“No-self” and “no-mind” are here now

 My son tells me that he doesn’t believe in astrology, and I don’t mind much either way. He is smart, but what I have over him is studying people and myself for a few more decades. Who knows, maybe when he is in his late 50s like me, he changes his mind.

 

Spirituality has identified the villain that keeps us from being Buddha, our overactive mind. Yet the path to freedom is two-fold, it’s the coexistence of a still mind and a fulfilled self. Why is it that there are 8 billion spiritual quests? It’s because we all have unique starting points.

 

Stilling our overactive mind is hopeless unless we have solved our idiosyncratic life problem. It’s not that enlightenment comes when we have solved all of our problems and satisfied all of our desires, but without knowing what we are all about the mind will always get the upper hand.

 

Study the workings of your mind and get your arms around the story you are telling yourself. Stillness of mind requires the wisdom to spot the self at work. We can stop a train of thought from leaving the station when we realize that is headed towards nowhere. “No-self” and “no-mind” are here now.