Difference between Insight and Thought?

[Javfly33]

What is the difference? Because thoughts come from the mind therefore can´t describe Truth accurately. But "spiritual insights" you guys said they describe some fundamental truth. However this insights people describe them as some sort of complex, again,  thoughts.

How to know you are not deluded when an spiritual insight comes in? 

For me there is no delusion when you can´t actually doubt, its impossible to doubt what you are experiencing. Spiritual insights seem to have some kind "trying to make sense/explain sometihg" implicit delusion coming with them.

[Forestluv]

We can create all sorts of ideas and models about insights and thoughts. Some can be quite helpful in navigating through life. Yet there is no one objectively true thing called an "insight" and another objectively true thing called a "thought". There are many different constructs we could build. We could do this intellectually, through feeling, intuition, experience etc. Yet all of these terms also are fluid. In self inquiry, we might inquire "what is an insight?" or "what is a thought?" - without thinking about it and trying to figure it out. For me, sometimes something arises in the moment and sometimes it comes later. For example, prior to yin yoga I may ask "what are thoughts". Then I go blank into the yoga. Maybe something on the thought theme will arise, maybe not. As well, I try to be an aware observer. During one yoga session, I observed how feelings, thoughts, sensations and environmental stimuli are all interconnected and I lost ability to differentiate between them. I could tell the difference between a thought and feeling or sensation. And then I sorta could, then I couldn't. Drifting in and out of different states. Yet for hard distinctions, my rational mind would need to be activated. I would need to create a narrative. "That is a thought, that is a separate feeling. The difference between them is XYZ". That is fine and can have practical purpose in life. For example, we define terms to converse meaning to others. This limits confusion. If I say I had an insight this morning and was referring to a bowl of cereal I ate - it would be confusing to others (and myself). Yet to me the true potential is going prior to any construct and seeing the infinite numbers of construct that can be formed. This cannot be found in any textbook or video - because those are expressions. There is another essence that is more fundamental and direct than outward expressions.

Notice how indirect constructs are. I can create a construct of what an "insight" is and what a "thought" is. Yet that is one or two steps away from direct ISness. If I say "this is what an insight is", that is a step away from the actual ISness. It is going through a filter in my mind interpreting and defining the ISness. And if I say "this is what an insight is" and you read it - there is another filter in your mind that is interpreting the statement. That is two steps away from the actual ISness. 

For me, this can cause inner turmoil and amazing connection. The inner turmoil often comes from trying to form a sense of grounding. My mind may think "What is an insight? Just tell me what it is without all this mumbo jumbo". Sometimes my mind and body does not like to be uncertain, fluid and groundless. It's taken my mind and body a lot of time to be at peace with this. . . For amazing connection. . . I cannot capture all of a realization. Any image or construct cannot capture it all. There is a loss. As well, any explanation I give cannot capture it and there is further loss. This is one of the saddest aspects of spiritual communication for me. Yet the other side of sadness is joy. No image, idea or construct can capture it all, yet some capture more than others. Sometimes ineffible-ness arises and then a representation of that arises - and it feels like the representation is fairly close to the ISness. This is one of the most wonderful experiences for me. That sense that "I got it". . . As well, sometimes I listen to another sharing a representation of an ISness. For example, we may be watching Rupert Spira giving a representation of an ineffable. Notice how Rupert Spira rarely gives definitions. He generally does so simply for clarity toward that which is ineffible. He usually says things like "It is sorta like. . . xyz". And he offers some type of analogy. Occasionally, the ineffible is transmitted / appears and there is a "getting it", yet not in intellectual terms. More like the ineffible ISness appears and there is a "knowing" - yet not an intellectual knowing. More like ISness knowing ISness. . . Yet the mind often jumps in and may think "Well how do I know that is true? How do I know if I understand correctly? How do I know I just experienced what Rupert Spira was pointing to?". This is all second order contextualization. The magnificence for me is direct first order. 

I think having a basic foundation of theory and knowledge is helpful. Without that there would be no grounding. There is a balance of groundlessness and grounding. My mind had been generally oriented too much toward grounding and would get off-balance. My mind wanted to figure things out, make sense of things and define things. My mind would over-think. This can be unsettling because it is like trying to build stable concrete in shifting sand. As well, to much grounding can demystify the mystical and contract a human from greater expansion and potential. 

People can tell you various ideas about insights and thoughts. Observe how you resonate with this. There is intuitive and empathic resonance. A sense of "getting it" without being to explain it. For me, the "getting it" is prior to being able to "express it". I often "get something", yet have no idea how to put it into words. I don't even know where to begin. Then a day or two later, an image of it may arise and I smile. 

 Notice how some minds are very rigid and say "This is how it is. Period.". These minds take positions and want to ground themselves in positions. There is "my" position and "your position". There is a desire to be right and defend one's own position. . . Also notice other minds that are flexible and can flow with form and formless. 

[Nahm]

 

Pure consciousness forgets ➡️ experience ➡️ one-at-a-time-linear-stream of thoughts ➡️ reactionary ‘choices’ ➡️ ‘regular living’ ➡️ life asleep.

 

The hero’s journey home, if you will. 

“Within”...

⬇️

thoughts...inspected, seen through...let go

⬇️

feelings...understood as intelligence, known as guidance.

⬇️

insights...falsities dispelled, truths revealed.

⬇️

intuition...emotional intelligence & guidance in life

⬇️

epiphanies

⬇️

realizations

⬇️

channeling, siddhis, healing, etc

⬇️

Self Realization...pure consciousness...awareness aware of awareness.

 

[Aaron p]

For me there is a deep sense of knowing. I can't describe it. It's like when you knock one part of a wall and it's solid (nothing behind it) then you knock a different part of the wall, and you hear a slight echo. And that little bit of extra attention and awareness, hearing that slight echo, reveals that there is something else behind this part of the wall. For me an insight just feels deeper. 

I actually fine tuned this quite well even when I was a Christian. The first time I "knocked Leo's wall" (lol) I vivdly remember thinking "how does this guy have more insights than my Christian teachers". That was just from listening to him for 5 mins. I felt it.

[Eu Sint]

? It is as if you were electrocuted for the first time in your life and you have that amazing reaction in which you realize that this is how it feels when you are electrocuted and not otherwise. It's that subtle, detached sensation that this is exactly how it should be . It is that intuitive sensation that leaves no doubt that this is the truth. It is not like a mental narrative story but it is like a spontaneous occurrence that suddenly strikes you, leaving you no time to react with pros or cons. Instantly you recognize this as “revelation.” This recognition also comes with clear, short-lived imaginative constructions that make the revelation even more meaning while also strengthening authenticity. In the depth of consciousness there is no doubt that it could be otherwise. All these insights appear on  the background of a state of witness, peace and mental calmness being followed by a deep awareness.? ❤️

[Lento]

Simply put; insights emerge when you confirm the thoughts you were holding about reality, through your direct experience.

A quick example would be if you heard stories and watched documentaries about Australia, that would be your thoughts. The insights in this case are the experience of the actual Australia by going there.

So, why are insights reliable while thoughts aren't? Well, that's a question that needs to be questioned instead of being answered.