Tranquility of The Mind According To Philosophers

Who wouldn't want a tranquil mind? Although many don't even realize it, I think most people do. It's the reason we 're stuff ourselves with tasty but unhealty food, smoke, binge-watch series on Netflix and checking out our smartphones every 5 minutes.We want an escape from our overburdened minds that continuosly torment us with patterns of repetitive thinking about what happened yesterday, and what could happen tomorrow.

I had this conversation (with myself) in which the discussion turned to various philosophical ideas that can be used to relax our minds which essentially makes us feel less stressed by our mundane everyday life. Curious still and not knowing fully of the matter, I turned to various philosophers for answers.

Let's think backwards for starters now. If our aim is to attain a mind that is silent, we should first find out what exactly causes a noisy mind. The answer is very straightforward: Thinking a lot causes a noisy mind. Excessive thinking habits can be a problem and not thinking will complicate life further, thus balance, we must find. 

Most thinkers who have achieved inner peace argued that the manner in which we use our minds defines how we feel. However, philosophical views about how that works are different from one philosopher to another. 

Lao Tzu

Originating in ancient China, Taoism 's ideology considers the roller coaster journey of life as something we must embrace in its entirety. Lao Tzu (Tao Te Ching 's alleged author) emphasizes that life is constantly changing. We must therefore embrace change in order to embrace life. Lao Tzu wrote: 

If you realize that all things change, there is nothing you will try to hold on to.

                        Tao Te Ching, 74. Lao Tzu.

So we should let go, let ourselves be full of life, instead of swimming against the current, and to only act or react when necessary. Not only does it conserve energy; it also cleanses our worries, because we are completely absorbed in the present moment.

Epictetus

The Stoics observed that the desire and aversion to things beyond our control are the main causes of a noisy mind. Epictetus emphasizes that we should unconditionally accept everything that is beyond our control. 

Also, if we’re able to see good in every situation, it doesn’t really matter how life has been and how life will turn out, so there’s no need to worry or ruminate.

Therefore, we should not chase one thing or seek out other things but instead, we should accept fully what comes to us.

Written quote from Epictetus:

Remember that you must behave in life as at a dinner party. Is anything brought around to you? Put out your hand and take your share with moderation. Does it pass by you? Don’t stop it. Is it not yet come? Don’t stretch your desire towards it, but wait till it reaches you.

Epictetus, Enchridion, 15

The idea of Amor Fati, which can be translated as the "love of fate" is a useful reminder to embrace whatever happens.

Seneca

We should not let our minds stray so often outside of the current moment in order to achieve tranquility. Unfortunately , people are always reminiscing on past events and worrying about what might occur in the future even if they happened many years ago. Stoic professor Seneca said

Wild animals run from the dangers they actually see, and once they have escaped they worry no more. We, however, are tormented alike by what is past and what is to come.

Seneca, Moral Letters to Lucilius, 5-9:

Alan Watts

A calm mind emerge when there is no struggle. The well-known philosopher Alan Watts has argued that thoughts put a burden on our minds because that goes slower than what our consciousness picks up through the senses. Thinking therefore need efforts in order to keep in sync with reality.

The more we tend to live in a world of thought, the more we tend to live in an abstract world, that is removed from and has a gap between it, and the real world of nature.

Alan Watts

Watts observed that, as a result of this, we tend to live in a world that is unsatisfying and lacks vitality.

Søren Kierkegaard

An remarkably close argument was drawn by a Danish scholar in the 19th century. Søren Kierkegaard is a genius who wrote the book "Either / Or" . And there is a chapter that tells the story of the tormented soul titled "The Unhappiest Ma". Kierkegaard said that the most miserable man is the man who has the fullness of his conscious, in some manner, outside of himself. He said:

The unhappy man is always absent from himself, never present to himself. But one can be absent, obviously, either in the past or in the future. This adequately circumscribes the entire territory of the unhappy consciousness.

Kierkegaard, Either/Or, The Unhappiest Man

Kierkegaard 's theory touched on the nature of noisy human mind as when we travel in time time, far from reality : in the future or in the past.

Eckhart Tolle

This is surprisingly similar to Eckhart Tolle’s teachings about living in the present moment, and I quote:

Most humans are never fully present in the now, because unconsciously they believe that the next moment must be more important than this one. But then you miss your whole life, which is never not now.

Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now

 

If life doesn't exist today, it is an act outside of life to think of something else than the present. It is sometimes necessary to leave life for a while, to plan ahead, or to learn from past errors.

However, we know that when planning becomes anxiety and when learning from misunderstanding turns to repeated reflection, leading to destructive emotions such as disgrace, guilt, and remorse.

So, how can a calm mind be achieved? The solution is incredibly straightforward: think less.

Hinduism

Here’s a quote from the Hindu scripture The Bhagavad Gita:

For the one who has conquered the mind, the mind is the best of friends; but for the one who has failed to do so, his very mind will be his greatest enemy. 

Bhagavad Gita, 6

Eastern traditions are very much concerned with training the mind, treating it like a muscle, whereby the more training you carry out, the more powerful it will become. 

Buddhism

The Buddhists calls a loud mind as a monkey mind because like a monkey, it springs from from one place to another like our minds do. Meditation is a way to calm the monkey mind by watching our emotions to disappear like clouds in the sky.

It takes time to reach a calm mind. Yet we will live in the present moment only with a calm mind and immerse ourself fully into the beautiful dance of life.