Two Ways of Not Thinking

 

Two Ways of Not Thinking

There are two ways that I perceive the term, "not thinking".  The first is finding comfort in tasks that keep us from turning towards ourselves or our initiative.  This is a sort of melancholy which looks out from the window on a sunny day and thinks it raining.  There is a pleasure in finding other things to do, when something else may be more pressing but less convenient.  I read because I do not think I can write anything, but it is only by reading that I think I can write something.  This is the ten before one rule: we think we must do ten things before we can accomplish one of them--this is a total waste of energy.

The other way is vacuity.  This is the negation of thoughts, or having the thought that thoughts are bad, or perhaps not the right thoughts, and trying to completely obliterate the thinking process.  

Both are like the ice melting from the banks of the lake, soon there is nothing to stand on.  One believes we have to think of something before doing something; the other thinks we can change something by not doing it.  In reality we forget to face what is in front of us, or more importantly, we think we can change the face of what appears by putting other things in front of it, or looking the other way.  However it is only by standing on solid ground while the ice melts, in watching it directly without any filter, that we can find real stability in the changing face of things.

Douglas Thornton