We’re excited to announce the release of Blood-Soaked Buddha/Hard Earth Pascal by Noah Cicero, and narrated by Sara Morsey. This book is entirely unique, and there’s a very real chance you will become a better version of yourself after listening. Thanks so much to Trident Press, Noah Cicero and the amazing narrator Sara Morsey. We all had a lot of fun with this one. Now you go enjoy an excerpt from the new audiobook, Blood-Soaked Buddha/Hard Earth Pascal below. Then go get the book!
Excerpt:
2.
Mental Chatter
We have thoughts, this ticker of information zipping in our minds all day. We are taught that all thoughts matter, that every piece of info our minds shoot at us is real and that we have to be concerned with everything. We are taught that our ruminations matter.
But they don’t.
We have thoughts in case we need one.
We have hands in case we need to pick something up.
We have feet in case we need to walk.
We have eyes in case we need to look at something.
We have ears in case we need to hear something.
The mind is a part of our body, just like the other parts. The mind doesn’t need to be used all the time.
The following is how we often use the mind in a terrible way:
It is a nice boring hour with friends. Everyone decides to go to a store and get corn dogs. Everyone is smiling and happy. You look at the corn dog in your hand, and it triggers a memory of your dead grandpa that you loved very much. You become sad, stop laughing, and start saying miserable things to everyone, ruining the hour for everyone. You do this because you view every piece of mental chatter as important. But really you could have let the thought of your grandpa go through your head and continued on with new thoughts. Instead, you chose to dwell on the grandpa corn dog memory, ruining the good time you were having with your friends. There was an- other alternative. You could have smiled and secretly thought about the fun times you had with grandpa before mentally returning to the situation at hand.
Our brains are made of meat. Our brains have no interest in facts. Our brains just shoot thoughts out, hoping they help you get around so you don’t get into major accidents.
This is a brain’s primary focus:
You are driving, trying to get to a new place. Your brain says, “a right on Sahara Avenue and then a left at Valley View Street, then it should be on your right.”
You are on a first date. “Okay, comb your hair, put on a nice shirt, which shirt is the best? Okay, the purple looks good. I’ll wear the purple one.”
You are at work. “The store sold forty five bags of chips last week, the week before it sold fifty. I’ll order fifty-three bags this week.”
Thoughts concerning partner. “My partner just got a raise at work. I want to celebrate this in some way because they worked hard and I love them. I’ll take them to a movie and dinner on Thursday when we both have the day off.”
Or creative thoughts. “I think this painting should have more gray. Gray would bring out the blues.”
Those are thoughts that lead to concrete happenings in reality. Those thoughts correspond with reality. Reality is being mirrored in the mind of the agent, then the agent makes the thoughts into reality.
Thoughts that don’t matter:
Imagining your ex having sex with their new partner.
Thinking about your death when you are twenty-two and in perfect health, like, even thinking about what song should be played at the funeral.
Daydreaming about becoming a rock star even though you know you will never join a band because you either don’t play an instrument or have self-esteem issues you have no plan of ever getting over.
Insanely complex thoughts about how you are going to one-up somebody at work.
Complex conspiracy theories on how the world is personally finding ways to make sure your life is horrible.
Remembering someone that died, focusing all your thoughts on the dead person, crying all the time about it, instead of participating in the lives of the people around you.
Ruminating on personal failures that happened years ago and no one even remembers. Ruminating on how your parents were unloving, but you are 40 and live thousands of miles from your parents.
Ruminating about money and bills. If you can’t pay your bills, you can’t pay them. If you can pay them, it takes, like, five minutes to write a check. There is no need to think about money for longer than five minutes. I guess you could write out a budget, but how long does that take? Twenty minutes.
These thoughts aren’t real. Let these thoughts pass through the head.
Pass right through.
Don’t even wave at them. Don’t even look at these thoughts. Your brain is just shooting thoughts out. The fun of life is not found in thoughts.
Most of your thoughts are misery.
The joy of life is found in full body experience. That is why swimming or being in nature or having sex is so much fun. These are full body experiences. When a person is in the forest, all five senses are delighted. They’re getting exercise, hearing birds and squirrels, seeing beautiful rock formations and trees. They feel soft breezes hit their skin, smell trees instead of car exhaust and garbage. Their whole body is in it, delighting in it.
When you are swimming, your whole body is experiencing the water. Bodies love to float and wiggle around in water.
When you’re having sex, your whole body is enthused. The sight of naked bodies, the smell of your lover, your sense of taste, tongues wiggling around on the person you love, whole bodies moving, crashing into each other. The body delights.
Create your own versions of these experiences. I know people who love archery, people who love basketball or soccer or rock climbing or acting. Personally, my body delights in nature, swimming, and sex, and these activities require paying almost no attention to my thoughts. The mental chatter in my mind is very low on the list of priorities when I hike or swim or have sex. My intuition is being used. My body is being used. I’m just having fun. How many people are there that destroy the simple fun events of life with mental chatter? Maybe you are one of them. Instead of enjoying nature, they bring all their ruminations about life to the trail. Instead of peacefully hiking, they start racing up the mountain trying to one-up you and the other hikers. Instead of enjoying sex, they bring all these weird anxieties into it, or try to turn it into a porn video they once saw, instead of just enjoying the thrill of being naked and together.
When we are obsessed more with our thoughts than real life, it is misery, not only for you but for everyone around you. How are you going to have fun and participate in reality if you won’t let go and enjoy what is happening around you?
Your thoughts aren’t reality. They are just blah blah blah blah.
If you let go of all the miseries, if you make it through the dark night, you one day end up eating a sandwich. The sandwich falls apart. You smile and put the sandwich back together. You finish the sandwich, then sit there giggling.
