Someday people will visit ideas instead of places

Wondering why such a long title? Actually it is from a book called ‘My ancestor was an ancient astronaut’ by Toba Beta, an Indonesian economist turned writer. The title started a chain of thought in my mind. I thought this is exactly what we should do. Visit ideas; ideas which could change our life, change our thinking and may be bring a change in the world. All great things start with an idea.

Or don’t.  Go blank. Be thoughtless. Empty your mind of everything. Just ‘BE’. Actually this thoughtlessness is the birthplace of all ideas. Do I sound confused? I am not. Only when you have emptied your mind of all negative thoughts, cleansed your mind of all tumultuous ideas, can you be creative. That is when you actually visit ideas. That moment is most creative. That is what meditation is.

I am not talking about to nothingness or some kind of nihilism. Emptiness refers to the fact that ultimately, our day-to-day experiences and perception of reality is wrong, and reality is actually 'empty' of many qualities that we normally assign to it. We perceive our reality according to our experiences. That is where all troubles start. But when we meditate, we relieve our mind of these subjective perceptions and that brings clarity in our mind. Then we see things as they are. As Albert Einstein said, “A human being is part of a whole, called by us the 'universe', a part limited in time and space.

He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separate from the rest - a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affectation for a few people near us”.

But why am I being so philosophical? Just visited Pittsburgh and went to see some temples. Sitting in of the temples I had this epiphany. I realized that when you seek to discover the outside world, you become stressed. But when you seek to discover yourself, you become calm and that clam gives you the creative ideas. As Dalai Lama says,

"...I believe all suffering is caused by ignorance. People inflict pain on others in the selfish pursuit of their happiness or satisfaction. Yet true happiness comes from a sense of peace and contentment, which in turn must be achieved through the cultivation of altruism, of love and compassion, and elimination of ignorance, selfishness, and greed..."I feel this love, compassion, altruism comes only after you meditate an d clear your mind of all subjective ideas.

So take out a little time to ‘BE’. Empty your mind of all ideas in order to visit ideas.

So be it!!!