For this reason, the Eastern spiritual tradition — which is also a profound tradition of thought, behavior and psychology — takes a different tack. It assumes that no one can step outside their own conditioning to the point of breaking free. We are inside our minds at all times, and the brain is interacting with the mind at every second. This is the setup in which change must occur. The only way to be free, then, is if freedom already exists. Beneath, behind, or beyond the working mind-body system, there has to be an entirely different state of awareness, one that is neither trained nor trainable, neither conflicted nor confused, neither involved or uninvolved. In other words, this state of awareness must exist beyond the play of opposites, a play that keeps duality and separation constantly in motion. You cannot think your way to such a state, because the ego-self was created from the play of opposites. Every time you choose A over B, you are defining yourself by the choice you make. Some choices are major, as when you decide whom to marry; some choices are minor, like changing brands of detergent or hair color or shoes. but big or small, choosing between A and B keeps the choosing game going, and thus the brain gets trained to accept, record, remember, and install the choices that make you who you are today. From this analysis, the Eastern tradition holds that there must be a state of choiceless awareness, for the simple reason that the chooser, the one making all of these big and small decisions, isn’t itself a choice. “to be or not to be” is definitely not the question. We all exist; we all have a self; we all participate in life. Thus the state of choiceless awareness is defined as the source of the mind, the starting or zero point that gives us our existence. Then the project of getting free is to realize that you are free to begin with.

From this analysis, the Eastern tradition holds that there must be a state of choiceless awareness, for the simple reason that the chooser, the one making all of these big and small decisions, isn’t itself a choice. “to be or not to be” is definitely not the question. We all exist; we all have a self; we all participate in life. Thus the state of choiceless awareness is defined as the source of the mind, the starting or zero point that gives us our existence. Then the project of getting free is to realize that you are free to begin with.