The method of thought expression is a powerful meditation method that can bring clarity, tranquility, and insight to the mind.
We communicate only some of our thoughts to others, and make an effort to fully express our meaning. But thoughts which are not communicated to anyone remain blurry, anxious, and ill-defined. The reason for this is simple: we make no effort to fully express these private thoughts. Expression of thoughts is reserved for communication only – meant for others, not for ourselves – and this is the root of the problem.
As a meditation method, sit silently and consciously express your thoughts to yourself internally, without speaking out loud. What does it mean to express one’s thoughts? There are a few key premises:
- Thoughts are linguistic by nature.
- Thoughts are the basic elements of the mind.
- Only a single thought can occur at a time.
The following sections elaborate on these ideas.
1. Thoughts are linguistic by nature. 🔗
Expressing your thoughts to yourself means thinking in grammatically complete sentences of a language.
All languages have grammars, which suggests that grammar corresponds to something inherent not only in language, but in thought itself.
The role of grammar in this method is not to prescribe a “proper” form of thought, or to make any sort of philosophical argument about language and thought, but only to aid in the completeness of thought. You can use incorrect grammar or any slang you like, as long as the complete thought is expressed.
We usually never express thoughts fully, we just extract and manipulate the meaning contained within. On the other hand, if you express the thoughts to yourself in full, grammatically complete sentences, the mind becomes crystal clear.
There is nothing special you have to do to make the thoughts grammatically complete. They come that way, fully expressed, you just have to notice and observe, become aware of what is already there. If you just perceive phrases and incomplete ideas in your head, these are parts of thoughts, but you have missed something essential – the structure, the grammar, the completeness. You are trying to move too fast, interrupting and skipping through your thoughts rather than letting them finish. It is not that you are putting your thoughts into words and sentences. Thoughts are born as sentences.
Even if you feel that you are able to think perfectly well without full expression, for the purposes of this meditation method, accept hypothetically that language is the natural, atomic form of thoughts – that thoughts cannot be broken down into smaller elements than sentences.
2. Thoughts are the basic elements of the mind. 🔗
Thoughts are the primary, basic elements underlying all other objects in the mind, including feelings and beliefs. Most of what is considered feeling is actually suppressed, compressed, and unconscious thoughts. For example, the feeling of anxiety often has certain common thoughts underlying it, such as:
- What is going to happen?
- What if X happens or doesn’t happen?
- Am I doing something wrong? Am I making a mistake?
- Am I missing or forgetting something essential?
- What will [some person or group of people] think of me?
- What needs to be done?
- What should I be doing right now? Should I be doing something else? Am I doing the optimal thing?
- What if I’m not able to do what needs to be done? Or, I can’t do everything that needs to be done.
The feeling of anxiety is real, but at the root of it are thoughts such as these, which need to be expressed to yourself. These questions are not to be answered, but just expressed fully. Just this expressive awareness will absorb the anxiety immediately, in a surprising and almost magical way.
Similarly, for other feelings you can find underlying thoughts if you look for them. Sometimes though, the thoughts are seemingly unrelated to the feeling completely, but the expression of them still absorbs the feeling anyway – the connection is not always visible.
3. Only a single thought can occur at a time. 🔗
Only a single thought can occur at a time. Even if there appears to be a fog or cloud of thoughts, or a buzzing in the mind, really there is only a single, finite, and discrete thought happening in the present moment, in the here and now. The cloud is an illusion; only the present thought exists.
Now that you know these defining characteristics, sit silently and allow your thoughts to reach full expression, one after another, slowly and deliberately. Don’t be hasty, don’t tumble over the thoughts, don’t interrupt yourself before the thought has unfolded completely, even if you have already understood the meaning and purpose behind it.
Be unconditionally aware of the present thought, whatever it is, whether simple or complex. The particular content of the thought doesn’t matter, just that it is the one occurring presently. The entire thinking process has to become conscious, through expression of every thought small and large, not just certain types of thoughts, or just important thoughts. Let no thought remain hidden in the shadows, however inconsequential or uncomfortable.
Observe that each thought has clear and precise boundaries. There is no overlap. And between two thoughts there is a gap, sometimes short and sometimes long. These are things that are already there. No change is needed in what you are thinking, only an awareness of the way the thoughts are already occurring.
Imagine that you have been working very hard and your mind has been occupied, and then suddenly you realize that you are extremely hungry. The hunger came quite a while ago, but you are only just now becoming aware of it. This is what awareness means – a realization of something that is already there.
If you speak more than one language, keep in mind that thoughts may come in any of your fluent languages. Certain styles of thoughts may only come in certain languages, solely due to linguistic reasons.
If you realize a little late that some thought has gone by automatically, without your awareness, go back and reiterate the thought to yourself, fully expressed as if it was a written or spoken sentence. With just a little practice, this deliberation will extend to new thoughts in real time, and bring an astounding clarity of mind.
If the method is working, your thoughts will become simultaneously clear, unwavering, and calm. The gaps between thoughts will become deeper and richer. Thoughts will become fewer and less intense, less compulsive, yet they will be more authentic.
After a point you can allow them to subside completely, and bask in the tranquil state of being that is undisturbed by thoughts.
Advanced meditators are said to be able to abide by default in the silent state of being that is glimpsed initially only during the gaps between thoughts; grounded in thoughtless, flawless awareness of the here and now, they venture deliberately into thoughts only when necessary. But such an advanced state may take years of practice and perseverance to reach.
It is a common experience that when you explain or teach something to someone, you yourself understand it better. This happens because you have consciously expressed your thoughts about the subject in an effort to communicate them.
Even certain psychotherapy methods benefit from the effects of thought expression. When asked questions by a psychotherapist, you have to make your thoughts communicable — thoughts that are often difficult and that you may have been suppressing and ignoring — and thereby these thoughts become clear even to you for the first time. Often, the simple act of expressing your thoughts helps more than any response or advice given by the therapist. This is also the reason why the method of journaling works, where you simply write down your thoughts as they come. Knowing the root mechanism at play, you can instead implement thought expression directly in order to fully cleanse and uplift the mind.