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diff --git a/content/entry/the-addiction-to-thinking.md b/content/entry/the-addiction-to-thinking.md index 853bce2..5735dc1 100644 --- a/content/entry/the-addiction-to-thinking.md +++ b/content/entry/the-addiction-to-thinking.md @@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ date: 2021-02-06T00:00:00 draft: false --- # Disclaimer -I said in a [previous post](/2021/01/17/on-spirituality) that posts tagged spirituality aren't to be interpreted as [truth-apt](https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803105953845) and that I wanted to be clearer about how to interpret these posts. Well this post is an exception. Do interpret it as making truth claims. I'm going to be more rigorous than I normally am in spiritual posts and try not to make any false claims. So let's get started. +I said in a [previous post](/2021/01/17/on-spirituality/) that posts tagged spirituality aren't to be interpreted as [truth-apt](https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803105953845) and that I wanted to be clearer about how to interpret these posts. Well this post is an exception. Do interpret it as making truth claims. I'm going to be more rigorous than I normally am in spiritual posts and try not to make any false claims. So let's get started. # Writing Meditation This activity doesn't require you to believe superstitions or unsubstantiated claims as a prerequisite. It's very simple. All you need is a pen and paper. Be sure to use a pen, not a pencil. @@ -13,10 +13,10 @@ Here are the instructions: > Pick up the pen and hold it to the paper. Whenever you notice a thought that can be written down in words, you write it down. Don't worry about grammar or spelling, that's not the point. Don't worry if it's even coherent or continuous. Don't scratch anything out. Redundancy is perfectly fine. Just write down whatever is on your mind. If it's kind, peaceful, helpful, write it down. If it's hateful, vulgar, taboo, write it down anyway. It's important that you don't censor anything. Just let there be a continuous flow of thoughts from your mind to the paper. > -> Write until you notice enough thoughts that your mind outpaces your hand. Try to at least fill up 1 full page with thoughts. The more, the better. The goal is to write down as much of your own [self-talk](https://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self_talk) as you can. +> Write until you notice enough thoughts that your mind outpaces your hand. Try to at least fill up 1 full page with thoughts. The more, the better. The goal is to write down as much of your own [self-talk](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self_talk) as you can. ## Limitations -This style of meditation has limitations that don't inhibit practices like [Vipassana](https://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vipassan%C4%81). An obvious one is if your hand can't keep up with your mind then you miss some thought-material. Another limitation is you can only capture a rather small fraction of thoughts. A significant portion of your thoughts aren't words and sentences. They're images, memories, abstract concepts, and emotions. +This style of meditation has limitations that don't inhibit practices like [Vipassana](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vipassan%C4%81). An obvious one is if your hand can't keep up with your mind then you miss some thought-material. Another limitation is you can only capture a rather small fraction of thoughts. A significant portion of your thoughts aren't words and sentences. They're images, memories, abstract concepts, and emotions. None of that matters for our purposes. What matters is you end up with a tangible object to reference. Please do it before you continue reading. You won't get the full benefit otherwise. @@ -39,14 +39,14 @@ None of this is new information. Contemplatives have said for centuries that bei I have to clarify that thinking is an absolutely necessary faculty. It's necessary for survival and human progress. For instance all technology first began with a thought. So thought is not the enemy here. The problem is thinking without being aware of it. As contemplatives through the ages have discovered, having that background stream of thoughts is a primary source of human suffering. Reason being that internal conversation, even for the most average people, is often negative and, as I discussed, sounds like how someone in a mental asylum might communicate. # Life is Pain -There may be no more important fact to realize if you want to lead a fulfilling life than this one: Throughout the course of a normal human life, the quality of one's mind determines quality of one's life. If you go through life entranced by your thoughts as most of us do, you will lead a life of dissatisfaction. You'll never be fully content with the present moment. In my own experience and others', even the best days of our lives don't quite cut it. In ancient Indian literature, this is known as [Dukkha](https://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dukkha). +There may be no more important fact to realize if you want to lead a fulfilling life than this one: Throughout the course of a normal human life, the quality of one's mind determines quality of one's life. If you go through life entranced by your thoughts as most of us do, you will lead a life of dissatisfaction. You'll never be fully content with the present moment. In my own experience and others', even the best days of our lives don't quite cut it. In ancient Indian literature, this is known as [Dukkha](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dukkha). # An Alternative, Perhaps? Mystics, yogis and monks that have spent decades doing nothing but meditating in caves have suggested that there are alternatives to living entranced by your thoughts. They've suggested that contentment is actually a learnable skill. To most people it sounds strange that one could learn to be content. It's thought that contentment arises out of favorable life circumstances. This is contradicted by scientific studies showing people don't report being much happier given increases in income once the threshold for basic needs is met. Unless you believe all the contemplative literature over the millennia is merely a product of mental illness and self-deception, you have to admit some people seem to have found an alternative to being entranced by thought, to being perpetually dissatisfied with life. Once you admit that, you also have to admit that if it was possible for them, then it just might be possible for you too. -And the alternatives to dissatisfaction don't require you to ignore bad things happening in the world or accept religious dogma. They just require a shift in consciousness. For some the shift is gradual taking many years of practice. And for others like [Eckhart Tolle](https://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eckhart_Tolle) it's instantaneous. +And the alternatives to dissatisfaction don't require you to ignore bad things happening in the world or accept religious dogma. They just require a shift in consciousness. For some the shift is gradual taking many years of practice. And for others like [Eckhart Tolle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eckhart_Tolle) it's instantaneous. ## Is Spirituality For Everyone? Now I'm not saying there's an alternative for everyone. Oftentimes an interest in spirituality comes after seeing the mechanics of suffering. It's not hard to notice. I couldn't have been older than age 12 when I saw it. I wanted something. I got it. I was satisfied for an instant before it wore off and I wanted something else. At that point I had the revelation that the nature of the mind is to never be satisfied. At the time, like most westerners, I made nothing of it. I assumed that was the way life was and it couldn't be any other way. It wasn't until I neared adulthood that I sincerely considered the possibility of alternative mind states. |