Chatter Box

Sometimes a voice chastises me for not going to the gym and sometimes one tries to talk me out of going. Once I get there, a voice either tells me I need to do more or tries to persuade me to leave early.

The interesting part? It's the same voice.

The irony? It's not even me.

It's just the endless and automatic chatter of conditioning, as relevant as the non-sensical babble of a 2 year old (minus the cuteness).

This Chatter isn't "wrong" or "bad" (anymore than a 2 year old is bad or wrong.) It's just not who we are.

The most important insight I can share (and one that is almost impossible for me to remember) is that paying rapt attention to our ongoing mental chatter IS NOT LIFE.

Entire lives are spent enthralled by this chatter. We truly believe that this chatter is who we are. Or rather, The Chatter believes The Chatter is who we are. Or perhaps most accurately, The Chatter desperately tries to convince us that The Chatter is who we are, that it is real, continuous and substantial.

But it isn’t. How could it be?

When you get down to it, the "self concept" is really just a thought, isn't it? It's a complex, sophisticated, interminably long thought but still just a thought. And there are no "unconditioned" thoughts.

And as unpalatable as this may sound, there are no original thoughts. All thoughts (including these) are, by definition, conditioned. They are also automatic, reflexive and reactive (which probably does not come as good news to The Chatter)

So what can be done to break the spell that The Chatter has cast over us?

I was told once that in order to enjoy reading fiction or watching a movie we often have to "suspend our disbelief." If the whole time you are watching a movie you are thinking to yourself "this is far-fetched. This could never happen" it becomes pretty difficult to enjoy the book or movie for what it is- entertainment- a distraction from what we call "real life."

But when it comes to "real life", I would recommend the exact opposite approach. I would suggest suspending your belief.

For me this looks like imagining what it would be like to be in a particular situation without all of the usual accompanying conditioned beliefs, thoughts and opinions about it. I just ask myself, "What would it be like to be here without 'The Story?'

Or, alternatively, I imagine what it would be like if my perspective were that of the person I am talking to? How do I look and seem to them? Or what if my consciousness were in that dog or that tree? What would the view look like from there? What would it be like to actually be that other person, plant or object?

Now why should one bother doing this? Well, the truth is, there is no particular reason, except that if you, like me, intuit that there is more going on here than what meets the eye- more than the just The Chatter- then it might be helpful as a means of dissociating ourselves from our normal waking consciousness. It might give us a little breathing room and a fresh perspective. And if we're lucky, it may even create the space necessary for something else to arise.

At the very least, you may learn to appreciate the brief respite from the Chatter (which will surely return.) And who knows? As simple as it may sound, if you keep playing on the edges like this long enough, you may just fall off.

Gassho