Prior to starting this meditation, I had tried many other meditations and studies related to the mind so I had acquired a lot of knowledge and opinions relating to psychology, philosophy, and spiritual enlightenment.
Far from being helpful (as I was imagining) these were obstacles.
Every day before we began to meditate, the helper would give us a lecture restating the context of the practice, something we need to hear repeatedly simply because our ‘knowledge mind’ thinks it already knows.
Carl Jung, when asked if ignorance was man's problem, said that it is rather that what he is sure of simply isn’t so.
Because of what we think we know the mind is not open: the ears are closed.
So there was I, full of my own ideas, attempting to pay attention. All I could hear was the voice inside my own head, ‘I’ve already heard this’
‘Why can't we bypass the lecture and get on with it’ and variations of this - even turning up the volume of those voices. No hope of hearing the words of Truth.
Still, I continued following the method of cleansing my mind of the past, attending and meditating diligently.
One day as I attended the lecture, as usual, my ears pricked up and the voice inside me said, ‘Ah, there’s wisdom here.’ My attention became riveted on the words. Same words. Same lecturer.
Since then I have been able to receive the lectures listening gratefully. How lucky am I!
The more one’s mind is cleansed, the more receptive to true words. True words prise the mind further open.
So refreshing to open up one’s own stale, dead mind that only ever recycles the past and can only talk about myself which is a false entity and AWAKENING wisdom, joy, and gratitude
Helen, NSW Australia