Keeping Your Affairs Separate
February 21, 2013

The mind needs its own space. Otherwise it gets overcome by the affairs of the world. So what you’re creating as you meditate is your own little territory here. Inside the body you want to make sure that the breath energy is good and that your awareness fills the body, so that your energy field is not invaded by other people’s energy. This gives you your space so you can look at the world and be in the world but not have to run after the world.

Because the world spins around all the time. And its spinning is not innocent. It’s like the spinning of gears. If your sleeve or some part of your clothing gets caught in the gears, it just pulls you in, pulls you in. You’ll have to abandon whatever that is that’s got pulled into the world. So you have to keep yourself separate. And make sure you don’t have any hanging attachments like sleeves and other parts of clothing that can get caught in the affairs of the world.

You have your territory and you have to have a very clear idea of where the world’s territory is. You participate in the world and deal with other people in the world, but you’ve got to have your own space. Otherwise, the affairs of gain and loss, and status and loss of status, praise and criticism, pleasure and pain invade the mind and they pull you in, pull you in. So you’ve got to have your territory and make sure the world has its territory.

Then you can live in peace. You deal with the affairs of the world but you remember: It’s their affairs. Whatever gain you get from the world, remember it’s still the world’s. When you look at money, you see that it doesn’t have your name on the money. Even if your credit card has your name the important name on the credit card, of course, is the name of the bank. The same with status: Ranks are things that people can give and people can take away. Praise is something they can give; criticism is something they can give. All these things belong to them, so make sure you realize that that’s their territory. But you still have your territory here inside.

You want to make this territory solid and secure, so that it’s not spinning around with the world. That way you keep your views straight, you keep your opinions straight, and things don’t get skewed by the spinning of the world. Have a clear sense of what’s up and down, and north and south, and don’t get your directions all mixed up.

So try to have a sense of this solid, stable point in the middle of all the spinning. The world spins but you don’t spin along with it. That’s when you can live in the world and not suffer from the world.