Stillness of the Mind

Why do we bother to try and train the mind into stillness? Stillness is meant to clear the mind of extraneous thoughts outside of the present moment. There is an analogy that promotes an image in our minds that best explains this need.

There is a body of water where the breezes cause a ripple in the water. When this happens you can see only distorted images. If you cause the water to become stilled then you begin to see images in perfect form from the previous distortions caused by the wind. You can then see not only your reflection but all that is around you like the sky, clouds and the trees that are around you. As the water is stilled the clarity sharpens so you can see beneath the surface, what is below the surface of this body of water. You begin to see the "true form" of what was distorted in all those shimmering ripples of moving water.

If you allow the breezes of thought to distort your perceptions you cannot act properly. This is a sense of why sometimes we miss opportunities to avoid or deescalate conflicts and end up in fights. We distort our perceptions with the breezes of monkey chatter allowing our ego's and pride to stir the waters into an every murkier and distorted image - an image of loss of face, to be dissed, to receive perceived slights, etc. all those ripples of distortion that lead to damage.

To still the mind is to reach clarity, to see and hear those things that would lead to damage and allow is to perceive true avoidance and deescalation. A higher road to remove the breezes, the wind, the tsunami that is our monkey thoughts.

When you still the mind/water then you start to see some wonderful forms and patterns with clarity. Reflections of life that change so you identify yourself with true reflections that reflect true, underlying forms.

When the breezes of extraneous thoughts ripple the mind you say to yourself, here I come and here I go and all you see is a broken image of self reflected back by the ripples of mental distortions. When you engage in martial practice to still the mind you are learning to still the water.

Why is it that we use a physical discipline to still the mind? Physical activities like martial systems is a matter of balance while moving in the world - this is key. This is balance; it is the reason that martial artists and things like music performance or tea ceremonies with intense exactness are so helpful is disciplines is because they require one do those things well by doing them then not doing them. What I am trying to say is you have to achieve a kind of positive relaxation that allows you to release the mind from the doing so the body is doing the activity, the body achieves the power and your consciousness simply goes along for the ride.

Stillness of the Mind.

The individuals balance is determined by his or her life along with all the needs and wants he or she desire and when they practice and train in a physical discipline they remove those distractions, i.e. still the mind and let the body lead the way, they find themselves in equilibrium with the system, i.e. this system or that system or another system, and that is what all of these systems are for - still the mind.

"What you get from the system is a function of your own consciousness - your perceived reality." - cejames

Bibliography:
Campbell, Joseph. "Myths of Light: Eastern Metaphors of the Eternal." New World Library. Novato, California. 2003.