Archive for January 2016
Temporal Mind vs. Spirit Mind
“True silence is the rest of the mind, and is to the spirit what sleep is to the body, nourishment and refreshment.” — William Penn
In the sound current meditation system that I practice we differentiate between the temporal mind and the spirit mind. The temporal mind being the one we are most familiar with in our day to day lives, thinking about, considering, and analyzing all types of things from moment to moment. At times it can seem like it doesn’t want to turn off, partially because it must take in so much stimulus from our exceedingly complex modern lives. And turning it off can be an ongoing chore. At least for those who want to.
Yes, I am still surprised when people ask me why I would ever want to turn it off and put it in neutral. It is not so obvious to all, I guess. Some of us seem run by our minds more than anything else in our lives. Of course, that does make sense, because it does appear to be at the center core of everything we are and do in the world, right? Partially, yes. But not completely.
For me, it took my many years of meditating to understand that it was not the center core of everything in me. I can see that it is easy to allow the mind to be your master. However, I have learned that it is much better for it to be a tool. A hugely important one, for sure, but a tool, nonetheless.