Chickens from Hell
September 17, 2016
We like to feed on our thoughts, which is why we feed them. We gain entertainment from them. We gain help with our occupation in life, especially if we’re employed in a job that rewards thinking. So to keep the thoughts going, we just keep feeding, feeding, feeding them. But as the Buddha noted, our thoughts then turn around and feed on us. In his words, they actually chew on us. We think we’re getting the better part of the deal: We feed them; they give us nourishment of one kind or another. We tend not to notice how much they’re eating away at us, and that we’re actually getting the worse part of the deal. We notice that we’re being eaten away, but we don’t make the connection as to what’s eating away at us. Often the thoughts that we feed on cause us a lot of trouble. If we’re not discerning, we just gobble down everything that the mind churns up—identifying it as “my thought” and thinking that “I’ve got to make something with it.” Sometimes we get totally chewed up by our thoughts, and yet then we turn around and keep feeding them some more.