To Think or Not to Think

Can we think our way out of problems or think our way into happiness? This is one of the questions I asked myself before writing “Adventures of Benjamin the Bus.” Being a psychologist, I spend a lot of time thinking about people’s emotional issues, but I have to admit, my deepest insights have come when I am still, quiet, and have turned my mind off. In the book, Benjamin learned this by Buddha’s continual urging that he slow down his idle whenever he desired to do something. By emptying his engine, he could be present in the moment, free of thoughts about the past or the future. Benjamin was able to manifest his intentions during these quiet moments of still reverie.

Is there something to this? It hasn’t been only the great masters, like Buddha, Jesus, Michael Jackson and the like, that have known this. There have been countless examples of important discoveries that have been made when the mind is quiet or put to rest. Did you know that Friedrich Kekulé visualized the ring structure of benzene in a daydream and Nobel Prize winner, Otto Loewi, realized the mechanism for the chemical transmission of nerve impulses during a dream? Furthermore, musical and literary works of art have been created when the mind is most quiet. Take for example, Paul McCartney of the Beatles. He came up with the tune “Yesterday” in a dream and was inspired to write “Yellow Submarine” while falling asleep. Moreover, the plot of “Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” came to Robert Louis Stevenson during a dream.

Albert Einstein used a method of analytical meditation, where he held a question for inquiry into his consciousness, when he discovered the theory of relativity.

So what happens when we empty our minds, get quiet, and turn off our thinking? Benjamin found out that when he connected to an energy source—the Divine field that flowed through him, yet was already a part of him—infinite creative possibilities to his desires appeared along his journey. This divine organizing consciousness allowed Benji to ascend up a big hill “effortlessly as though he had grown angelic wings that carried him through the air” and lift a motorcycle out of the ocean with the power of his focused intention. Benjamin “understood that his power and strength didn’t come from his motor; it came from his alignment and union with the Divine source,” the engine of all synchronicities.

Thich Nhat Hanh, the Dalai Lama, and all of the living masters tell us that happiness can only be found in the present moment. When we are truly connected to the “here and now,” free of thoughts of the past and present, we can begin to appreciate everything in our environment and not be attached to our needs and desires, which are the roots of suffering. Our constant cravings for “more” and “better” will never fully rectify our self-worth. No amount of material goods, attention, or fame will alleviate our insecurities and make our self-esteem issues go away. Only our connection with the divine source, accessed in the quiet of the present moment, can bring us back to who we truly are: infinite and perfect. We all a part of this infinite creative consciousness and it is always flowing through us.

Thinking through a problem is the slow route to a solution. The next time you find yourself racking your brain for an answer, turn off your devices and your mind, and sit quietly and slow your breath. You just might surprise yourself!