He referred to the mind as a wild elephant that needs to be tamed. The metaphor struck home, as did the image of tying it to a stake in the ground and expecting the elephant to submit. This week of largely unbroken quietness has been about cultivating right effort and right concentration. We have been shown the virtue of doing one thing and only one thing at a time. When sitting, sit. When walking, walk. When eating, eat. Through this systematic attempt at single-tasking, one can see more clearly how much of our lives is spent ambitiously (and possibly rather arrogantly) multi-tasking, and how exhausting and depleting this is, as an endless and uninterrupted mode of functioning. We need only think rationally about the act of composing a text message whilst following the GPS driving through an unfamiliar area, catching up on the news whilst having a conversation about our present difficulties at work, or whatever our mind somehow is still able to call to mind. This is hardly skilful living. The mind is like water: the more widely it is dispersed, the less depth there will be.
There is an alternative. If we seek to get onto talking terms with Nelly’s distant cousin we might try to open the doors to our sensory experience, and awaken fully to the here and now. Awareness is what distinguishes us from the other species we co-habit alongside in this world, and yet we neglect it now we no longer rely upon it as we once needed to as hunter gatherers occupying a hostile environment in which, if we didn’t have our wits about us, we might likely be someone’s dinner. Getting back into our bodies is the best way to free up our minds. Try it. Switch off, sit down, and breathe.
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