Thinking

“Not thinking” means eradicating or quietening the habitual, fear-based thought patterns that infest our consciousness. These manifest as chattering in the mind (the eternal commentary), moods, depression, hardness, guilt, blame, regret, etc: all instances of not listening to what is actually there, and in fact all instances of being haunted by the past. The work at hand is to rid ourselves of these barriers so that the world & life can flood in, and our own energy & essence can pour out. Tai Chi tackles this problem by placing the body first – at least more important than mind. Even the energy we encounter and develop in Tai Chi is of the body, even if that body is the interaction itself. By sinking & relaxing – allowing tensions to drop into the earth – the body becomes heavy and the energy becomes light. When the mind disappears then the energy reveals almost infinite detail – becomes itself our source of inspiration – perpetuum mobile. The problem with trained rational thought – i.e. thought that we assume is not fear-based – is that it is terribly coarse and artificial – unnatural – compared to the energy of living beings. Even the most intricate and complex of discourse is nothing compared to the delicate delightfulness of real energy. Complex discourse generally communicates to only a select few – those in the know – whereas delightful energy touches all. There is nothing wrong with intelligent disciplined application of the thinking mind. What is wrong is to become attached to the artifacts produced by such a mind, or to become tense in the use of that mind (which amounts to the same thing) – i.e. to be unable to cast off such a mindset when no longer required. The mind's understanding of reality is a world apart – better behaved and easier to control than reality itself, and as such is extremely seductive. Beware.