Higher Realms of
Consciousness

Somehow, in our modern civilization, we have acquired the idea that the mind is working best when it runs at top speed. Yet, this is not true. A racing mind lacks time to even finish one thought. It just churns out whatever it can, the more the better. Slowing down the mind means not only achieving better quality but actually getting more done. A smooth flow of thought saves a lot of wear and tear on the nervous system, which means more vitality and resilience in the face of stress.

Until you experience it, it sounds like the kind of control that takes the joy out of life. Most thoughts are neither joyous or necessary. Anxious thoughts? Worry? Resentments? Better off without them. No amount of thought will change any of those things. Quite a lot of our troubles are due to thinking too much of those things that we have no control over.

I am not suggesting to throw out the machinery of the mind. I have been meditating for decades, and my mind has never functioned better. I use it when I want to; it does not use me. My thoughts come by invitation. Most thoughts are gate-crashers. Negative emotions like anger and resentment not only come without an invitation, they crash the party, eat all the food, and when the proper guests arrive the plates are empty, the chairs upside down, and the place is in chaos. Quality control simply means that when these uninvited thoughts come, you have the ability to say "Excuse me, but you are not invited".

Meditation then is bringing your mind back in focus to quality thoughts. In many ways, training your mind is like training a dog. When we take it for a walk, it takes off the moment it sees something, it wants to jump the fence and take off. You call, "Come back!". It may take a dozen patient repetitions, but your mind will finally settle down and hasten to your wishes. When you sit down to meditate, that little distraction, barely noticed, slips past the edges of your consciousness. Now, instead of focusing on your meditation, you find yourself going over what you plan to tell the client you are seeing for lunch. When these thoughts come, they can knock on the door of your mind as if they were going to break it down. We get annoyed and open it with a bang, demanding, "Don't you know I'm trying to meditate? Who do you think you are?" That's exactly what the distraction wants. It grins and says, "Thanks, Boss. That's just what I wanted to talk to you about. Have you got a minute?" It stands there with its foot in the door.

Resisting distractions only strengthens them by drawing your attention. Concentrate on the task at hand and as your concentration improves, disturbance from distractions will become less and less. After a while you may not be aware of the distraction at all, your mind will be absorbed in your meditative state.

Everyone knows how painful it is to relive unpleasant memories. The problem is not the memory but the fact that we can not stop thinking about it. Worrying never helps. You can not change one hair on your head by worrying. If you have to think about the past to solve a problem, think about it, draw your conclusions, and then drop it. Don't let your mind run on, turning out the same unproductive stuff. Meditation can help solve such problems in other ways too, by going to their root. Here, I am simply talking about learning to drop at will those haunting specters from the past that nag, "You're no good, you're no good,". . If you could peek into the mind factory, you would see the production line turning out the same emotion-charged memory over and over: "They did that to me in 1985, they did that to me...".

Dwelling on something that happened in the past, or , more likely, on how you misunderstood that event and reacted to your misunderstanding. When you keep pumping attention into an event this way, even a little limp memory gets blown into a big balloon of hostility. If you can withdraw your attention, the balloon is deflated. There is nothing more to it. Brooding can go on until your mind is filled with balloons, and then there is no more room for the joy of living.

Through meditation, you can train your mind to withdraw attention from distractions to the point where no memory can upset you or drive you into compulsive action. Your memories are still there, should you need them, but they have lost their emotional charge. When that old painful memory pops in, clanking its chain and expecting you to run and hide, you will be able to sit calmly, watching the show with an expression of infinite tolerance. When it is finished, you clap your hands and say, "Very impressive. Now if you're through, I have things to do". Not used to this treatment, the memory will duck its head and slink away leaving no trace of disquiet in your mind..

This is not an exaggeration. Through many years of practice you can gain such command over your thinking process that if there is a spurt of hostility towards someone, or a situation, you have only to look at your mind and say "No." The hostility will wither. If resentment creeps in you can say "Please leave," and it will go away. There is nothing like meditation to transform your life.