Whenever people talk about stress I feel that there's some information about the mind that everyone ought to be told. I'm presenting it here in the form of three questions that kids might ask in school if they had be taught to ask questions instead of being given lists of politically correct answers to produce on demand.
1) How can I get what I want?
It's a good question, but the answer is,
"You can't." Sorry. You can't get what you want because what you want will always be the next thing. As soon as you get a present you'll start to wonder if someone else has a better one and what is the next present. People always want something. You will never get a present that is so good it will end the wanting. In fact, getting presents may actually increase the wanting. You keep thinking and your mind is made up of thoughts. Wanting stuff is the nature of your mind - that's what it does. If you can stop a moment and watch the flow of thoughts you'll see how it keeps thinking about the next big thing to want. Let's get round the next corner and maybe it will be there. Let's make more money. Let's find the right partner. Sometimes it seems you have got it, but the mind soon finds something new to want. If you've been paying attention you realize that there must be something else for which you are yearning. But what is it? What to do? Can you rise above this eternal drama?
2) How can I get beyond this cycle of wanting?
"Well, yes actually you can." The mind will never stop wanting, but you are not the mind. Just watch it for a while. It will lead you in a merry chase. It will never stop and will continue to weave complicated patterns and get you tangled up in them. Stop. Wait a minute. If you can watch the mind that means you are somewhere 'outside' of the mind. Careful with that because it may be another entanglement. You may feel as if you took off a mask, but then found that there's another mask beneath, and then another, and so on. The whole drama takes place within a larger context. Every time you become aware of the drama you also become a deeper player (watching the play of the mind) and in doing so you create a new drama. Is someone aware of the whole enchilada? I use the word enchilada because there's no way to really encompass it in words. Nevertheless, at some level the whole thing takes place within stillness; within emptiness. You have been curious about the self, but maybe there is no self.
3) How can there be no self; there is me. Who am I really?
"That's the most important question you can ask." Keep asking it. If there is an answer it cannot be found in the past or in the future. You want to know who you are NOW - the self that is asking the question. To know the self there must be a knower of the self which is the one who asks the question.
Its a paradox for the mind, but is there more than the mind? What if the mind were to become still?
4) If the mind became still wouldn't I get into a lot of problems? How could I live?
"You are living now. You are on the intersection between many forces, many thoughts and many feelings. There’s only one present moment for us and we must live it. We DO live it. Remember that only the present moment exists. All else is illusion. You have no choice about what is in the present moment; your choice is in how you respond to it. If it is happening, it is supposed to happen. You respond, but there is no 'i' who is responding. There is just appropriate action.
The Buddha taught that the cause of suffering is desire, and desire is caused by attachment. Everything changes and there is no self to be attached - it's an illusion. This doesn't mean death; at least not the death of anything real. Rather than any negative sense it means the casting off of limitations. Death thou shalt die.
It may seem as if these are only thoughts. Yes, well, maybe. Everything we experience is in the form of thoughts. You are the victim of the patterns of thought. You mistake thought for reality. We do not try to create a dream world, we try to become aware of the dream world in which we live so we can begin to awaken.
1) How can I get what I want?
It's a good question, but the answer is,
"You can't." Sorry. You can't get what you want because what you want will always be the next thing. As soon as you get a present you'll start to wonder if someone else has a better one and what is the next present. People always want something. You will never get a present that is so good it will end the wanting. In fact, getting presents may actually increase the wanting. You keep thinking and your mind is made up of thoughts. Wanting stuff is the nature of your mind - that's what it does. If you can stop a moment and watch the flow of thoughts you'll see how it keeps thinking about the next big thing to want. Let's get round the next corner and maybe it will be there. Let's make more money. Let's find the right partner. Sometimes it seems you have got it, but the mind soon finds something new to want. If you've been paying attention you realize that there must be something else for which you are yearning. But what is it? What to do? Can you rise above this eternal drama?
2) How can I get beyond this cycle of wanting?
"Well, yes actually you can." The mind will never stop wanting, but you are not the mind. Just watch it for a while. It will lead you in a merry chase. It will never stop and will continue to weave complicated patterns and get you tangled up in them. Stop. Wait a minute. If you can watch the mind that means you are somewhere 'outside' of the mind. Careful with that because it may be another entanglement. You may feel as if you took off a mask, but then found that there's another mask beneath, and then another, and so on. The whole drama takes place within a larger context. Every time you become aware of the drama you also become a deeper player (watching the play of the mind) and in doing so you create a new drama. Is someone aware of the whole enchilada? I use the word enchilada because there's no way to really encompass it in words. Nevertheless, at some level the whole thing takes place within stillness; within emptiness. You have been curious about the self, but maybe there is no self.
3) How can there be no self; there is me. Who am I really?
"That's the most important question you can ask." Keep asking it. If there is an answer it cannot be found in the past or in the future. You want to know who you are NOW - the self that is asking the question. To know the self there must be a knower of the self which is the one who asks the question.
Its a paradox for the mind, but is there more than the mind? What if the mind were to become still?
4) If the mind became still wouldn't I get into a lot of problems? How could I live?
"You are living now. You are on the intersection between many forces, many thoughts and many feelings. There’s only one present moment for us and we must live it. We DO live it. Remember that only the present moment exists. All else is illusion. You have no choice about what is in the present moment; your choice is in how you respond to it. If it is happening, it is supposed to happen. You respond, but there is no 'i' who is responding. There is just appropriate action.
The Buddha taught that the cause of suffering is desire, and desire is caused by attachment. Everything changes and there is no self to be attached - it's an illusion. This doesn't mean death; at least not the death of anything real. Rather than any negative sense it means the casting off of limitations. Death thou shalt die.
It may seem as if these are only thoughts. Yes, well, maybe. Everything we experience is in the form of thoughts. You are the victim of the patterns of thought. You mistake thought for reality. We do not try to create a dream world, we try to become aware of the dream world in which we live so we can begin to awaken.
Awesome !. The Buddha taught that desire itself is the cause of suffering.
ReplyDelete.....and Mind can be the slayer of the REAL.
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