monkey mind

Independent scholar Ken Wilber has studied the world’s contemplative practices and arrived at an integral “theory of everything” which embraces the truths of Eastern spirituality and Western science. His thoughts on meditation are of great help whenever I feel discouraged by all that commotion within: 

“When you practice meditation, one of the first things you realize is that your mind—and your life, for that matter—is dominated by largely subconscious chatter. You are always talking to yourself. And so, as they start to meditate, many people are stunned by how much junk starts running through their awareness. They find that thoughts, images, fantasies, notions, ideas, concepts virtually dominate their awareness. They realize that these notions have had a much more profound influence on their lives than they ever thought.

“In any case, initial meditation experiences are like being at the movies. You sit and watch all these fantasies and concepts parade in front of your awareness. But the whole point is that you are finally becoming aware of them. You are looking at them impartially and without judgement. You just watch them go by, the same way as you watch clouds fly by in the sky. They come, and they go. No praise, no condemnation, no judgement—just “bare witnessing.” If you judge your thoughts, if you get caught up in them, then you can’t transcend them. You can’t find higher or subtler dimensions of your own being. So you sit in meditation, and you simply “witness” what is going on in your mind. You let the monkey mind do what it wants, and you simply watch.”

From Collected Works, vol. 4: Stages of meditation, pp. 357-358. See also the more accessible:The simple feeling of being: embracing your true nature (2004), pp. 164-165.

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