I remember being at the beach once many years ago in Jordan and I’d brought a bottle of sun cream with me because, well I’m Irish. It was fairly busy that day and there was another local family near us. I’d put the suncream to my side nearest them and something odd happened - one of the family members picked it up and used some of it. I didn’t want to get defensive about the suncream but I thought it was a bit weird, especially when he offered it to someone else who refused and put it back in its place. Then someone else picked it up and used it and put it back. Rather than it being shared around any more I decided to put it on the other side of me. This created a bit of a hooha though and they seemed to be annoyed with me. We couldn’t speak each others languages to resolve it and the situation was getting a bit tense and uncomfortable.
I’m sure some of you can see where this is going but I didn’t - I was struggling to understand why they were trying to take my suncream. But they were thinking the same thing about me. Then one of the kids on their side popped up with an identical bottle and we all looked at each other - the tension disappeared instantly and we were laughing and hugging, relieved that the diplomatic incident between Jordan and Ireland had been resolved. Turns out it was my suncream but the situation could easily have been reversed, I could just as easily have been wrong. Both sides believed they were right, that they knew the truth and that distorted our perception of reality.
The theme for this year has been letting go of the model of the world that you filter reality through - that model is made up of beliefs, assumptions and knowledge. Knowledge is something we rightly value but attachment to knowledge and belief in its certainty is something that can obstruct your mindfulness / meditation practice. There’s a great article by Thich Nhat Hahn on this - he talks about knowledge or our perception of knowledge being like a block of ice that impairs the flow of water. If we take one thing to be the truth and cling to it, even if truth itself comes in person and knocks at our door, we won’t open it. For things to reveal themselves to us, we have to be prepared to abandon our views about them and what we think we know.
But Shaun I hear you say - isn’t teaching mindfulness what you do on the BCBH course and this podcast? Isn’t it sharing knowledge? Of course, but the concepts of mindfulness should be seen as a means to an end. The metaphor that TNH uses is digging a well. When you’re finished digging a well you don’t carry the shovel around with you - the same is true for knowledge. The concepts of mindfulness help us to practice, to develop our calmness, to walk the path of happiness but we shouldn’t get attached to them - what matters is letting go of our suffering and reducing the suffering of others. What that implies, and all the great teachers agree on, is that mindfulness is about the experience, rather than being an intellectual exercise. Intellectualising mindfulness is a bit like reading 100 books on gardening but not growing anything.
We shouldn’t abandon knowledge - it helps us to dig the well - but we need to make sure that our “knowing” isn’t a block between us and experiencing the world as it truly is. When I was younger I got caught in a loop of trying to analyse my problems, not coming to any useful conclusions and feeling more depressed and anxious as a result. Until you work on your calmness and let go of attachment to your knowledge, knowing and resolving, then your mind will ruminate on puzzles it can’t solve and impact your happiness.
Of course, this isn’t being anti-intellectual - its simply seeing knowledge for what it is, a tool. You might perceive that nuance in a similar way to the difference between money and attachment to money. Money can do great things, money can reduce suffering and poverty. Attachment to money creates suffering. Knowledge works in the same way.
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