In the Dhamma, the mind is said to be forever moving. It's only when it's absorbed in Samadhi or Jhana that it stays still to see what's going in in there. Otherwise there is too much movement that we cannot see what's in it. The Buddha compared it to a lake with many ripples. It's hard to see the bottom of the lake when it's moving but when it's still you can get to see the bottom. I remember this analogy from an earlier time when I was visiting Jasper. We got up early to go kayaking in one of the lakes and it was so still that you can see the very bottom of the lake. But the next day it was windy and the waves were constant that it was hard to see what's on the bottom.
Also this movement in the mind makes it look as if it is continuous. That feeling of continuity leads us to believe there is something constant or permanent. I kind of got a feeling a few days ago about it. The first thought that came to my mind is cartoon movies. I love cartoons movies. I used to watch disney all the time and may others. I remember watching a documentary about how cartons films are made. It takes thousands of drawings to make one single movement. Then they move it along so fast that when we see it, it's mickey raising it's hand. But we see as one single movement, not thousands of drawings put together. It's fascinating but also unless you know what's happening you really don't know the amount of work, effort and time it takes to create one single film.
I realized that in some ways out mind works the same. One single thought it created of many thousands of small ones coming together so fast that we only notice the thought. That is if we are very mindful and trained at noticing our thoughts. Usually we only feel our moods and impulses to do and not to do something. Some of us only notice the words that come out of our mouth and and the physical actions we take. But what brings them about remain elusive for most of us for most of our lives.
To understand why we do what we do and say the things we say, we need to notice our moods, our thoughts as much as we are able. But because we are constantly engaged with the world in doing something or the other, we really don't have time to notice it. Even if we do, we may see it's here and there but not the individual components that contribute to them.
Our deep seeded intentions, at least from what I understand, are very deep and for the most part want to say deep and hidden. I think partly because we want to have a belief that what we see is real and who we are with is real and what I am is real. If not it might become paralyzing. Or might it?
How would it be to see my body and mind as a cartoon film. Made of of individual drawings, one seemingly different from another but not quite. And that the whole picture we see is a result of these different but similar drawings, nicely aligned and moving so fast that it makes us feel and believe that there is a body and a mind that is solid and real?
This is what came to my mind two mornings ago as I was sitting for meditation. It was a day where my mind was everywhere at the same time. At least it felt like it. So I resolved to just questioning why? and seeing how fast one thought moved to another but I couldn't' really see how it got from point A to Z. It was then the cartoon film came to my mind. As it happened, at least at that time, it made perfect sense. I felt I calming as soon as that happened. So I allowed myself to think on those lines. That's when all the things I wrote about came out.
But that does not mean I can see the bottom of my mind. I cannot. But it was interesting to see it this way. I was amazed and it made sense to me. It somehow brought together the Buddha's teachings and it's truth. I have been wanting to write it since in case I forgot. But luckily I haven't and I have thought about it many times since. So here I am writing it down finally.
