Keeping your mind flexible

[Cargést]

It actually hadn’t occurred to me in that order. Having been shat into a hyper-stimulated existence our brains basically know no better than to be constantly active. To not-think would require extensive re-wiring at this point. I shudder to think where that might take human evolution if there even is to be one. 

Perhaps things like prayer and meditation developed for this very purpose, though I can’t say I’m at all familiar with the practice of either.

Stop worrying about what the brain might/might not do, start worrying about what you are conscious of, at any one time.  It is not a brain-based exercise, to not-think; in fact, it's not an exercise.  To not-think requires no effort, even having grown up in these worlds of stimulatory overload.  No re-wiring is necessary, because the wires are not being used.  When you think from the state of not-thinking, the brain engages; indeed, the wiring ought remain the same, so that the thoughts can be recognised more readily.

Prayer/meditation never developed.  These things have been with Man since the beginning, and will always be with us.  The ability to be still is available to all, though many have never considered it.

[crow]

I would never call not-thinking simple, or easy, for any Westerner.
It is, as they say, counter-intuitive.
Until you discover it, and everything snaps into focus.

[aquarius]

This is something I want to achieve. But I’m wondering what is the purpose of meditation if not to try not to think? To be able to turn off and not-think so easily would eliminate the need for meditation as I understand it, or is it that this state of not-thinking is itself meditation?

One of the problems I’ve heard people encounter while attempting meditation is the intrusion of thoughts or that the mind wanders from that intended stillness, subconsciously becoming active again.

One could view this as the residual effects of an overstimulated existence on the habitual nature of thought patterns. It’s like subliminal shell-shock, which takes time and effort to heal.

[crow]

Meditation is an essential bridge from thinking to not-thinking, and difficult to master.
And, ironically so, like drug-use, in that it will prevent arrival at the no-thought zen-state.
There comes a perfect moment to abandon meditation, and only in its abandonment, is the needle threaded, and the goal achieved.
The goal is one-ness, and can only be arrived at by abandoning that as a goal.
No wonder so few achieve it
You have to want it, above all else, and then, at exactly the right moment, not-want it.