Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Noisy Brain Syndrome

I still talk in my sleep.
I still dream.
How can there be perfect stillness
When my brain's so noisy?

     We carry on a constant dialogue within ourselves. This is the origin of our problems.
     The very word dialogue means talking between two sides. We could not have an inner dialogue unless there was a split in our minds. We all have two sides; as long as they are not united, we cannot attain the wholenss that spirituality requires.
     Even with years of self-cultivation, it is not easy to tame the wild mind. One might appear to have attained perfect control in all waking situations, only to find endless turbulence during meditation and sleep.
     ... rather than shutting away the unpleasant or unruly aspects of ourselves, we must take them all out and examine them....
     From: 365 Tao by Deng Ming-Dao, "Dialogue," p. 243
Today's reading from 365 Tao is a reminder that there is always work to do in managing Monkey Mind. I often revisit this fact during my daily T'ai Chi Chih practices. I feel relaxed, calm, at peace ... and then I notice that my mind is leaping from one topic to another as it mimics a monkey swinging from tree to tree.

Today--case in point--I dedicated my TCC practice to my mother since August 31 is her birthday (she died over five years ago). I wanted to honor Mother for the role she played in my life, the ways in which she shaped me, the habits and behaviors of hers that live on in me, and more. Soon enough my mind was off on another adventure stalking the wild pendulum (per Itzhak Bentov's book of the same title).

Bentov was a scientist, mystic, author, and accomplished meditator who believed that vibration permeates all things and that our brains receive and amplify thoughts rather than being the source of thought. So, as many regular TCC practitioners have discovered, our daily TCC practice offers us the chance to experience the vibration that permeates all things (i.e., Chi).

If the split in our minds is a mirror of the yin/yang energy that continually seeks to find balance and harmony, does it also follow that the thoughts we receive (and amplify) offer us the opportunity to change and grow and accomplish a greater good?

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