“Be aware of the habit of the mind to still be looking for the next moment - when the thoughts stop or the mind calms or peace comes or enlightenment happens.
Instead of running to escape into the next moment, make peace with the thoughts and sensations that are appearing right now. Don’t be dependent on the “next”.
When you make peace with the present experience, the separation between “you” and “it” diminishes, and there is freedom.”
Let’s take an example of a mind that will not stop producing thoughts, particularly thoughts that feel uncomfortable, limiting, harmful or negative.
They become painful, they become repetitive, they feel uncontrollable. Someone seeks help - teachings or advice that involve meditation, non-duality, yoga or something similar. They get some guidance, it resonates, seems to work for a while, and then after a little bit of time they seem to “lose” what they had gained in terms of peace or silence within themselves.
A reason for this might, be, that the whole thing has been based on resistance. The mind has become the bad guy in the relationship, the one that you must break up with, or the thing that is bad for you, holding you back that you have to get away from. You see its flaws, its harmfulness, its idiotic nature, and yet he is always there, above you, seeming to rule you and your attention.
Wherever your attention goes, your mind seems to go there as well. It is like having a dense, resistive ball of a personality stuck to your attention, and whatever you try to do, it seems so bound to you, that letting go or ignoring it seems almost impossible.
So, what if the mind, or thought, was never something to be avoided? What if there was no such thing as enlightenment as something that will happen to you but hasn’t yet. What if the whole misery came from simply fighting with thoughts, trying to get away from them by moving into the next moment, waiting for another shift in consciousness or a release from the bondage of it all.
What if, rather than shrinking back and saying “no” to thoughts, rather than trying to silence them or ignore them or turn away from them, you actually end the war, and drop the spiritual ambition of trying to control your mind in any way. If the mind is noisy, then it is not your job to wait until it calms. There is nothing else to experience, there are no alternatives to reach for. It is not up to you to condemn the mind or try to make it better. This experience is not yours to take charge of or try to fix. It already is as it is.
It is more like a complete “Yes” to however your mind is, whatever thoughts are doing. A COMPLETE “Yes” with no hidden motives of saying yes so that it can shut up for once and leave you alone. A yes that is so complete, it is from nothing but an honouring of life, or a realisation that all else is futile.
What happens when that resistance, that seeking for better within yourself, finally turns into a full “Yes”?
What happens to these thoughts when they no longer have resistance to hit and bounce off of?
Let me know,
Adam