Observe the mind when traveling

It can be to a new place in the city where you live, or half-way around the world, suggests Subhan.

There is such a wonderful opportunity to observe the mind when traveling! It can be to a new place in the city where you live, or half-way around the world. Regardless, it opens up new experiences where the mind doesn’t have an “idea” about what it is experiencing. Of course, the greater the differences the new place has to our known space in our city, the more the mind will try to define what it sees, and the more difficulty it will be in – enough that it may even take a brief vacation!

That was my experience when living in Japan! It was like being on another planet! Yes, there was McDonalds and KFC, and a number of other western businesses. But there was also so much that didn’t register as known in the visible Japanese world. And certainly, the bahavior of the people didn’t comport with the western behavior that the mind “knew.” As a result, there were many moments when the confused mind sort of disappeared for a short time, and then there was just “awe!” That made it easier to meditate there. And besides, it was a land where many Zen masters had walked and lived and shared deeper understandings from beyond the mind!

So my suggestion is: if you’d like to boggle the mind and its known realities, then travel to different cultures, like the Japanese, or Korean, or Indian… or a number of other countries where the differences to our way of living are substantial. It’s bound to knock your socks off, in a very unique way! And, without even trying, you may fall into meditation when the mind realizes that it can’t figure things out!

Love…