The other day, after having worked, been on the phone, and continued in the social whirl of the holidays, the thought sprung up in my mind that I wanted to “go to the place of no words.” It felt absolutely essential that I go into the space of deep meditation. It was not so much for escape, as for rest. For me, meditation can provide more of an opportunity for my mind to rest and renew than can sleep. I rarely have dreamless sleep, and when I am very busy, my dreams get more so. My meditations, like everyone’s, can be full of thoughts and words. Thoughts will inevitably arise. What is different in meditation, though, is that even when my mind is full of thoughts, I know I do not have to follow them. I can just let them be — as if there were some radio or television program on that I just allow to be on, but to which I do not give my attention. It is this rest from paying attention, from having to follow and direct thought that I wanted so that when I returned to active thought there would be more clarity, discrimination, and, where needed, detachment.
A Rumi poem:
Out beyond ideas of rightdoing and wrongdoing
There is a field; I’ll meet you there.
When the soul lies down in that grass,
The world is too full to talk about.
Ideas, language, even the phrase “each other,” Don’t make sense.