnership with nature, engaging our mind with the spirit of inquiry and finding our way to living in the question. By living in the question we make ourselves open to being shown the answer that resides here in the depth, in the truth, of what we are. We become able to know ourselves

Today I will observe my thinking, for at least a moment here and there, and ask, is this me thinking, or is this me observing my thinking? Who am I without the thought?