So I was talking to a friend, Aadya Shah a while ago and thought of this analogy to digging into ones mind...
After further thought it made sense to apply the analogy to meditating. Thought it needs more work, I think this second draft is good enough to put up:
After further thought it made sense to apply the analogy to meditating. Thought it needs more work, I think this second draft is good enough to put up:
Think of the world as having two parts.
A hall (like a banquet hall) and the rest of the world.
The Hall is the only building on the
block. On all four sides of the hall are roads.
Say you're sitting on a bench outside
the hall. On the opposite side of it.
The hall here, is your mind. And
everything outside is the world you perceive with your external
physical senses.
So you're outside the hall, sitting on
that bench and one day you decide to enter it. Say, one day, you
decide to meditate.
Now, the first thing you must do, is
cross the road and enter. You must first shut down all exterior
sensory inputs. Close your eyes, close your ears, etc. You must not
allow the goings on of the world outside the hall to draw you out of
it.
So you enter this hall and the first
thing you notice is a sea of people. So many of them! Each distinct!
Some happy, some sad, some incredibly attractive and yet others that
are downright repulsive. And they all want to talk to you. They want
your time. They want your attention! These are your thoughts. The
thoughts that keep running through your mind all day. Remove them.
Ask all the people to leave. You'll realise how much more pleasant
albeit slightly lonely it can be without them. You're here to check
out the hall. Not it's contents.
Ok! Now all the people are out. It's
just you and the hall. But is that really so? What about all the
furniture? It isn't a part of the basic structure of the hall, is it?
It must all go! The chairs and the tables, the counters and the
cupboards and even the carpets. It must all go out. These are your
fleeting goals and ideas and beliefs. They change with time and so
are easier to remove. They only get into the way while you're trying
to understand the true nature of this hall. But you must study them
first. Understand their nature and why they've been kept there. What
purpose does that sofa serve? You'll realize that most of them were
quite a waste in the first place. Now be warned! You might find a
cockroach or a snake or even a line of ants when you move this
furniture. They are fleeting fears. Be not afraid, you are greater
than them. This hall is greater than them. You must remove them too,
before you can move forward. Lest they come bite you when you're
working on studying the true nature of this hall! If you're too
afraid, leave that sofa in place. Wait a while. Rest. And then try
again.
The furniture's out? Great! So you're
left with a bare room. Devoid of furnishings and light fixtures. Just
four walls and a ceiling. Next step! Tear it all down!
Tear down those POP walls and enter the
next layer of this hall. You are now beginning to understand the
Hall's true nature. The plumbing, the electricals etc. These are your
base beliefs. The kinds that tell you you exist. That you are human
and so on. They must go. You might (hell, you probably will) find termites or asbestos in behind that false wall. These are your innermost demons. And they are, more often than not, as strong as your base beliefs. Tread carefully. Getting hurt is fine. But you do not want to destroy yourself. But anyway, there's a brick wall behind these and you
must see it and examine it as well. After all, that is the true
nature of the hall, isn't it?
The hall now looks starkly different since when you began. It can be a scary place. But do not worry. The fact that you have been given the ability to come this far and even venture deeper means that you are greater than them!
The hall now looks starkly different since when you began. It can be a scary place. But do not worry. The fact that you have been given the ability to come this far and even venture deeper means that you are greater than them!
So dig on! And before you know it, all
that shall be left will be them columns and beams. Concrete or brick,
it matters not. You are now at the edge of the shell that is the
hall. What now? You have understood every component that made up the
hall. You have only one thing left. Go through the shell, just to
check if there's anything beyond. And when you do, I promise you,
you'll be back outside. Just where you started. Except now, things
seem different. Your experiences inside the hall have shaped your
perception of the world outside. You smile to yourself whenever you
think of it and when someone asks you what happened you say
nothing... Nothing at all...
Meditation does not equal detachment.
The sense of detachment is a natural and necessary step towards
reaching and understanding one's inner self. Meditation does not mean
giving everything up as well. Dig enough and you'll realise, you're
back outside. The world you perceive through your senses and the one
that lies inside your mind are more connected than you can ever
imagine. At least that's what happened when I entered my hall. When
will you enter yours?