Dinesh Kamath's Editorial (We are what we think) that was published in Newsband

We are what we think

Our life is dependent on our state of mind. We are what we think. Whether we are free or imprisoned is dependent on our thought. The feeling of restriction, of a lack of space and freedom, of claustrophobia, comes purely because of our thoughts.

Right from childhood we are being influenced by our thoughts. Our minds can be positive or negative. A positive mind helps us think clearly and logically, rationalise, make judgments, choose the right option among many available, plan, visualise, be creative and to execute tasks. On the other hand a negative mind is a generator of thoughts, worries, anxieties, fears, jealousies, greed and anger. These thoughts and emotions imprison us and often leave us powerless.

We know ourselves and the world around us, by our thoughts. Who we are, our qualification, what we do, our beliefs and ideals, those who are near and dear to us, our aspirations and ambitions, religious inclinations, hopes and worries - everything comes down to a thought.

Whatever we see, hear, smell, touch, think, conceptualise - everything is our reaction to reality. There appears to be a prism between us and true reality, our mind and its thoughts, which distorts every aspect of reality, before delivering it to our brain. These thoughts make us judge certain people as good while others seem evil. It is our thoughts which make us discriminate between good and bad.

It is the distorted view of life which results in conflict, frustration, unhappiness, despair, unfulfilled desires and futility.

Those who have obtained unobstructed knowledge of Self are free people. Once the Self is known, all thoughts that imprison us lose their power. To experience life as it exists, to experience happiness and ecstasy, one has to go beyond all thoughts that anchor us to so-called reality. These thoughts are figments of imagination churned out by an overactive mind.

We tend to believe everything that our mind tells us via thoughts and we act and live our lives according to our belief in these thoughts, most of which are only random raves and rants of the mind. The best way to achieve freedom is by questioning each and every thought, till the falsity of the thought is established, so that we can throw them away, leading ourselves to break free of imprisonment.