Clarity on STO please

[rva_jeremy]

Thoughts are good for combing through each aspect until we approach the deep rooted 'distortion' (coined by Ra) that needs to be examined.

I think there's definitely value in separating beliefs from the more discursive or pragmatic thoughts that occur within one.

I know that's something Jim McCarty talked about at homecoming 2015 that really stuck with me. He described how he would also play hypothetical, imagined future interactions with people in his head as he was working, and they were almost always confrontational or oppositional encounters. I do the same thing, so I really sympathized. He went on to say that he got tired of this, so he just started singing "hallelujah" when he'd work, over and over, and how this totally changed his entire mindset and emotional condition.

So that doesn't perfectly map onto the utility of thought alone as a way to examine distortions and biases, but it does show how taking direct charge of our thinking -- mindfulness, in a way -- is very important to allowing new frequencies of life to filter through our mind complex. Like most people, I imagine, I feel more run by my thoughts than that I think them expressly. Meditation has started to slow me down enough to see what's going on, which is both a blessing and a tremendous responsibility!

Your point, John, about using conscious thought in self-examination raises an interesting point: the responsible use of conscious thought in every other situation! What about those day-to-day thoughts?