Lately it has dawned on me that everything we experience can either give rise to action or thought. Thought when we decide that the experience is something we want to more or less of, action when we are capable of fully remaining with the experience itself.

Thought is the effect of inaction. When one chooses not to act, thought follows.

Dan Elis wrote:

Lately it has dawned on me that everything we experience can either give rise to action or thought. Thought when we decide that the experience is something we want to more or less of, action when we are capable of fully remaining with the experience itself.

Thought is the effect of inaction. When one chooses not to act, thought follows.

dan: hi. :-) if i understand correctly, you are saying that thought and action are mutually exclusive: thought prevents action; action prevents thought. yes?

Hi,

I would say that it's the same energy which can be directed in two different ways. If we are willing to face the consequences of the direction which the energy is moving in, we let it turn into action. If we are not, we pour it into a mental thought process.

can thought ever be action?

some feel that thought 'creates' the external world. does this resonate with you?

Dan Elis wrote:
Lately it has dawned on me that everything we experience can either give rise to action or thought. Thought when we decide that the experience is something we want to more or less of, action when we are capable of fully remaining with the experience itself.

Hmmm . . . your "dawning" interests me, Dan, in the same way that K's talk of "choiceless action" does. I think K also sometimes refers to this as "right" action. Almost seems to me like he's saying that our actions can never be "right" once thought enters into the moment to lay the choices out for us. Almost seems like he's saying that, if you have to think about action, then you've left the moment and action conceived out of the moment can never be "right" or "choiceless" action.

Is this sort of what you're saying, Dan?

If it is, I actually HAVE experienced this type of thing occasionally. I will suddenly find myself saying or doing something that I had no idea I was going to say or do. It is not until afterward, that I recognize how spontaneous, inevitable, and one-with-the-moment the action was. I never realize this during the moment because, during the moment . . . my mind has stopped functioning. Time stands still and . . . although I can sense thoughts within my reach, they are too elusive to be grasped.

have you tried playing chess without thinking..... just try.

It is not now, nor is It tomorrow; who knoweth that which
is Supreme and Wonderful? It has motion and action in the
consciousness of another, but when It is approached by the
thought, It vanishes.gb

We are watching, not waiting, not expecting anything to happen but watching without end. JK