Dennis Lewis

So many people like to think in absolutes–right or wrong, good or evil, all or nothing, positive or negative, everything is possible or nothing is possible, and so on. Do you know why? Because thinking in absolutes is not thinking at all; it is believing. And many people would much prefer to believe than to think.

Thinking is hard work. To think means to question, to ponder, to look honestly inside and out, to explore the different subtleties of levels and dimensions, to examine causes and effects, to explore the connections between things, to see from a larger perspective. Thinking is the primary way we humans have to look for the truth and adapt to what we discover.

To be sure, our feelings and sensations provide much of the material we need for thinking, as well as much of the energy we need to do so, but they are no substitute for thinking itself. Whereas sensation helps to anchor us energetically in the present moment, and feeling gives value to what we are experiencing, thinking, when it is impartial, lets us move beyond the constraints of the moment and helps throw light on the whole situation.

Copyright 2015 by Dennis Lewis 

If you don’t wish to think, I understand. Sometimes I feel that way, too. Thinking is hard work. Among other things, it requires an aim, focused energy, and perseverance. But please don’t confuse thinking with associating. Associating, which can on occasion bring creative insights, is often simply a distraction from thinking. A mind that is at the mercy of associations, however creative they might appear to be, is sometimes called a “monkey mind” or a “gossipy mind.” When you are quieter inside and can resist saying “I” to them, you can see these associations more clearly for what they are: mechanical movements of words, images, and other mental forms that have little, if anything, to do with actual thinking. Being present to these movements is the beginning of inner freedom.

Dennis Lewis

The exercises and practices I offer on this website are experiments in conscious living. Many of them derive from my explorations in the Gurdjieff Work, Taoism, and Advaita over the past 50 years. Others come from my investigation over the past 30 years of natural breathing, qigong, and energy work and their relationships to health, well-being, and consciousness. Still others arise from my creative experiments in presence and consciousness. Take them or leave them, but if you wish to understand and benefit from them you have to actually engage with them in the context of your own wish for a more-conscious life.