Never mind mind control

You are much too tolerant of mind wandering, 

and are passively condoning your mind's miscreations.

A Course in Miracles

 

The mind control thesis is a confusing one. We just cannot simply say, ‘quit thinking and you will be enlightened,’ our thought process is subconsciously generated. We have only so much power over it. To show my point, let me give you this little example. Take a stop-watch and count the times you think of a polar bear over the course of the next minute. The goal is not to think of polar bears a single time. Ready, set and go!

 

You couldn’t help thinking of polar bears, couldn’t you? The reason is that our thought process is on its own trip. It doesn’t like yo be controlled and all these attempts often back-fire. We can stop a train of thought in its track though and create a new one and invite it to leave the station. Take this example. Once again use the stop-watch and see whether you can silently say Om 45 times over the next 60 seconds. That’s easy, isn’t it?

 

Awakening does bring amazing changes. Our thought-process slows down. We develop an eye for the magic of the here and now and we feel the energy of energy and places. It’s easy to follow the high-energy and to shy away from low energy events. It’s natural to stay in the here and now and resist the temptation to dwell in the past or solve the future before any action has become relevant. Life becomes a walking meditation.