Day 5- Right Thinking - Never Know -In between dreams (2005)

Good afternoon, dear one,


Once I read  that much of our thinking is unecessary, they waste our energy and time, can be quite limited and do not carry much undertanding in them.  
Do you agree with this? 

But in a society based on Descartes, thinking means to be who we think we are, "I think therefore I am"! Modern humans are praised by their ingenuity and their creative thinking,  with this imagery, with this representation of thoughful human beings is hard to break free...
without being so excentric or esoteric....
Imagine the intellectuals, they are identified and praised by creating their best metaphors and systems of thinking, representing, perceiving the world around us and its myriad of phenomena..., and them we recognize that some systems only trap us like butterflies caught by scientists nets...


As we have already mentioned in Day 2, mindfulness, being at the present moment, helps us to uncover teh nets and free butterflies, without being trapped by them anymore... are you sure?


Well, exactly for that, there are practices and meditations that helps us to set free our beings from a torrent of thoughts and we can bring back mindfulness, as when we were in our mom's belly. Being there the whole time, warm and secure, mindful presence is the most important thing...

But hard, my friend, I notice, as we need in our daily lives to deal with people, our past actions and with how our future will unfold in front of us.  I am in the middle of this crossroads, trying to be present as much as I can, but dealing with both..., and trying to rest...


As Confucius once said: "At thirty, I was able to stand on my feet. At forty, I had no more doubts. At fifity, I knew the mandate of Earth and Sky. At sixty, I could do what I wanted without going against the path". 
I need to have now right thinking to help me to act accordingly and have no more doubts...., as I am in my 40s...


So here comes again the healing path..

Resting is fundamental, after stopping and calming, resting is precondition for healing.
So here I am resting, thinking the non-thinking..., Right  thinking practice...
the path of dharma of practicing the non-practice... precondition for healing my mind and body.

The book "the Heart of Buddha's teaching" offers four practices to Right Thinking:
1. Asking Are you sure? we never know if our perception is correct, if what we see is the real thing, so more our perception is deviated from reality, more incorrect is our thinking.
So the first thing is to check if we are seeing with Right View - Day 4..., in order to think correctly about things and people.


2. What am I doing? we need to release our thinking about past and future and return to the present moment..., and realize we are here now not somewhere else...

3. Hello habit energy! hello workholism, hello other not so healthy habits that may cause us to suffer again and again..... The recipe is accepting impermanence,  (Day 1) and that we have these patterns of thinking and acting, and not to feel guilty about them, so we loose the power these habits have on us.


4. Bodichitta - cultivate in ourselves understanding and mind of care and love..., so to bring joy and happiness to our daily lives. Ah! What does have to do with Right Thinking...? It is the son-thinking part, I suppose!


Well,  dance with me this meditation on the practice of non-practice of Right thinking..., starting with Never Know....



"Never Know"

I heard this old story before 

Where the people keep on killing for their metaphors 

But don’t leave much up to the imagination 

So I want to give this imagery back 

But I know it just ain’t so easy like that 

So I turn the page and read the story again and again and again

It sure seems the same with a different name 


We’re breaking and rebuilding and we’re growing, always guessing 

  

Never knowing 

We’re shocking but we’re nothing 

We’re just moments, we’re clever but we’re clueless 

We’re just human, amusing but confusing 

We’re trying, but where is this all leading? 

We’ll never know 


It all happened so much faster than you can say disaster 

Want to take a time-lapse and look at it backwards 

Find the last word and maybe that’s just the answer that we’re after 

But after all we’re just a bubble in a boiling pot 

Just one breath in a chain of thought 

We’re moments just combusting 

We feel certain but we’ll never, never know 

It sure seems the same, give it a different name 


We’re begging and we’re needing, and we’re trying, and we’re breathing 

  

Never knowing 

We’re shocking but we’re nothing 

We’re just moments, we’re clever but we’re clueless 

We’re just human, amusing but confusing 

We’re helping, rebuilding and we’re growing 

Never know 


Knock, knock, coming door to door 

To tell you that their metaphor is better than yours 

And you can either sink or swim and things are looking pretty grim 

If you don’t believe in what they’re spoon-feeding 

It’s got no feeling so I read it again and again and again


It sure seems the same, so many different names 


Our hearts are strong, our heads are weak, we’ll always be competing 


Never knowing 

We’re shocking but we’re nothing 

We’re just moments, we’re clever but we’re clueless 

We’re just human, amusing, confusing 

But the truth is all we got are questions 

We’ll never know