Re: mind chatter : what plane ?

["Peter Reist" <preist@...>]

Dear MJ,

>>> Mind chatter is more than just words. Have you had different
experiences in this area?<<<

In short: yes, mental chatter can be more than just words. It can come
in the form of words, symbols, tone, feeling, essential meaning and so
forth. You've probably had the experience of having a song, or a
series of notes in your mind that keeps on endlessly looping: that's
mental chatter that has nothing to do with language.

Mental chatter can be extremely focused upon one specific thing like a
lazer beam. Or it can be just floating all over the place without a
care in the world. Both, and everywhere in between, are natural states
of the mind to exist in at any given time. It is just a matter of
imposing one's will upon the mind to modulate it's focus. Which can be
a rather hard task, for as St. Agustine once wrote, "The mind commands
the body and the body obeys. The mind commands itself and meets with
resistence." The task of the meditator, within any tradition, be it
Hermetic or Buddhist, is to eliminate that resistence.

Love and Live well,
Peter Reist