Have You Ever Seen a Subconcious Mind?

I went to do a spot of Buddhist meditation yesterday conducted by a very intuitive and well informed monk at the local Buddhist centre in West London.

After spending more than an hour in meditation, first standing, then sitting and standing once again transmitting vibes of what the Buddhists call ‘loving kindness’ to all mankind, the monk started sharing his nuggets of wisdom.

A meditator asked the monk, “How do I not get caught up in the thoughts that pull me away from meditation.” The monk explained how our mind is like a weather system. We experience turbulences but it’s our attitude towards those whirlwind thoughts of romance, excitement, boredom, anxiety or fear, to name a few, that determines how we are in the world and our experience of the real world.

The key to meditating effectively and having a good sitting is to constantly bring yourself back to observe your breath. Feelings, emotions will come up but the trick is not to let them harpoon away. Instead observe them, feel them in your body, notice the sensations and let it go. The experienced monk said this is part of the healing process. It is NOT ignoring life or being a passenger in life, it is realising what your attitude is towards these feelings, learning from the experience and lettting it be. There’s nothing much that can be done more by worrying. And worrying never serves anybody.

Then another meditator asked: “What about the subconscious mind?” The monk replied, “Have you ever seen the subconscious mind?” There was a gentle rumble of laughter in the room. “No one has actually seen the subconscious mind and in Buddhism it’s about observing the whole mind, not compartmentalising it.”

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