I am afraid when I realize just how much of men’s trivialities I have allowed to become a part of my own life. Rubbish, idle rumors, insignificant instances trumped up and broadcasted for all to hear. Intrusions on the mind, sacred ground.
Has the mind become nothing more than a public square, a table for tea-time gossip?
We have forgotten that our minds are the corners of the heavens? They are our temples. It is hard enough to relieve ourselves of those facts which are necessary for life, in order to have a moment of true experience, let alone to unburden ourselves of the claims of others.
May our minds be chaste, so as not to degenerate into bar-room antics, dirt and peanut shells, hustle and bust. For this is nothing more than intellectual and moral suicide!
Our ears were not meant to be used as fishing nets, catching everything in their past. Our heads were not meant to be overcrowded rooms, out hats keeping in the steam.
Free your ears of dust, so that you will have time to make your hands clean. For it is hard to forget what is useless to remember.
~ Henry David Thoreau, Life Without Principle
We are facing an even bigger challenge than Thoreau’s generation in cleansing our minds and consciously directing and denying our attention to the garbage raining down on us in form of news, entertainment and virtual chatter.
Never before have human been exposed to so much empty, repetitive and unnecessary noise and data like in our technologically driven lives. And never before have we been so happy to binge on what is detrimental to our mental health and overall wellbeing.
Some of us who are still in touch with their needs will go on social media and news fasts and it helps for a while. But we forget to take care of the other part: clearing and cleaning our mind of what is useless and harmful.
We need an even more disciplined practice of choosing what we let into our awareness, mindfully clearing out that which doesn’t serve us and having a daily practice of meditation to create space and we need to feed our mind on expansive knowledge that serves our growth.
Artist: unknown
