What if the belief that ‘’ the storm will blow over’’ is just a big misconception that we are used to repeat mindlessly?
I mean, everything eventually passes. But when we’re talking about the things that burden us, will they just go like this?
The burden—the karmic or conditioned residue of every self-centered, fear-driven decision we have ever made—will not just go away; the momentum must be burned up. We cannot just hide from it or evacuate it off our life. We have to sit right in the middle of the storm and feel the winds. “I shall remain, at those times,” Shantideva says in The Bodhissattva’s Guide to the Way of Life, “like a block of wood, able to restrain myself.”
You see the storm is not out there, it is in our mind. We have to give up the approach to life that feeds the “monkey mind.” It is the running and hiding that generates the speed and panic that characterizes the “monkey mind.” It is a kind of aggression towards ourselves and the world.
The storm, and the peace is exactly where we are. This is where we are, so this where we have to begin. We cannot wait for the clouds to go away and the sun to come out. The “monkey mind” is the very mind that has to learn how to sit, accept whatever is happening and relax.
We are the monkey mind. When the winds begin to blow it is time to practice. Flooded with thoughts is not evidence that we cannot find peace of mind, though the monkey mind will try to use it as such a justification. On the contrary, each thought is an opportunity to practice coming back to ourselves, to our body, to our presence.
Without a discursive mind, what would you practice? Suffering always leads to the path, because suffering is our path.
We choose life or death every morning before we leave the house. If I choose to invest in my sanity, then I will grow into the life my body and soul were designed to live. If I chose to pretend that I am an organism designed to live in an economy, I will look past who I am to who I am supposed to become. This process of becoming is a rat race; it never ends.
The sense of authenticity is replaced by an impoverished self-image that is always working towards an impossible state of equilibrium. We try to figure out what “they” want us to be, and with every word and deed we mangle our spirit until it reflects the image prescribed by society.
Over time, this process of becoming only gains in speed and intensity. The pressure continues to mount until we intervene or there is a nervous breakdown. This storm is not going to blow over. If you ignore it now, it will continue to grow — like a virus — until it consumes your being. It will mangle the reflection of your spirit. Over time, it will get worse, never better.
The only antidote is to stop. Pure and simple. Stop. Put a leash on your mind. Tether it to the present moment. Tie it to the breath.
(Words are taken from a post in Lion's Roar magazine. Photos are from a show of ''Les Arts Sauts'' in Athens, back in the 00's.)
