Trains

A train of thought is a very strange train.  It takes you for a ride like a real train, the kind with steel rails, but you never know where it's going to take you.

To take a ride on this train, try to count from one to ten.  Give each number about three seconds, or a full breath, and try to think only about the numbers.  Do you think you can concentrate for thirty seconds?  Go ahead, try it now.  If you find yourself thinking about something other than the numbers, just start again with one and see how it goes.  You might want to take each count after inhaling, before exhaling.  The breath is a pretty good timer.  Just close your eyes and try it.  This will still be here when you're done.

OK - so how did that work out?  Did you get past four?  If you did, either you've meditated before or you're truly exceptional.  Perhaps both.

Or maybe you got on a train.  If you do this for more than about three minutes, you definitely will.  The human mind is made to think, its job is to produce thoughts and ideas in random, creative, wild, wonderful ways.  And our job as owners of these minds is to manage them.  As good as the mind is at generating all that creativity, it can be unruly and hard to tame.  It can go off on its own and take you with it, before you even know you've been taken.  It captures our attention and our awareness, and leads us into turmoil as easily as calm.

The only way to control this process is to be aware of it.  We could say that the only way to get off this train is to realize you're being taken for a ride.

It sounds simple, to be in control of one's mind.  And in a way it is simple, but it is far from easy.  It takes quite a bit of practice just to count to ten, even a few times, without jumping on the old train of thought to take another little ride.  It is truly a realization to experience how the mind goes off on these expeditions of its own accord.

There will actually be many realizations about the nature of the human mind if you explore this.  You may notice the marvel of this idea-generation system you have within you.  As you try to control it and tame it, be sure to respect it.  You have a wonderfully creative ability and it's truly an asset.  Far better to train it like a beloved child than to squash it like a bug.  Be gentle, train it with love.

As you bring your attention back to the counting and the breathing (over and over again,) notice the strange places your train takes you to.  Some of these little trips such as resentments or arguments may not serve you well, but some of them will be tempting playful fun thoughts and some will make you laugh out loud.  Some of them will bring real advancement.  You will certainly be surprised at what you see.

Most meditations are 20 to 40 minutes.  Dedicated monks have sittings for 8-12 hours and more, and their minds wander too.  They're better at it than I am, but the wandering is part of the process, and a key part of the practice is when you bring the attention gently back to the counting and the breathing.  This is the part that builds awareness of the mind itself.  It's a case of using the mind to observe the mind directly, without external reflections or any view of mind as some outside thing.  It's direct fundamental awareness and it's powerful stuff.

Throughout the process there is a gradual deepening of feeling that brings a sense of calm, it creates a peaceful spirit with a direct awareness of love.  As we begin to see thoughts arising without getting lost in them, we develop the power to choose whether to follow them or not.  We could intentionally choose to develop an idea, and to grow it when it's helpful, or we could choose just to let it pass without our mental investment if it's not so productive.  And if we do just let it pass, we may notice that it's kind of thin, actually somewhat hollow, not nearly as important as we will think if (or when) we just jump on the old train and take a ride with it without that awareness.

It's an important choice, whether or not to give our power to any old thought, because they affect us.  We can get off that train in a very different state then when we got on.  We may start out in Illinois and end up in Confusion.  Or Turmoil, or Despair.  And yes, Bliss is possible too, but it's random unless we have the power of choice. 

The big point here is that we can choose our inner attitude.  We can add to our mental power by cutting out the fluff.  We can add to our focus and create spiritual strength by proactively managing this wonderful resource we've been given.  In this way we actually create our own personal authority.

And the best news is that anyone can do it.  All it takes is practice.