Why We Should Prioritize Awareness Over Thinking

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While thinking is useful at times, awareness—or clear seeing—should always take precedence.

Why? Here’s a quick experiment:

Bring to mind your best thought. You feel great, do you? Now, attempt a small, attention-demanding task, like a calculation. Despite the positivity of the thought, you may find yourself making errors or struggling to focus. Imagine the consequences if this distraction occurs when you’re doing something truly important.

Even the most pleasant thoughts or emotions can become dangerous if they’re irrelevant or pull you away from what you’re doing. This is why awareness is essential, especially after a success—victory can quickly turn into failure if you’re not fully present.

Jack Kornfield, in The Wise Heart: A Guide to Universal Teachings of Buddhist Psychology, describes mindfulness (awareness in action) as the “King of mental states.” Similarly, Osho emphasized that when thinking is secondary and clear seeing is priority, mistakes are impossible to appear.

So, let your thoughts take a back seat. Awareness is your greatest ally in navigating life with clarity and precision.

You may want to listen to a talk titled Why The Wise Relies Only on Awareness, not the Mind by Rupert Spira