Gate to the Mind’s Eye

“So we make our lives so hectic that we eliminate the slightest risk of looking into ourselves. Even the idea of meditation can scare people. When they hear the words ‘egoless’ or ’emptiness,’ they think experiencing those states will be like being thrown out of the door of a spaceship to float forever in a dark, chilling void. Nothing could be further from the truth. But in a world dedicated to distraction, silence and stillness terrify us; we protect ourselves from them with noise and frantic busyness. Looking into the nature of our mind is that last thing we would dare to do.”

“Sometimes I think we don’t want to ask any real questions about who we are, for fear of discovering there is some other reality than this one. What would this discovery make of how we lived? How would our friends and colleagues react to what we now know? What would we do with the new knowledge? With knowledge comes responsibility. Sometimes even when the cell door is flung open, the prisoner chooses not to escape.”

– Rinpoche, Sogyal. ‘The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying,’ pg 52.