Understanding the heart Imagine

Circumstances can only hurt us, but it is our false imagination that kills us.

Once, we accidentally find memorabilia of a loved one, suddenly the sweet memories of the past flooded back in the heart. I saw very clearly his eyes and his bright smile. I hear in my ears every word of gentle comfort of the day. I remember even the smell of perfume he used to use. I can't forget the feeling of touching warm hands for the first time. It seems that our mind has memorized it all.

As soon as we finish talking to someone, if this is a fascinating or memorable story, then immediately those pleasant images and sounds will constantly reappear. It almost takes up all brain activity. Sometimes we giggle or whisper to ourselves as if the conversation hadn't melted away. Driving on the highway, we think we are walking in the middle of a dreamy sky, until the car strays into another way far away or hear the honking horn behind us. We feel like we're being pulled away by some force outside. In fact, it is the images in the mind that compete and overwhelm that reality. All that data is stored in the storehouse of consciousness (also known as invisibility), so when it is excited, it is ready to reappear like an endlessly connected film. Where the screen for the film to recreate is the mind.

The workings of the mind are inseparable from the mind, mind, and mind, so everything that happens in those minds affects the mind. For example, when we hear the cold wind coming from nowhere, our hearts suddenly tighten and then suddenly crave a cup of hot coffee at a toad shop on some quiet corner. Because we've experienced that memorable feeling at least once in the past. Feeling the cold is a function of the mind (also called feeling). The mind quickly transmits that information to the mind for identification. When the mind finds the most impressive data regarding the cold, it comes to mind. At that moment, if the mind also participates with sorrow, a vision of the future will immediately be constructed. Sometimes vague, sometimes pronounced. There's some old data, but there's also some brand new visuals. The mind can come up with surprisingly creative ideas, but it is still a subtle recycle either actively or unconsciously. Therefore, no masterpiece comes from a super whim. The materials that make up that idea may have been stored decades ago through experience or collection. However, the frequency of changes in the mind is always higher than that of other minds.

It must be acknowledged that the mind plays a very important role in life. Without thought, there is no creativity, no masterpiece, no necessary provisions. However, it is also the mind that makes us unable to accept and live deeply with the present, because it always weaves fascinating dreams far away. When we stand on one mountain and look at another, look at one person and turn out another, how can we see the happiness we have in our hands and enjoy it? That's projection. It seems that everyone is living in delusions now, their heads are always full of chaotic intertwined images and sounds. Because they think that the more good ideas they come up with to make a profit, the better. But once the activity of the mind gets out of control and reaches the point where it can no longer be stopped, the entire mechanism of mind will be turned upside down and move on to another level. These are the forms we often see: absent-mindedness, delusion, depression or psychosis. At that time, they will see everything with a completely new awareness, a dreamy world that they completely do not realize and locate themselves anymore.

Now people are prone to falling into "paranoia". It is caused by an overwhelming concussion while the spirit is weak, or from a lingering obsession from the past. But most of it is because they are immersed in fantasies for so long without being awakened by anyone, inadvertently identifying reality with what they are thinking. First, the patient loses faith in himself and expects something good to come to change his life. Then they sense that what is happening around them seems to have been seen somewhere, which is tied to their fate. Then they try to analyze and explain in their own deductive way. Over time, those thoughts are consolidated into solid systems, nothing can be changed. Paranoia, if not treated early, will severely affect the attitude of life and change the personality. From a moral person can become a cruel criminal.

Young people now often value themselves very much to try to build dreams that are far out of reach, as if they have big will. But in fact, the gap between their current talent and their dreams is too opposite. They have never even grasped very close goals, nor have they reached the basic standards of life. They just possess too much greed and imagination. Because it is also a way for them to save hope after many failures and prove their worth in front of everyone. To dream of something unsubstantiated is also "illusory," very close to paranoia.

Too much imagination sometimes puts us in a position of "self-harm" just to protect ourselves. There was a guy paddling a boat upstream amid a thick fog. Suddenly seeing in the distance a boat sailing downstream, it rushed forward very quickly and crashed headlong into him. The panicked guy shouted, "Hey, someone's boat, watch out for my boat!" As soon as he finished speaking, the two boats slammed into each other and capsized. The bitterly cold early morning river water made the guy shiver and even more angry. He hurriedly swam over intending to "reward" the other man with a punch for the right thing. But when the boat capsized, no one was seen. It turns out that the boat slipped the rope and drifted with the current, not because someone was unintentional or deliberately waging war as the guy thought.

The instinct to defend yourself is essential. But if it is driven too hard by old experiences, it will make mistakes anyway. Accustomed to using accumulated experience rather than observing reality is because our fear and laziness are too great. We are always afraid that our favorable conditions will be damaged and lost. We are also lazy to observe and refuse to think deeply about the nature of objects or problems that are happening in the present. If we don't have the ability to stop old images and sounds from coming back to our minds, and if we can't center ourselves to detect every impulse of disturbing emotions, we will continue to fall into misperceptions or unfortunate decisions. So circumstances can only hurt us, but it's our wrong imagination that kills us. Be careful with thoughts!

Our knowledge is often created by accumulated knowledge and accumulated experience. There is another important material that few people know and use, which is intuition.

Intuition is the ability to perceive objects in the present with a transparent gaze as if first seen. It absolutely does not bring the knowledge or experience available to define or contrast the object. But our instincts are always inclined towards enjoyment and self-defense, so we always get into the habit of using our old knowledge and experience to solve problems quickly and feel more secure. For example, when we eat a cup of soup, we have two ways to eat: one is to eat as if we were eaten, and the other is to eat as if we were eating for the first time. If you eat the first way, it's definitely not the way to enjoy it. Eat just to fill your stomach or eat just to finish. If we can eat the latter way, we will eat very attentively, without our existing knowledge or experience of the soup diminishing our ability to explore and enjoy it fully. It is the art of eating soup but also the art of capturing life.

Just as many people desire to love-like-love-first-time. They want the other person to look at them in a fresh light like they first fell in love, even though they already know a lot about each other's limitations or difficulties. Or they want the other person to see them as they are, not to look at them in the image of the previous ones but to be suspicious or defensive. In fact, everyone wants to be new in the eyes of others, because the truth is that we're always innovating—maybe better or worse. But the paradox is that we can't see other people or problems simply as they are. We only see everything through the shadow of the past that we thought we knew understood it all.

Meditation is the practice of developing mere recognition. We need to have a good teacher to help us build this habit from the beginning. Whenever we go to consult with a Zen master, we will probably sit all the time without hearing anything interesting but some very ordinary meaningless sentences: "Drink tea!", "Pine tree in front of the yard!" Many yogis have headaches about this strange instruction. They use all their intellect to find the deep subtext behind the messages that the Zen master has sent. But searching forever doesn't understand anything. In the end, the Zen master felt sorry and gave him a fatal blow before the yogi became enlightened. In fact, not all meditators have to "eat" a stick to become enlightened. People who can be enlightened from those seemingly ordinary or meaningless statements are thanks to their minds which are very simple, how to understand it, not to speculate.

The Zen master says, "Drink tea!" and the meditator should drink tea-as-tea-as-tea. Don't drink tea as-not-drink tea because your mind is busy thinking about other issues, whether they are important or worthy. Tea-as-to-drink means knowing that you are sitting down to drink tea and clearly recognizing that the object of contact is the cup of tea, without generating any further ideas in your mind. It is the most basic step of meditation. Just as "The Pine Tree in the Front Yard" is a stark reality in front of you. But every day passing by may have neglected to see, or only glimpsed because of a pile of worries or desires in their hearts. The Zen master does not want his students to continue the useless race of thoughts, to help them immediately taste the taste of meditation, not meditation theory.

Stopping the rushing projections, being aware of what is around you, clearly seeing each of your reactions to the object of contact, that is the most correct attitude of human life. This attitude is also the foundation for creating wisdom. Wisdom is the ability to comprehend the nature of everything in this world. Having wisdom, we will know what we should and should not do, so that we can always create harmony with the universe and achieve true happiness. That is, in order to achieve the depths of the mind, we need to limit ourselves to total isolation of the mind. Thoughts not only cause us to lose sight of reality, distort reality, but also make reality a vision of the future or a shadow of the past. So truth must walk on the feet of experience, not with an imaginary head. The more we use our intellect to imagine, the further away we are from the truth.

Maybe we don't want to be a yogi, we don't need to achieve intellectual goals, we just want to be an ordinary human being to enjoy all that life has to offer. But if we are walking on the spring road and remember autumn, sitting with our loved ones and worrying about attractive projects, people honestly say that they think it is cheating, can we enjoy anything? Happiness is within reach, but if we dream far away, how do we know what happiness is? Granted, thanks to rich creative ideas, we have the perfect civilization we have today. But looking closely, we can't help but be startled to learn that the earth is groaning and may be destroyed in the future because of people's crazy fantasies. If imagination stands on the basis of greed, serving the selfish needs of the powerful, it is the biggest agent that engulfs this real world and sends people into endless trances.

Conversely, if we know how to put our thoughts in the right framework, have the ability to observe and guide them in the right direction, know how to stop and rest when necessary, always recognize the agitation of adverse environments on disturbing mental actions, then we will use our thoughts effectively. And if we find that we still don't have the strength to control our mind, and are constantly manipulated by it in our words and actions, we should go back to practicing concentration for persistence. Concentration is the "etching" of projections. But if we haven't been able to build a steady level of concentration, but we have to go into places full of pitfalls and dangers, we should always walk alongside those who are awake. As long as they persist in calling our name correctly many times, we will be startled awake and will turn our heads to find directions.

Call me
right name In the midst of a frenzy of fantasies
Though I don't know yet
Still turn my head to look for directions.

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