Is there really an 'I' outside of thought?

Does thought create 'me' or do I create the thought?

Thoughts arise presently, uncreated. Thoughts appear to be saying, 'This is a brick', 'That's a mat', 'I can hear a sound over there', 'I am in this body'…

Let's look at the difference between a thought that says, 'This is a red brick' and a thought that says, 'I am in here needing release or liberation' or something of that nature. The thought that says 'This is a red brick' is what's been described, as you may have read in various literatures, as a practical or a working thought. The kind of thought that says 'I am a separate someone here who needs liberation' appears somewhat more troublesome. They appear to be qualitatively different but in fact they're both only thoughts.

Is there really an 'I' outside of thought? Is there an 'I' as an entity, as a so-called body/mind, that could have thoughts, that can think thoughts? Or are thoughts simply arising here and suggesting that there is an 'I'?

I think thought creates 'me'.

Thoughts don't create anything. Thoughts are inert. Just as we would say 'This is an inert brick', we could say that thoughts are merely inert images that arise. So thought doesn't actually create 'me' but it can suggest it. Unlike visual images or sounds, the content of certain thoughts, the message they carry, can appear to bring them to life. All kinds of thoughts can arise, and it's only the ones that burst open with a message like 'I am a separate entity' that seem to have this capacity to apparently create a sense of someone.

And of course this story of a 'me' in thought appears to be backed up or substantiated by all of the rest of the images that appear. A foot here, for instance, that seems to be moving, together with a thought: 'This is my foot moving'. Or there are sounds that appear here and a thought says, 'That's me hearing those sounds'. But there's no 'someone' having thoughts. That's merely an impression, that there's someone who is thinking, acting, living out this story of 'me'.

In actuality, all of these images - visual images, sounds, sensations, thoughts - are simply arising presently in awareness. They're not arising to someone. They're not being created by anyone. They are simply arising, and the commentary in thought (whether it's silent or expressed in words) is what gives the impression of a 'me' as an entity that is somehow 'inside' a body.