Chapter 3
Cutting Free
This chapter gives a lot of insight into techniques of bringing the mind to full attention. We see Dan struggling to remember a name, if he had finished eating, forgetting to notice how beautiful the sky is.
And then we see him doing re-directs for his mind in the gym. When he’s “soaring,” his mind is clear and everything is focused. But other times, not so much. But he’s noticing patterns at times. It’s a process.
Also interesting is when Dan gets a cold and Socrates reminds him that it’s a sign that his body is saying he is out of balance. Considering Dan had eaten cookies for breakfast (sounds like a typical college menu!), he does have a point.
But it’s not just the body, but also the mind. As Socrates says, “Stressful thoughts reflect a conflict with reality. Stress happens when the mind resists what is.”
He goes onto explain, “You say, Dan, when you resist what happens, your mind begins to race; the thoughts that assail you are actually created by you.”
There’s a really good mindfulness lesson!
And suddenly, Dan is existing inside of his teacup! He’s journeyed in his mind underwater, suddenly taking the form of a fish.
And he’s back again, sitting on Socrates’ couch.
And Dan understands that it he is very much like this fish – trapped inside of a teacup with a limited vantage point. He must expand his vantage point in order to grow awareness.
We all must.
I found this conversation so fascinating. Socrates explains, “. . . the practice of insight into the source of your own ripples is meditation,” referring to the ripples of water analogy that Socrates is using after Dan experiences that journey into the tea as a fish.
And then Socrates appears out of nowhere bearing a samurai sword and waving it over Dan’s head!
It’s hard to tell what is real and what is, well, in Dan’s head!
Dan goes quiet, retreats into a deep meditation.
Socrates explains that “the warrior uses the sword of meditation with skill and understanding. With it, he cuts the mind to ribbons, slashing through thoughts to reveal their lack of substance.”
And then there’s some comic relief as Socrates has fun messing with his customers at the gas station. He makes fun of a group of people all dressed in the same garb (they are new age spiritualists), but then oddly, he is very courteous to a “forty-year-old teenager”.
And Socrates explains to the confused Dan that he gave each of them what they needed. I think the new age seekers needed to not be so arrogant about their mission and perhaps the forty-year-old teenager needed compassion.
And here we go – another kundalini awakening, I think, as Dan floats among the stars and cosmos.
He feels his body as a “hollow vessel” and I can’t help returning to the part earlier in the book when Socrates tells him he needs to be “emptied out” to be filled back up again.
And Dan thinks he has learned everything he needs to and is graduating. But Socrates cuts him down to size – “What you saw was only a vision, not a conclusive experience.”
And now I’m remember what Alan Watts said, “Once you get the message, you can hang up the phone”. And then you’ll spend the rest of your life working it out. So true of these types of awakenings and journeys.
Socrates explains the core of awareness, breaking it down into two parts:
1. Insight – paying attention to what is arising.
2. Surrender – letting go of attachment to arising thoughts. This is how you cut free of the mind, he explains.
I’m connecting the “emptying out” to the “surrender”. I can see why this book is so helpful.
And the way Socrates is eating reminds me of this mindfulness exercise:
What A Raisin Can Teach You About Mindfulness Practice
Socrates goes onto this great conversation about concepts of dying and immortality. “You have been immortal since before you were born and will be long after the body dissolves. The body is Consciousness; never born; never dies; only changes. The mind – your ego, personal beliefs, history, and identity – is all that ends at death. And who needs it?”
I find a lot of comfort in this and ties into one of my favorite Alan Watts teachings:
Alan Watts – How Do You Define Yourself?
And Socrates gives more techniques:
1. pay attention to how you walk
2. pay attention to how your mouth shapes the words you say
3. pay attention to how you think
I’m trying these techniques and it makes me enter the world of The Observer, which is the most sublime state I can find right now.
As Socrates says, “Your attention must burn.”
And the chapter ends with a foreboding comment by Dan – “. . . And my training was about to begin with an ordeal I almost didn’t survive.”