Meditation on the Desert at Night - Is the Universe Agitated or Is It All in Your Mind?
Meditation on the Desert at Night - Is the Universe Agitated or Is It All in Your Mind?
Learn to observe your mind and be free from its torment! How to find peace and tranquility, regardless of the place and time?
Do you imagine the Universe is agitated? Go to the desert at night and look at the stars. This should answer the question.” — Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching
I love this quote. I also love the desert, and I love the night sky. It has always grounded me in a sense of insignificance and immense peace.
When looking at the stars, everything seems to be in order. No stress. No hurry. No time. No problems.
Only balance, expansion, transmutation, and perfection. The death of a star is but the birth of something new. An explosion beyond our comprehension but a blip in the night sky.
Have you ever been to the desert and taken some time to soak in the eternal silence and stillness of the place?
I loved spending some quiet time in the Sahara desert. In all directions, nothing but sand as far as the eye can see. For a few moments, there was the absolute stillness of the whole world, or so it seemed. Not even a breeze on my face. No sound. No moving images. Only the blue sky and the sand. Hot on the surface, but cool just underneath. A truly unique experience. I wish I could go to that place more often and enjoy this stillness in all of its beauty.
If you haven’t experienced this, I would recommend it. Don’t go all touristy riding camels and throwing money at the bedouins. Reserve some time for yourself in the desert.
Is the Universe agitated? Is it stressful? Is it problematic?
If the Universe isn’t, then what is?
What is causing this agitation, anxiety, and stress in my life?
Can I live without it or at least find a way to diminish its effects on me?
Most of us can’t just up and leave for a desert retreat to bathe in the silence and tranquility of nature at its most peaceful. But we can wind down the noise we allow to enter our minds. We can create a serene moment just for ourselves by finding a quiet place, sitting down, and closing our eyes. Sometimes a few minutes can make all the difference to how we feel. We can give these tiny moments as a gift to ourselves daily if we only choose to.
You don’t have to meditate for an hour in the lotus position. Keep it simple.
Meditation is not all that complicated unless you make it. Sit down, shut up, and observe your mind without engaging with the thoughts, images, and sounds that emerge. That’s it.
The more you practice, the easier and faster you will be able to experience the tranquility of silence. Give yourself this gift and do it often. You deserve it.
This moment of inner peace, derived from the absence of thoughts and inner voices, can guide us toward the truth. It can point us in the direction of the actual problem- the source of all our troubles.
It’s not the outside world, as we falsely believe. It’s our own mind.
As we grasp the truth and importance of these words, we can regain a sense of peace and tranquility on demand. We understand that the world is what it is, and we can let it be.
Once we feel and experience the tranquility of an empty mind, we realize that true peace is always within our reach. Just a few breaths away. In the silence of our mind.
For those among us prone to overthinking and with an overactive mind, our escapes have usually been in the outside world. Sports, adrenaline, sex, movies, music, or sometimes worse - drugs and alcohol. All indulging in these activities has ever achieved was quieting the mind. For a few brief moments, we were no longer tortured by our own inner voices, images, and imagination.
This is an ultimate realization. You weren’t running away from your problems and from the world; you were always running away from your mind!
One could sit in an empty room, devoid of all sound and imagery, immersed in absolute nothingness, but would we be at peace?
As long as our mind is active, there can be no peace. We can never escape it! The inner voice will always find things to complain and worry about, get angry, or reminisce about.
We can find ourselves in the most beautiful and peaceful place in the entire world, yet we will know no peace unless we have learned to tame our rampant minds.
Unfortunately, it is much easier to find a peaceful, tranquil, and silent place under the stars than to find peace and quiet in our minds.
But it can be done. You, too, can learn how to silence the mind and enjoy the peace that this ensures. It cannot be done with force, and it cannot be achieved by some exercise. There is no magic bullet for this particular monster (your mind). Instead, it can only be achieved by a deep understanding of the nature of the mind.
First, we must understand that we are not our minds.
We use the mind like we use our bodies, our hands, and our tongues. If you cannot come to terms with this fact, meditate on the following fact:
If we were our mind, wouldn’t we always be in control of it?
Is it not true that it sometimes seems the mind has “a will” of its own?
Can you demand silence in your mind for a few hours, and it will be silent?
Have you noticed that old programs, scenes, and conversations are running on autopilot within your mind without your consent?
If you wish to test this, decide to think no thoughts for a while and see what happens. Was your mind devoid of all thought? Did it follow your command? Even the wording indicates there is a separateness between you and your mind. Doesn’t it?
Second, we must accept that we cannot force our minds to do anything lasting.
We may be able to focus on something intensely for a short while, but as soon as our total commitment to the task fails, the mind will take over and do its own thing again. We cannot forcibly change our minds or simply choose to think differently or decide on a time for silence within our heads.
If you’ve never thought of these things, they may seem weird and silly, but if you’ve ever tried meditating, you’re all too familiar with the problem of quieting your mind or keeping a steady focus on some desired object.
Your mind has been fed information and input throughout your life. It’s like a program that has been learning and gathering information, right or wrong, and runs these programs independently. You can program it to some extent, but most programming is and will continue to be unconscious.
Since the emergence of LLMs, the Artificial Intelligence models of late, we can now find some sort of analogy in their mode of operation. We teach those models, or rather they are exposed to enormous quantities of data from which to learn. When unleashed or commanded, they then act based on that data. They don’t exactly think on their own, though they sometimes appear to be. They don’t have original ideas, but they can extrapolate from large data sets and compose plans, essays, novels, articles, research papers, and conversations that make it seem like there is sentient thinking behind the screen. We could theoretically program AI to run various background programs and serve up random data, images, or texts when we are not engaged with it. It would then blabber on and produce “content” whenever it wouldn’t be busy executing tasks for us.
The mind operates in a similar fashion. It has been exposed to extensive data sets all of your life. Some of it you instructed deliberately; most of it you incorporated on a subconscious level. The mind will then replay those ideas, conversations, and images over and over again, all on its own. No original thought here, just repeated patterns being played on autopilot.
We can interrupt this automated programming with our deliberation, focus, and action, but as soon as we stop, the mind returns to its original programming.
This lets us know one crucial thing - we can only directly control the mind while focusing on something.
As soon as we wander off, as soon as we relax, we lose control. The only way, then, to make a lasting change is by reprogramming the core programs of the mind. And that can be done deliberately, but it takes time and effort. It cannot be done overnight, and the truth is, it is one of the more challenging things any of us will ever attempt. I’m sorry, it’s just true.
There is a way to circumvent this problem but it still requires practice, understanding, and focus. We must satisfy three primary conditions:
Understand that you are not your mind; you only use it. It is a part of you, but not you.
Don’t try to force change upon the mind directly, thereby fighting it in a losing battle, increasing the problem of an overactive mind.
Allow the mind to play out its programs and settle down on its own.
“By letting it go, it all gets done. The world is won by those who let it go. But when you try and try. The world is beyond the winning.” - Lao Tzu
When you go to the desert at night and observe the stars, you notice how peaceful and quiet it all seems. The Universe at large is content, perfect, and tranquil. This tranquility, perfection, and peacefulness are inherent in all things, including our minds. We just need to allow it to surface.
We must learn to observe the mind as we observe the night sky. As an outside observer, a witnessing awareness, unattached and unbothered.
We allow the mind to play the images and voices it wants to, but we don’t follow them, we don’t engage them, and we don’t fight them. We simply observe them and let them be.
When we do this, the mind will project other things onto the screen of our mind, and we repeat the same approach. We observe them. We do not engage, do not follow, do not inquire, and do not resist, like watching a movie or the night sky. We stay with this for as long as we can.
One way to illustrate this is to imagine observing a river flowing past you. The river has its own current and carries all sorts of animals, plants, and objects. As you are observing this river, you notice a refrigerator floating by. You could engage with this image by beginning to ponder the why, who, and how of that refrigerator in the river, or you could allow it to flow by and refocus your attention on just observing the river in general. Then a large log would float by, and you would notice it, see it for what it is, but again choose to ignore it, reverting your attention back to the river's flow. On the sound it produces, on the freshness in the air. On just being there, by the river. The river constantly tries to grab your attention with random things, as does your mind. But you needn’t engage with it. If you don’t, the river will simply flow these things past you on its own.
After a while, when you are firmly situated in the seat of awareness, being a non-attached observer of your mind, you will witness a miracle.
The mind will find peace and silence all on its own. Even the most agitated minds seek to be at peace when left alone. The inner programs will eventually run out, and there will be silence, tranquility, and peace like you’ve never experienced before.
The more you delve into understanding the separateness of your mind and yourself, the easier it will be to stay unattached and unbothered by what it does. If you know that the images and conversations in your mind aren’t true, necessary, or meaningful, you can let them go. You don’t have to engage them. The mind will not eternally rant and rampage all on its own. The natural state of the mind and the Universe are stillness and peace. The mind’s activity is agitated by your involvement, either fighting it or going along with whatever it presents.
Once you retract your attention and emotionally detach, it will lose its power over you, and it will seize to rant.
Become this witness to your mind, the neutral observer, and don’t judge, don’t try to fight or understand whatever the mind is showing or telling you. The more often you assume this role, the more peaceful you will feel. The less you engage with the mind on its terms, the more peace and tranquility you will feel.
When you start observing your mind, it will first feel unnatural and challenging, but with time, it will become completely logical, natural, and effortless. Not only will you enjoy a more silent, peaceful mind, but you won’t be bothered or affected when it goes through its preprogrammed rampages. Because now you know that you are not your mind, and whatever it keeps replaying isn’t some truth, nor do you need to engage with it.
It will feel like watching a movie, and you just won’t care about it anymore.
This is true freedom! This is the path to inner peace! It is within your grasp, no matter who you are, where you are, and what you are like. The key to inner peace lies in the mind. It cannot be forced, but it can be achieved once you realize that it doesn’t mean anything, isn’t real, can’t hurt you, and if left alone, it will calm down and settle into the most beautiful silence ever. Yes, even your crazy little monkey mind!
After you’ve done this for a while, once you’ve acclimated yourself to being the observer of your mind, unbothered by its rants, they will disappear on their own. Not forever, not at all times, but the less you engage with the mind, the more you find peace and distance from its incessant ramblings, the less it will rage, and the less it will bother you.
With a bit of practice, you might just find yourself free of depression, anxiety, anger, fear, overthinking, problems with sleep, and the need to escape your mind by throwing yourself into whatever you use to quiet the mind.
Someday soon, being alone in your room won’t be a terrifying thought but a peaceful, even pleasant one. You will yearn for it, not run away from it.
This will indicate that you have mastered your mind by understanding your relationship and learned to smile at its rants instead of going with them on the rollercoaster of emotions they have usually led you on.
One day soon, you won’t need to go to the desert to enjoy the tranquility, silence, and peace; instead, you will experience it whenever you close your eyes and just be where ever you are.
If that isn’t something worth learning, I genuinely don’t know what is.
I have had to learn to tame my mind the hard way, and it almost killed me. Now that I deeply understand the importance of understanding the mind and working with it, not against it, I have found that our happiness depends solely on our minds. I have dedicated my life to exploring this topic and, to this day, cannot find a more worthy cause.
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May you be at peace, friends. Inner and outer.
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