On Flipping Tables in the Mind

[Dimmesdale]

In the course of meditation, especially if you are like me, many images will occur. As much as meditation is focused awareness on one object, be it a mantra, a thought, or "the breath", there will always be intrusions, ruminations, epiphanies, and yes, distractions. The question is, what to do about them? I say, in many cases, it is better not to do anything about them.

I am reminded of Jesus when, indignant, he flipped over the tables of the money-changers in the temple. What we want to do in meditation is often like that. We want to flip the tables of our wandering thoughts and say in a bold voice "NETI, NETI" - Not This, Not This.... This recommits us on the true and narrow path it seems, and is a good habit to have.

I am of the opinion that, yes, in some cases this is the right approach. When dealing with thoughts that are truly deviant and non-admissible in a given session. I do not want to think of raunchy rap music in the course of my meditation. I do not want to be thinking of worrying thoughts, or how I am going to schedule the minutiae of my day, the next day.... That said, for me at least, there are some chains of thought, some streams of consciousness, that cannot be stilled. Random images which foam and coalesce, which arise like breathing to the forefront of my mind, and yet are the next moment subsumed into something else; hopefully something approximating the flavor of what I am trying to meditate upon.

In other words, the old, stinking Furniture of the mind will always be there. It is just part of my habitus, my home, and the home-like quality of my mental world....

Embrace the Stinkiness.

..And, soon enough, you realize you can subsume and transmogrify images which, though they seemed random before, are no longer random, but re-aligned, streamlined, into the natural memory of your own consciousness and your own Self....

To become fanatic in the practice of Neti, Neti, is to overlook this flow, this gentle fountain, this bubbling mirth that lies at the core of your Being and is Sourced in the One Whom you are trying to approximate.

By all means, then, avoid violence, and therefore fanaticism. Be diligent, but do not over-endeavor. Steady and continuous determination is the key that will unlock the Golden Door. Not willful spurts of passion that only work to Heat your consciousness.

Be Free. Hari Aum Tat Sat.