Clarity and perseverance are difficult in American society because the basis of capitalism is greed and dissatisfaction. There is always a better stereo system, television, car, and shoe. Why should we settle on writing, when next week we can take up hang gliding? The American economic system feeds monkey mind. We stimulate monkey mind when we swing from one preoccupation to the next.
- Natalie Goldberg in Wild Mind: Living the Writer's Life
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There is no ultimate goal in meditation. Meditation is an acceptance of the mind, however it comes to you. And the mind changes all the time, just as the ocean waves change. Sometimes the water is turbulent, sometimes calm. Thoughts rise and then disappear; you don’t grab hold of them. The heart beats, the lungs breathe, and the mind continues to produce thoughts. Even if you’ve practiced for a long time, it will still produce thoughts, but you’re no longer thrown by them. You don’t have control of your mind; it goes where it wants to go. But with practice, you can have a relationship with it.
- Natalie Goldberg in The Sun Magazine
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