Float Dissolve

When I tell people I go to Tyson’s Corner to meditate I just about always get a strange look or laugh. It seems silly at first but that is because of a preconception of what the mall is and its function.

It takes a very quiet mind, something I don’t claim to have but am really working on. I have had some brief moments walking around the galleria where the chatter stops and I’m simply in the moment.

There are a number of practices that can lead to this. I normally don’t go into any stores. The last time I went I walked into Abercrombie & Fitch. I noticed the thoughts I have attached to the name rise up when I walked in. Then a memory of going in there and buying gift certificates one Christmas. Then those faded and I paid attention to the smell. This is a very important part of the environment that they created for the store.

Then I just noticed the people. People in line, workers, people browsing. It’s all very well choreographed. Everyone plays their roles. But underneath we’re all bones. On top of them are layers of meat, skin, etc. Then with our minds we create more and more layers. Then we believe that these layers we hold in our minds are ‘it’. That the thoughts I attach to ‘me’ are in fact me and that the thoughts I attach to ‘you’ are you.

The more sensitive I become the clearer these layers are. I saw two attractive women standing in line at Barnes & Noble. Now right off the bat is my conception. Somehow I adopted the layer in myself of attractive women being on a higher, unattainable level than myself. Subconsciously I feel like they’re super confident and have everything figured out. Now, it’s not really important where the conception came from. Over 25 years it’s a mixture from many sources. The point is to just see it and understand that it is a fabrication of the mind and can be let go of. So while paying attention to my reaction to the scene in front of me I watched one of the women look the other up and down with a somewhat intimidated look on her face. Then I really started feeling sad. I was witnessing someone looking at another person as if how they looked was a competitive sport and she was losing.

We’re told over and over while growing up that looks aren’t everything. Then we’re plopped in front of the television where it’s nothing but looks. Magazines, movies, videogames, etc. A constant waterfall of images that whether we admit it or not, think are real. Then we’re constantly trying to align ourselves with whatever mixture of these images stick in our minds and the real people behind the images don’t even look like that in reality.

I’m very hopeful that it’s changing. The amount of stress we put on ourselves is unbearable and the worst part about it is that we’re not even aware of all of it. It’s just constantly sitting there under the surface eating at us.

A very good first step is to stop watching television. It can be hard at first but once you’ve done it you can’t imagine how you were able to sit idle for so many hours being fed other people’s fantasies.

http://www.tvturnoff.org/
http://www.turnoffyourtv.com/
http://www.adbusters.org/metas/psycho/tvturnoff/
http://www.tvbgone.com/cfe_tvbg_main.php