raymond

Raymond, when you mentioned the "thousand horse condition," it struck a chord with me. I would like to read more about this, are there any resources? I have consciously realized that at any one time I can have as many as 3 or 4 different thoughts in my head. I play drums, so I am usually playing a song back in my head and under that, I can be thinking of how my body feels, what I need to do today, what I did in the past and what I will do in the future. As long as I can remember, I have only known thought. I am starting to feel trapped, like no matter what I do, I can't stop thinking.

Hi Jordan

Unfortunately very few write anything about it until it reaches the level of a medical problem. It is not very useful to look at it that way, for it is a valuable natural skill like having a left-handed pitching arm.

I think many of the practices that are written about in these pages would be helpful, perhaps it would be well to practice some form of martial arts.

Sitting on the mind is a difficult but very useful practice.

ciao,

raymond

Oh yes, I agree. Usually, it appears as though thinking is a never-ending-process, that there is a literal stream of thoughts. But when one becomes more familiar with meditation, one begins to notice that there are gaps between thoughts.

 

They arise, persist, and then subside. Like a movie projection twenty-four still images a second, the mind runs through its thoughts in a way that makes it appear as though we never stop thinking, but we do, so for some it begs the question, if "I think, therefore I am" then what am I between thoughts? Hoo! Hoo! It's such an exquisite answer, though a pity that it cannot really be spoken of or described. You just notice, in that fleeting moment of wakefulness, and that's it.

Hi Rin

Ni hao.

I think that the use of the term xin zhai 心齋 (mind fasting) by Zhuangzi indicates that there was some form of visceral/emotional alchemy applied to reduce the interior conversation.

As a result, the use of words continued at times, but the process was subordinated to intuition: As the neo-daoist said: zhu yi 主一 Make unity the ruler. Unity, the process of undifferentiated mind/body processing.

ciao,

raymond

I do wonder, however, what some of you do when little everyday things bother you. I have a lot to learn, but I can already tell that this is going to make my life much better.

Hi Jordan

It looks to me like you are on a good path. We all seem to have an inner guidance system that keeps us on the path, if we are able to hear it.

I use the irritation of things as a device that I can harness and use for transformation of my body-mind. And also to give me an increased ability to listen to the inner guidance. I simply focus on the feeling instead of the rant that is running in my head. Emotions are alchemical agents that can be used to cultivate a higher capacity for awareness and happiness.

By the way, you might want to consider if you might have the "thousand horse condition." By horses, I mean units of intelligence. Most of us have about 100 horses, and with difficulty we can keep them from going in too many directions at once. If you have a thousand horses you can do amazing things, but you can also become lethally depressed if the horses start tearing you apart.

If you ever get into serious trouble along those lines, (I don't think you will) I can ask a friend of mine who has one thousand horses to give you some tips. But I don't want to ask him for this unless/until you get into serious trouble.

ciao,

raymond

Thanks for the warm welcome and generous comments Peregrino, freeform and Sean

To Peregrino:

I think the book could be ready by next summer. I think I will try to publish it myself so readers can be allowed to copy anything from it they want to. Or all of it.

Here are some of the central concepts of apophatic mysticism, as I see it, which I hope to treat in the book:

應物而不窮者也

Ying wu er bu qiong zhe ye

Be unrestricted in responding to things. Zhuangzi chapter 14

抱神以靜，形將自正。

Bao shen yi jing, xing jiang zi zheng

Gather your mind-body energy into inner stillness and your outer being will regulate itself spontaneously. Zhuangzi chapter 11

raymond

Greetings. I live in California, practice and write about apophatic mysticism. I am impressed by the wealth of useful (you yong) information here.

raymond sigrist