“DD” THE MIND
(The Dhammapada) Seeking within, you will find stillness. Here there is no more fear or attachment - only joy.
Apathy and grief are two energies that bring about destruction in their wake. These two lower mind characteristics of the ego are not enjoyable once presented. What was just said is beyond obvious, so why choose to cling to them once they’re present?
Almost the entire world is hypnotized by the mind, which in turn makes people believe they are their thoughts. This is incorrect. We are not our thoughts. We are not our emotions. We are not our cravings, wants, desires, hopes, aspirations, choices, or anything else approaching us without request and with attachment as the bargain for their appearance.
If something arises in mind, it’s of no consequence to what you are on the soul level. The mind is a mouse trap and hamster wheel forever rolling along without the need to stop and ask itself why it’s even present. As an illusion, the mind is the original self-fulfilling-prophecy.
“I think therefore I am,” is only correct and valid up to a certain point. One realizes they exist in physicality because the mind first shows them that they do. But the mind is not where you find stillness. The mind is not where you experience joy. The mind, which produces agony and despair through apathy and grief, is nothing more than the mind, which is only useful up to a certain point. “I witness stimuli arising, therefore I am… something,” is a higher degree of truth.
If you hope to find stillness where there is no fear or attachment, you must be willing to go past the mind and its never-ending madness to know the truth of the quote above. If you hope to move past apathy and grief, you must surrender over your attachment to the feelings and emotions as they arise, without stopping, until the grace of God shows you what is at the root of these misconceptions about life and who/what it is you truly are.
You must seek within, past your thoughts, while letting go of the desire to stay fixed to your thoughts, to see your thoughts are nothing more than noise. Your thoughts mean nothing. Your feelings mean nothing. Your emotions mean nothing. You are none of these things. You are more akin to that which witnesses all arise. Once you see this for even a moment, you’ll know seeking within isn’t for the monk in faraway places, it’s what you must do to find stillness in the storms of life. Quietness in the moments leading up to the storm helps usher peace in the winds of the negative.
Lasting joy is not found in your thoughts or emotions. Spiritual stillness cannot be bought and paid for. Seeking within isn’t an ancient secret unavailable to you today. You’re not too busy to practice moving towards God through surrender. You’re not too overwhelmed to let go of being overwhelmed.
Joy awaits those who aren’t too busy to look for God past their thoughts, feelings and emotions.