As I’ve covered a bit above, it is simply that our mind is a pattern-searching algorithm that is filtering our environment for potential danger and avenues for novelty through our senses. It desperately holds onto potential issues as it’s concerned about its own existence.

To illustrate my point, let’s do a simple 5-minute meditation of quietly sitting down. Firstly, find a comfortable sitting position and relax. Secondly, disable any possible distractions like notifications for the best effect. Then, slowly calm the mind by breathing in and out as the main focus of your entire attention.

Now, see what happens to your thoughts. You can see it traverse through a chain of thoughts by grabbing hold of certain aspects of each thought which branches into the next. Endlessly connecting from one place to the next until it collapses at the end. Then, it starts the loop again.

By the time you noticed you’re chasing your thoughts. You have stopped focusing on your breathing entirely. This is happening in most of our waking moments but doesn’t usually notice this until we calm down and sit silently.

Try to notice what your thoughts are doing, it’s grabbing memories from the past for reviewing or jumping into the future to manage expectations but never really standing still in the immediate present which is focusing on your breathing.

The loop usually starts and focuses its energy on what the mind is concerned about for the moment. It could be a work problem that needs to be solved, an existential threat as a gun is pointed in your direction, a hot political issue, a bad experience with a customer, something you want to improve on, a relationship issue, etc.

We are always stuck in these thought loops and can’t really break them because we do not sit down to find out completely, going to their logical end. As Krishnamurti likes to say, “find the truth of the matter for yourself” and once you do. It simply dissolved and the issue cease to continue.

Has this facet of the mind become clearer rather than opaque previously?

Through understanding this, awareness of oneself increases manyfold. As you continue, self-knowledge improves. That’s an important first step on the path of awakening.

Exploiting The Process

This pattern searching of the mind is very profitable to be exploited within our society. Like how it always desires to focus on a thing that seizes its fascination and will loop continuously to find an understanding toward the object it currently holds (whether it is an excuse, reason, explanation, or what have you).

This is exciting to write about but if I add any more words here then this piece will be too long to digest. It piques my interest due to how we influence others and in reflection ourselves from words to manifesting actions.

So, I’ll give this part space it needs to be fully fleshed out in a following-up post.