Stream2

The monk has a stream of consciousness.

The thinker has a train of thought.

Of course all people have both of these things, but the monk places a highest value on their stream of consciousness, and the thinker places a highest value on their train of thought.

In the most profound moment a regular person can become a monk. It is the profundity that teaches them to value their stream of consciousness. With a fruit so sweet how could it not be of greatest importance?

So much is let go of when a person glimpses the depth of their consciousness. What a great labour it is to pick it all back up again. At least this time around it will be ordered.

Some are born thinkers. Others become thinkers. One sure path to becoming a thinker is necessity. To have a problem so great one needs to leverage all faculties to achieve it. If one is lucky, when the intellect finally begins to participate, it will be a great joy. Learning is fun.

However having the intellect join in does not make one a thinker. It gives one thoughts, to be sure, and they may place their thoughts at the highest value, but they do not yet have a train of thought. The train of thought needs to be won. Just as the monk wins their stream of consciousness.

I know only one way to win a train of thought. To enjoy ones thoughts until they become directed. Until they work on a particular problem – the problem of greatest interest to the individual. Things might get repetitive, and they might seem overly simple. It is in breaking out of the constraints of their first problem that one becomes a thinker. I.e. in solving their problem.

The monk lets go.

The thinker fights.

The monk and the thinker have a lot in common! The monk’s bread and butter is insight. The thinker too seeks insight. The difference is that the monk seeks insight as a means to tranquility and the thinker seeks insights to know.

Monks seek enlightenment.

Thinkers seek to create new value.