Thoughts and Desires

“Thoughts weaken the mind. Desires wither the heart.” (Lao Tzu)

The Tao Te Ching (Chapter 12) reminds us that thoughts and desires are not the way to go. However, it’s interesting to note that they both originate in the self. Center yourself in the Tao, rather than in your self, and the weakening and withering will stop. Instead, your mind will no longer be distracted by thoughts and desires – and your heart will flourish.

Who wants a weakened mind and a withered heart? Not me. Lao Tzu seems to suggest a simple way to avoid them: just stop thinking and desiring. Really? And exactly how do I do that? No thoughts, no desires. Can I really make it through one day without either of them? Well, have I ever tried? The honest answer is no. But this newsletter will explore a little deeper than that. So let’s get started.

My opening paragraph suggests that thoughts and desires have one thing in common: they both originate in the self. Seems obvious, doesn’t it? After all, how can I have someone else’s thoughts or someone else’s desires? It can’t be done. My thoughts and desires are mine and mine alone.

That’s not to say others can’t have their own thoughts and desires. Of course they can. Even just a little conversation with someone shows that’s true. So why does Lao Tzu tell us that “Thoughts weaken the mind. Desires wither the heart"? Perhaps he’s just not a fan of conversation. But let’s be serious.

When I think, or “have” a desire (as we like to say), just who is it that is doing the thinking and desiring? Tricky question, isn’t it? Not much easier than asking: Who am I? To which the classic answer is: The one who is asking the question. (I’m tempted to say haha, except the answer is not a joke. I suspect it’s totally accurate, even if it’s not I want to hear.)

So what does that mean in the current context? Isn’t the mind built for thinking and the heart for feeling? If so, why should they get weakened and withered when they do their thing? Hmm, it seems we’re still stuck.

The following could be a possible way out. What if it has to do with what we’re thinking and feeling, and how much of it we do? Speaking for myself, I know I tend to think too much and, as for feelings, I often let them take me for a ride wherever they want to go. So does that make me a candidate for a weakened mind and a withered heart? Maybe it does.

Here’s a way of looking at it which may help us get unstuck. What if we think of thought as a tool and the mind as a workshop. What if we think of the heart as a sensing device and feelings as signals? Sounds a bit cold and heartless, doesn’t it? I know. But let’s see where it takes us.

Here’s an observation from this new viewpoint. I wouldn’t want to spend all day in a workshop, would I? So why would I spend all day inside my own mind? If thoughts were no more than useful tools for figuring out certain things, then why wouldn’t I use them for what they’re good at and then, when I’m done, put them away? Well, that’s a useful thought (if I do say so myself). I should try doing it more often.

Similarly, would I spend all day at the whim of my feelings? Would I let them simply take me this way and that? Why wouldn’t I simply listen to them, learn what they have to tell me, and then respond when I’m ready and in a way of my choosing? I think the mind becomes weakened and the heart becomes withered when we think that thoughts and feelings are who we are.

So, let’s try this instead. “I am not my thoughts. I am not my feelings. I am a droplet of self-consciousness in the vast flow of everything that is. With self-consciousness comes choice. I can be part of the flow or push against it… To push against the flow is to be unaware of it. Acting as if there is no flow or not trusting it. Standing separate and apart, attempting to direct and control. With the first come joy, peace, and serenity. With the second come various forms of confusion and sorrow."

"Yet the second is nothing more than a dream from which we can wake any time we choose. The dream is self-consciousness. We sleep when we focus on ourselves. We dream every time we try to stand separate and apart… But the moment we recall that we are not our thoughts, that we are not our feelings, the difference disappears. Self-consciousness evaporates. The dream vanishes. We wake up. We become aware there are no differences. There is no separation. Only unity. And the droplet has dissolved in the vast flow of everything that is.” (That’s a quote from chapter 14 of There Is No Somewhere Else.)

The quote suggests that to think we are our thoughts and our feelings is to be asleep and in a dream. It’s only in the dream that “Thoughts weaken the mind. Desires wither the heart.” Why so? Because when self-consciousness evaporates, so does desire and so does thought. What’s left is what was there all along: Oneness/Wholeness – and with it joy, peace, and serenity.

We can be centered in ourselves, or we can be centered in “the vast flow of everything that is.” This last phrase refers to the same thing as Lao Tzu has in mind when he says “There was something formless and perfect before the universe was born. It is serene. Empty. Solitary. Unchanging. Infinite. Eternally present. It is the mother of the universe. For lack of a better name, I call it the Tao. It flows through all things, inside and outside, and returns to the origin of all things” (chapter 25). We’re both pointing at the same thing even if we don’t know what to call it.

Clearly the Tao is something way bigger than minds that can be weakened or hearts that can be withered, isn’t it? And it’s there all the time whether or not we choose to center our selves in it.

What do you think? No, let me change that. Better would be for me to ask: How do you feel about that? Actually, better still would be for me just to be silent, then you wouldn’t have to think or wonder what you feel. You could just be. What’s more, I suspect your mind would stay strong and your heart would flourish.

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Thanks for reading. Please feel free to share this newsletter.

Francis

IN OTHER NEWS...

Past newsletters are here: www.francispringmill.com/newsletter-archive

In Harmony with the Tao: A Guided Journey into the Tao Te Ching is available here. There Is No Somewhere Else: Insights from the Tao Te Ching is available here.

Synopses and reviews for both books are on www.francispringmill.com/books

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