The other night in Urban Dharma I heard a good analogy. I am paraphrasing a quote that I’m pretty sure was paraphrased from Jack Kornfield in the first place:
Your mind is like a pet that you can adopt.
A cute, sometimes annoying, ultimately harmless pet. Keep it on a leash.
It’s all about distancing yourself from your thinking process. This concept has been by far the most profound one I have encountered in my life. Buddhists believe that you are not your thoughts. The proof of this? You have no control over them. As Gene said in Urban Dharma: “Go ahead, try to stop thinking for even just a minute. See what happens.”
When you start to develop self-compassion (the most important aspect of metta) you’ll start to see your mind as a poor suffering thing that really doesn’t mean harm, but can’t help itself.
Now there is one thing I’m having a hard time understanding: If it’s all about stepping out of your brain space, why do they constantly talk about MINDFULNESS? Shouldn’t it be SOULFULNESS or EMPTINESS or something?
I’m sure I’m not the first person to wonder this out loud. So if I missed a memo and you can fill me in, please do.
Otherwise, I’ll soon be taking a 10-week course at Spirit Rock called Essential Dharma, so I’ll get back to y’all with answers (and, probably, more questions) as soon as I can.
I’ll leave you with another of my favorite aphorisms:
Don’t believe everything you think.
This is HUGE!! As someone with OCD who is constantly inundated with unwanted thoughts, this makes so much sense and provides a tremendous sense of peace! Thank you Joslyn!