Go beyond the motivational speaker

 The inherent nature of mind

is to process thought;

to attempt the cessation of thought

goes against what is natural.

The goal, therefore,

is not the cessation of thought;

the goal is cessation of identification with thought.

(Wu Hsin)

 

Michael Singer—author of The Untethered Soul—tried himself as a motivational speaker. He spoke in front of a class of inmates and asked them if Miss Universe appeared naked on stage, would they have the willpower not to look? They all truthfully said they couldn’t. But then Michael asked them if they were promised a million dollars and an instant pardon, could they do it, and they all said yes.

 

I guess the corollary of the motivational speech is that we can accomplish anything if the incentives are right, but Michael should know better than that. The decision maker—the notion I am the one who can decide my fate—is not real. Self- improvement is not real because in every present moment there is the opportunity to realize that this thought and this self image is not real!

 

When the identification with thought loosens,

something else entirely shines through:

S (ilence) is within;

E (nergy) runs high;

L (ove) prevails;

F (low) guides.