Published July 6, 2010. Page updated 8 March 2019.
There is still – after a couple years now, I haven’t looked back to see when it was exactly, this underlying state of absolute stillness in the mind when I’m not doing something.
I can work all day on writing articles, books, solving some problem, web development, whatever it is… and then when I stop – when it’s done and I don’t choose to do the next thing – there is just nothing. The mind is there – aware… awake… ready to do something if i asked something of it – but, otherwise it’s just there in an absolutely still state.
It’s not calming to have it happen… it just is. There is no relief in that state, though afterward I can think about it and say – oh, that must be good for the me somehow. It must be stress reducing to let the mind go to that state sometimes. Often even maybe.
But, there is something about being in that state for a long time that isn’t right with my active mind.
I haven’t let it go on much past a couple of minutes.
I’m trying hard now to understand why the resistance of the active thinking mind of now – with going into the thoughtless state for a long time…
1. What is the point? This seems to be a big one… is there any point to sitting there and experiencing that state? It’s nothing new anymore, it’s there every time I stop doing anything with the mind. It’s not a novelty. It just is. And, it’s just that… there’s nothing really pulling me to do it more.
2. There is some idea in my head that by going into this silence for a long time, I’ll come out changed. I saw what happens when the mind first is transformed after experiencing jhanas… and it’s a revolutionary change. My wife and I split because I had completely changed. I wasn’t the person she married – or the person I even knew.
Is that what is on the horizon for me if I go into this silent space often?
Just doesn’t seem to be any real good that can come from it when I have responsibilities to my wife, my daughter.
So that’s how it’s all going here – how about YOU?
🙂
Vern