The Limit of Thinking
On a recent podcast episode (#21: The Boat of Logic), my co-host Saqib Rizvi and I discussed an analogy for the “thinking mind,” which we can deem synonymous with “the ego” for the purposes of the analogy. The thinking mind is like a boat, and if we have a problem, a task, a question, or anything for which we can find a solution (e.g., where should I go for dinner tonight?), then we can use the boat to find that answer. And it’s a useful boat. But there may be the tendency to become so attached to the boat that we never get out once we reach the shore (e.g., getting to dinner), or we reach the shore and end up carrying the boat on our backs as we walk upon the land (i.e., the experience of Now). Using the example of dinner, instead of being present to the experience and enjoying the meal, the company, the ambience, etc., we may continue to work through other problems in our mind, or maybe start to think about what to order for dessert just as the appetizer arrives. With this analogy in mind, I wrote down the following poem:
THE SHORE OF EXPERIENCE
The thinking mind
has a limit.
When it sneaks
past that limit
and reaches
the shore of
fully lived experience,
it is terrified.
It is shocked at its
complete incompetence
on this New land.
It can remain
at the shore
to be used again,
But not Now.
In the land
of Now,
the thinking mind
has no use.
It is a useful tool,
but there is a time
to leave it
at the shore,
and explore
the land of Now,
about which
we know nothing.
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