Nobutada: "Please forgive; too many mind."
Nathan Algren: "Too many mind?"
Nobutada: "Hai! Mind the sword. Mind the people watch. Mind the enemy. Too many mind. NO MIND!"
The Last Samurai
2003
PROBLEM: Monkeys...
In the wild, you'll find them Screeching, Swinging, Fighting, Eating, Throwing Stuff, Demanding center stage.
Or, in your head - you may find them making it impossible to concentrate for all the self-criticism, passing thoughts, persisting confusion, noise, doubts and fear that seem to comprise the character of the "crazy roommate with whom you share your mind."
For a very long time, there has been an awareness of the fact that there's more than one mind in most heads. Let's get familiar with the players:
1. The Doer/Observer
We suggest that this is you - the Individual - the one who decides to get groceries, and then gets into the car and gets to the store - picking up the goodies for dinner and the other essentials for the week. Responsible for all of the good work; this is the productive, creative, doer of deeds.
2. The Doubter/Critic
The "Other" who criticizes the getting of the ice cream and forgetting the toothpaste. This voice/chorus is engaged (seemingly endlessly) in letting you know that you don't stand up to examination, that the world knows how flawed you are as a human being, and devotes itself to reminding you of your multitude of failures. It may not restrict itself to you, it may actually devote a fair amount of attention to criticizing everyone and everything else in the universe as well - taking up valuable mental real estate in the process. (In some parts of the world, it's called "The Monkey Mind...") The phrase, "I'm of two minds!" doesn't begin to tell the story of this internal state of eternal contradiction - "the stalemated war of equal opposites."
"Most men lead lives of quiet desperation" is Thoreau's famous phrase articulating a uniquely American take on the internal dichotomy. This awareness is not the secret of any continent, historical era or particular school. At the outset of building any presentation, management strategy, new business plan, negotiation, or selling appointment; we once again become aware of the screeching monkeys as every effort at progress comes onto the mental stage complete with its own Greek Chorus of opposition... Imagine both parties and both Houses of Congress and the Chief Executive jousting for advantage inside your mind...
Shakespeare's Hamlet discusses the issue this way:
"To be, or not to be, that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
or; to take arms against a sea of troubles,
and by opposing - end them?"
SOLUTION: Silence the Monkeys...
By what discipline does one "take arms against the monkeys" and silence the chatter?
Well, it begins by recognizing - as the Hindu Yogi's, Zen Priests in their temples, Taoist Monks in the wilderness, Christian adepts in Qumran and Tennis Captains at Harvard have over thousands of years; it's a riddle.
If you're seeing images in the mind - you are not the images.
If you're hearing monkeys in the mind - you are not the monkeys.
If you're listening to an internal dialogue - you are not the dialogue.
The "I" cannot see itself.
If you're looking at it, it isn't you.
You are the looker, the listener.
So maybe you can be less concerned about all that stuff going on in the mind. It may or may not be valuable...
Find out. Turn it off.
Some schools suggest medication. Some, religious instruction. Others, deep study of meditation. Some employ conscious relaxation. Some suggest Running, Tennis or Tai Chi.
In For Love of the Game, Kevin Costner's character Billy Chapel is a ball player pitching the last game of his career. He stares down the next batter, his final adversary, and uses the phrase "Clear the mechanism" to kill the monkey mind. He pitches the perfect game - and gets the girl!
Each approach has its own set of pros and cons, but we suggest that one simply look beyond the noise.
The natural state of a rational mind is "Silence, looking out."
Look out. Look through the movie in the mind. Look through the internal dialogue that isn't you and look at your audience. Look at your listener. Look at the goal of your new business plan. Look beyond the next five minutes and your chance for re-election. The mind goes where the eye focuses...
EXECUTION: Getting to the Silence
The riddle: the solution to too many minds is not to add more minds - but to make no noise, create no dialogue, allow no interference. Simply look, beyond, over, through and into what is out there. As you increase your confidence and interest, what's going on "in here" naturally subsides. So the answer to "too much going on in here" is to simply focus one's attention "out there."
Do we know this already? Is no Monkey Mind our natural state of being-ness? Haven't you had a moment when you were so thoroughly focused on what you were doing that you lost track of time? When you were so engrossed in doing a thing that you found yourself "in the zone" and "out of your mind"?
The simplest of training, which has been at the center of our work for nearly thirty years, is to stop talking, stop worrying and, instead, focus on your objective and your listener to the exclusion of all else. Don't bring a mind with you - or allow one to show up! No Mind!
Applications:
Personal:
In the words of Baba Ram Dass... "Be Here Now!" Allowing the internal dialogue to go quiet is all about not being anywhere else, but allowing yourself to simply Be. Here. Now. Our day-to-day world is full of noise, distractions and input from electronic communication channels. Turn it off.
At Home:
Be at home when you're home. Be with your partner when you're with your partner. Be completely with your children when you're with your children. Look at your spouse. Look where you intend a connection to appear, then wait quietly for its appearance.
At Work:
Leave the personal issues out, leave the kids at school, leave the spouse on their way to their own destiny, and focus on the single issue at hand. Look at and into your colleagues and clients. Recognize that "Multi-Tasking" is an impossible contradiction in terms. In spite of the 24/7 bombardment of multi-channel communication, we are (at our best at least) single focus creatures.
To make the Monkeys stop, start looking and allow the minds to fade away.
Try it. Silence the Monkeys. The noise isn't you.
The "I" cannot see itself.
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