THE ZONE OF AWAKE AWARENESS

     Dismissal of a rising thought is possible only when a vigilant attitude is present; when vigilance is present, then no thought will arise, hence a paradox.   Only in a state of passive attention will an automated, habitual, and mechanical thought-stream continue to flow.   When vigilance is restored, then the stream subsides and only then can the thoughts be actively dismissed; its like watching them drift off into the distance of inner space.   We can learn to become alert to already risen thoughts, realizing that all of these types of automated thoughts and daydreams emerge from the depths of the inner space of consciousness when we are not a vigilant spectator.   So it boils down to the realization that we fall into distraction a lot, but we also emerge from the passive and distracted condition to again be non-attached to our habitual conceptual constructs.   This is contemplative practice and the vigilant practitioner will notice his state of attentiveness many, many times during the day, each day purposefully striving to become more and more awake and aware.   When it is noticed that thoughts and dreaming have been appearing, it is easy to just dismiss them all; they are results of a habitual mechanism of the mind.   Slowly this practice creates an efficient alert system, the alert to awaken out of the long-held habit of dream delusion.   There is a gap between thoughts which is a knowing awareness, free from the boundaries and binding activities of mental functions of the automated type; this gap is a momentary zone of awake awareness beyond mind, the place where we can become stabilized in our real identity.