These words of wisdom from Sam Harris gives us more on the teaching of impermanence.
It has to do with how the mind flits from one thing to another in a meditation session – some what like a video game!
“Having spent years observing my mind in meditation, I find such sudden transitions from happiness to suffering both fascinating and rather funny—and merely witnessing them goes a long way toward restoring my equanimity. My mind begins to seem like a video game: I can either play it intelligently, learning more in each round, or I can be killed in the same spot by the same monster, again and again.”
—Sam Harris from Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion
I, too have spent years meditating and have discovered how it is almost impossible to avoid the transitions from happiness to suffering and back to happiness just like in a video game.
When I was young – before the time of computers, iPhones, and video games – I used to walk about a mile from our house to the bowling alley to play the pin ball machines.
One day – I remember it clearly – I got five in a row and won 96 additional replays.
That same day, I was informed that that lovely girl in Ladue was interested in me!
With no easy way to see each other, nothing really happened, but many years later, she married one of my first cousins.
The pin ball machines, along with chess and later bridge and blackjack and now tennis became important games for me to play with my mind to give me a sense of being able to win at something.
What is the video game in your mind like?
Books by Sam Harris
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Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religionby For the millions of Americans who want spirituality without religion, Waking Up is a guide to meditation as a rational practice informed by neuroscience and psychology. From Sam Harris, neuroscientist and author of numerous New York Times bestselling books, Waking Up is f… |
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