Wisdom by Sally Kempton
It is the nature of the mind to create thoughts and images. The energy that we call “mind” is dynamic. Like an ocean, it has an innate tendency to create surface waves. Yet when you sit regularly, you’ll begin to become aware of a part of the mind that is untouched by thoughts. You might experience that deeper layer of consciousness as pure sense of being or as a sense of being a witness. Sometimes it feels as if you have plunged into the deeper “water” of the mind, where it is calm – while all the time, the mental chatter continues. In other words, the mind can keep thinking, but “you” are not affected by those thoughts.
So let the thoughts be there, and see if you can become aware of the awareness – the sense of being present – that is behind the thoughts. Or simply let yourself keep coming back to the sensations of the breath in the body, or the felt sense of energy in the heart, or the vibratory quality of a mantra. In time, you’ll notice that the thoughts drift more and more into the background while the underlying sense of being comes more into the foreground. That’s meditation.
