The great American preacher and author Dr Norman Vincent Peale [pictured right] used to say, ‘Problems are a sign of life. The only
people who don’t have them are the ones in the cemetery.’
Yes, problems and trouble are the price we pay for living.
Peale used to say that the more problems we have, the more alive we are. ‘If
you don’t have any problems you’re on the way out, and you don’t know it,’ he
would exclaim.
It’s impossible to eliminate from our lives all problems and troubles,
but the fact remains that so many of them are of our own making. All too often
we think negatively and react badly to external events. We obsess over our own
thoughts. We obsess about the past. We worry about the future. We don’t relate
to other people as well as we could. The result? A troubled mind. The good news
is that problems and trouble need not trouble you. In other words, you can have
an untroubled mind despite the occurrence of problems and troubles in your
life. That may sound Pollyannaish but it’s true.
Now, there are many ways to develop an untroubled mind. An
obvious way is to simply refuse---yes, refuse---to worry about both the past
and the future. What has happened in the past can’t be changed. Let the past
stay in the past. As respects the future, what you are worried about may never
happen. Worrying will not prevent something happening if it's inevitable that
it's going to happen. Actually, apart from death and taxes, there is really nothing else that is bound to happen, and if what you’re worrying about doesn’t
happen, then there was no point in worrying about the dame thing in the first
place. Of course, all of this is easier said than done.
The Bhagavad-Gita has
much to say about the importance of developing a ‘stable [or steady]
mind’, that is, a mind that is imperturbable. An imperturbable mind is one that
remains unmoved and undisturbed by not just external circumstances but also the
vagaries and agitations of the contents of the mind itself, especially our thoughts,
feelings and emotions. A person with a stable and steadfast mind takes things
as they come, irrespective of their likes and dislikes (the ‘shoulds’ and
‘oughts’), is not swayed by either their senses or their thoughts and
feelings, and has an attitude of non-resistance and acceptance toward change. There's a metaphysical law known as the law of non-resistance. One formulation of that law is, 'What we resist, persists.' That's so damn true. Here's some very good advice from the Islamic scholar and
Sufi mystic Rumi:
‘Try not to resist the changes that come your way. Instead let life live through you. And do not worry that your life is turning upside down. How do you know that the side you are used to is better than the one to come?’
‘Try not to resist the changes that come your way. Instead let life live through you. And do not worry that your life is turning upside down. How do you know that the side you are used to is better than the one to come?’
Meditation is a most useful way of developing a stable and
untroubled mind. Millions have found that to be true all over the globe. I have
found that the regular practice of mindfulness is the best way to fortify the
mind against worry, fear and anxiety. Listen to these wonderful words of the
Buddha as recorded in section 3 (‘Mind’) of the Dhammapada (translated by Thomas Byrom):
'An untroubled mind,
No longer seeking to consider
What is right and what is wrong,
A mind beyond judgements,
Watches and understands.'
There you have it. An untroubled mind is a non-judgmental
mind, a mind that is choicelessly aware of the action of the present moment, be
that action internal or external. An untroubled mind is a mind that ‘watches’
and ‘understands’. It is an alert mind which is open and receptive to whatever
is happening. Actually, what the Buddha has so brilliantly described is
mindfulness, and the characteristics of a mindset that is mindful as opposed to
mindless. On the same point, the world-renowned authority on Zen, Alan Watts
[pictured right], also got to the heart of the matter when he wrote, ‘Zen is
not concerned with discovering what is good or bad or advantageous, but what
is.’ Got that? What is.
Now, we must be careful here. Neither the Buddha nor Watts is
saying that we should no longer concern ourselves with what is right and what
is wrong. Buddhism, in particular, has much to say about those two things as do
all other religions and codes of ethical living. The point is this. All too
often, when an event occurs, we immediately proceed to interpret, analyse,
compare, contrast, judge and evaluate that event rather than experience the
reality of the present moment. We either fight against that reality or cling to
it. The plain and simple fact of the matter is this --- unless we learn to let
go of the present moment we will never experience and enjoy the reality of the
next moment and the one after that and the one after that. The present moment
is ever renewing itself as another present moment, then another, and then
another. To live mindfully is to let go, but before we can let go we
must---‘let be.’ If we interpret, analyse, compare, contrast, judge and
evaluate the present moment we are not letting be. By identifying with the
present moment we end up getting stuck in the past.
Pull yourself up every time that you find yourself
interpreting, analysing, comparing, contrasting, judging or evaluating an
everyday happening or event and immediately return to watching and observing
the reality of the present moment as one moment unfolds after another. That is
the only way you will understand. Pay attention. Watch and understand. Non-judgmentally.
Choicelessly.
I quoted Dr Norman Vincent Peale at the start of this post. Here's some great advice from him on the subject of developing an untroubled mind: ‘Sit still, be silent, let composure creep over you.' That's all you have to do. Get the body still first, then the mind will follow. Do that many times a day if necessary. Sit still. Be silent. And let---please note that word 'let'---composure creep over you. The Theravāda Buddhist leader and teacher of the Buddhadhamma Ajahn Chah said more-or-less the same thing:
'Do not try to become anything. Do not make yourself into anything. Do not be a meditator. Do not become enlightened. When you sit, let it be. When you walk, let it be. Grasp at nothing. Resist nothing.'
I quoted Dr Norman Vincent Peale at the start of this post. Here's some great advice from him on the subject of developing an untroubled mind:
'Do not try to become anything. Do not make yourself into anything. Do not be a meditator. Do not become enlightened. When you sit, let it be. When you walk, let it be. Grasp at nothing. Resist nothing.'
‘Let not your heart be troubled’ (Jn 14:1a). Trouble
need not trouble you. You have a choice. So, let the past stay in the past.
Make amends for wrongs committed and then move on. Prepare wisely for the
future but don’t live in it or worry about it in advance of it unfolding. The
future will unfold as it will. Live mindfully.
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