0:00 throughout his story the problem is people are very good at solving problems but they tend to solve the wrong problems if you don't know the truth you waste all your life trying to solve the wrong problem and I realized first that I I know almost nothing about my mind I have no control of my mind on a very deep level because you can never be happy if you don't know the truth about your life [Music] throughout hisory the problem is people are very good at solving problems but they tend to solve the wrong problems like they spend very little time deciding what problem we need to solve like 5% of the effort goes in choosing
0:47 the problem then 95% of the effort goes in solving the problem we we we we focus on and then we realize oh we actually solved the wrong problem and it just creates new problems down the road that we now need to and then we do it the same again and you know wisdom often comes from Silence from taking time from slowing down let's really understand the situation before we rush to make a decision and you know it starts on the individual level that so many people for instance think oh my main problem is in life is that I don't have enough money and then they spend the next 50 years making lots of money and even if they succeed they wake up at a certain point and said oops I think I chose the wrong problem I
1:35 think it wasn't yeah I need some money but it wasn't the my main problem in life you've often said Clarity is power and I think your superpowers your ability to kind of stand at 10,000 ft and look down on humanity and the planet and identify what's most important in these macro Trends how you cultivate that clarity through meditation and your you know very kind of like profound uh practice of mindfulness we go through throughout our life and we take in a lot of junk whether we like it or not fills our mind and I I meditate 2 hours every day so I can tell you there is a lot of junk in
2:21 there a lot of hate and fear and greed that I picked up over the years so I began when I was doing my PhD in Oxford a friend recommended that I go on a Meditation Retreat or a vasana meditation and for a year he kind of nagged me to go in with and I said no this is kind of mystical mumbo jumbo I don't want to to to and eventually I went and it was amazing because it was the most remote thing for mysticism that I could imagine um because I it was a 10 days Retreat and on the very first evening of the retreat the teacher esen goenka the only instruction he gave he didn't tell me to kind of visualize some goddess or do this man nothing he just said what is
3:07 really happening right now bring your attention to your nostrils to your nose and just feel whether the breath is going in or whether the breath is going out it's the only exercise like a a pure observation of reality what amazed me was my inability to do it like I would bring my attention to to the nose and try to feel is it going in is it going out and after about 5 Seconds some thought some memory some fantasy would arise in the mind and would just hijack my attention and for the next two or 3 minutes I would be rolling in this fantasy or memory until I realize hey I actually need to observe my breath and I would come back to the Breath Again 5
3:52 seconds maybe 10 seconds I will be able oh now it's coming in it's coming in oh now it's going out it's going out and again some memory would come in H check me and I realized first that I I know almost nothing about my mind I have no control of my mind and my mind is just like this Factory that constantly produces fantasies and Illusions and delusions that come between me and reality like if I can't observe the breath going in and out of my nostrils because some fantasy comes up what hope do I have of understanding AI or understanding the conflict in the Middle East obviously your ability to think clearly and right so articul about these
4:39 ideas is very much a product of this practice absolutely I mean without the practice I would not be able to write such books for the last 24 years I have this daily exercise of I devote two hours every day to just what is really happening right now I sit with closed eyes and just try and Focus let go of all all the mindmade stories and feel what is happening to the breath what is happening to my body the reality of the present moment I also go for a long Meditation Retreat usually every year of between 30 days and 60 days of meditation uh because again one of the things you realize there is so much noise in the mind that just to calm it
5:24 down to the level that you can really start meditating seriously it takes three or 4 days of continuous meditation just so much noise so long Retreats they enable to have this really deep observation of reality which is impossible most of life we spend like detached from reality humans are really interested in knowing the truth about ourselves about our lives about the world on a very deep level because you can never be happy if you don't know the truth about your life life are because you will not know what are the sources of misery again you will focus on your life if you don't know the truth you waste all your life trying to solve the
6:10 wrong problems information isn't truth truth is a it's it's a costly a rare and precious thing it is the foundation of of knowledge and wisdom so if you never try meditation absolutely try it out and and and give it a real chance it's not like you go for like a few hours and it doesn't work okay give it up like give it a real chance but if you want to build a good society and you want to build a good personal life you must have a a strong basis in the truth and it's difficult again because M information is is not the truth and invest in it it's worthwhile uh to have a practice whatever it is that gets you connected with reality that gets you connected
6:55 with the truth [Music]
