Читать книгу The Book of Rest - James Reeves - Страница 25

Despite that thought seems to come as a constant stream of chat and insight, there are interludes between our thoughts. If we follow a train of thought to its conclusion, we will notice when a new one pops in, and sometimes we might notice a pause beforehand. Again, we might miss something here, believing that it is the conclusion of the thought that feels good (because we’ve worked something out), but really, the pleasure comes as much, if not more, from the fact that on concluding your thought, you are now not thinking at all. You’re experiencing the ultimate holiday.

The challenge comes, then, that on realising this we can quickly jump onto the idea that if we could just stop thinking for five seconds, then we’d feel good. Once we begin to notice and enjoy these spontaneous moments of not thinking, we can’t help but grasp for them. Our mind gets hold of the experience and wants more of it. It’s like the mind knows that the spaces around thinking are really good but then thinks about them and spoils the whole show, like a child who’s watching their favourite television programme but who gets so excited about it they can’t stop talking all the way through.

We can’t think ourselves into not thinking. At most, you might have ‘held’ your thoughts in the same way that you might hold your breath. There are activities that can ‘control the mind’ to a certain extent, such as concentration practices, but while it may be possible to create conditions for the mind to focus, such as reciting the same word over and over again (some people adopt a special word or mantra, but repeating ‘fudge, fudge, fudge’ might be as effective) or concentrating on a single point of focus (a candle is a popular one here, but a cupcake would do just as well – maybe a fudge one), we’re still ‘doing’ something (not resting). We’re still engaging in an activity. We may be experiencing a pause, but it’s not a natural pause (we might even be supressing our mind, only to have it fight back harder later). There may be benefits to doing this, but it is not rest.

ASK YOURSELF

Is it possible to stop thinking? What happens when you try to stop your thoughts?

There are countless techniques designed to help you tame your mind, but it is not necessary to spend hours (or years) honing meditation techniques in order to experience a calm mind. It happens to all of us, often when we least expect it. In any case, the point is not to have a calm mind, but recognise the fact that we can and do have spontaneous moments when we are not thinking – when we are beyond thought.

A few seconds of not-thinking is all it takes for you to realise you are not your mind, and you can carry this realisation with you always. You might begin to sense that there is a great well of spacious, harmonious being already within you, whether it’s through those first few moments when you wake up, a pause between thoughts, a middle-distance gaze or noticing how when you went to bed your natural sleep hormones pulled you gently from your thoughts and into a blissful state of being neither awake nor asleep.

As you gather more and more of these moments, you might begin to realise that there is something within you that is always calm, always as OK as you have ever felt. Crucially, this is not a feeling you have created, but rather you have uncovered it. It is never not there, even if it seems to ‘disappear’ behind the thoughts. Whether we are practised meditators who make a point of creating space for these pauses every day or a mere mortal who has never actively ‘meditated’, yet still has these pauses (because we all do all the time), the point to remember is that the relief comes not from the pause, but from what the pause reveals to us.

Rest is only truly restful if you recognise the significance of what lies behind the absence of everything.

(You might have to take a moment to think about that. . . but be sure to enjoy the pause at the end of the thought. . .)