Are You Out Of Your Mind?

In the movie "The Peaceful Warrior" there is a scene where young Dan Millman is suddenly tossed over a little bridge into a small river. He comes flying out of the water, mad as a hatter, and angrily demanded of Socrates, who tossed him, "Are you out of your mind!!??" Socrates says something like "Yes, I am out of my mind and it has taken me a lifetime to get there, and it is where I am trying to get you." And then he added "When I tossed you into the river, in that moment, you were fully present in the here and now, and out of your mind"

The scene points out the fundamental problem with mankind and suggests that all of our problems stem from one thing; being stuck in our heads, lost in our minds.

An objective look at the average human being clearly shows that they are mostly caught up in the in the mental dialogue in their head, and therefore not available to be completely aware of the present moment. And if they are not caught up in their own thinking, they are caught up someone else's i.e. TV, music, talk radio, books, etc. What are these things if not the product of someone else's thinking? Not that these things are bad or good, its just that they can often be misused as tools to continue escape from the present moment while giving ones own mind a break.

Recently, at the wholesale club I joined, I watched a young lady behind the counter as she went through the computerized process of signing me up as a new member. Her face revealed everything that was going on in her head. It fluctuated between a perfunctory greeting and sales pitch to a furrowed brow at some irritating computer problem that cropped up, to letting go the frustration as she seemed to find a solution, then back to annoyance at the return of the problem, which lead to the need to call a superior to come and override something, to a judgmental, ego inflating gloat when the superior got a bit stuck herself. Her attitude then turned to a suppressed, controlled impatience at the overall "stuckness" of the situation, revealing an inability to accept what is with grace, and finally coming to a relative "joy" at having things back under control and a return of the ability, once again, to move along as a quickly as possible to get me off her "to do list" and move on to the next thing. This poor young woman was at the mercy of every thought, and every emotion within her mind during those few moments I shared space with her.

I am certain that if I quizzed her, she could not have, with her attention so absorbed within her head, told me what else was happening in the store around her in those moments. I am certain she was oblivious to all the other sounds and dialogue in the store, the announcements on the PA, the ringing telephones, the hum of the copy machine, and certainly didn't even notice the supervisor's habit of scratching her nose in frustration while trying to figure out the problem on the computer screen.

The other day, as I was walking into the supermarket, I observed a man coming out of the place with his lips moving intently as if in conversation. As he came closer it became obvious that he was indeed having a full blown conversation...with himself. I am not sure if more people than ever are lost in their head, or if I am waking up more to see what has always there, but whatever the case, it is apparent that there is a madness in humanity nobody is talking about out loud. Humanity is in the grip of slavery, to the constant running dialogue in their head, robbing them of full awareness, peace of mind and keeping them from fully participating in the present moment.

Are people out of their minds? Indeed not, all but the few it seems, are quite stuck in their minds. But learn the art of watching your thoughts, your thinking, your emotions, your reactions to things and circumstance, and you will slowly but surely go out of your mind, which is quite a good thing.