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This article is one of the top results for searches related to Alan Watts' "muddy water" quote. Thanks for reading! - Jon, December 2019 We keep this site ad-free for our readers. If you get value from what we write, click the link at the end of this article to learn about "Your inner narrative."  "Muddy water is best cleared by leaving it alone." - Alan WattsThe above picture and quote have been making the rounds on social media. This is only a snippet, however. Here is the entire quote: Furthermore, as muddy water is best cleared by leaving it alone, it could be argued that those who sit quietly and do nothing are making one of the best possible contributions to a world in turmoil. It comes from Watts' book "The Way of Zen," and this particular passage is discussing how most people in modern society view something like "sitting and meditating" as a waste of time. To the contrary, the usual view is things need to be fixed in our lives (and the world), and in order to fix them we need to think more and do more. Sitting and meditating doesn't lend itself to either of those! Watts makes this observation to support his original quote: "Yet it should be obvious that action without wisdom, without clear awareness of the world as it really is, can never improve anything." The emphasis here is "clear awareness of the world as it really is." The average person is exposed to tens of thousands of thoughts every day, and we find ourselves at the mercy of an inner narrative that comments on, labels, and judges everything (including ourselves!). Reality gets buried under all this mental noise. Put simply: we don't see things as they are, we see things as our minds present them. Or, as I'm fond of saying, "There's what's happening, and there's the stories our minds tells us about what's happening - the two rarely match." We all get lost in thoughts and swept away by emotions, and we all tend to follow our minds wherever they lead. It becomes an endless cycle, and reinforces the belief that the answers to life's problems are "do more," "try harder," "go faster." But, you can't solve the problems created by thinking with more thinking. That's important, and bears repeating: You can't solve the problems created by thinking with more thinking.That's why sitting and meditating is important. You are training yourself not to get caught up in thoughts, emotions, and mind-made activity. And, when you are able to consistently move your attention away from the mental noise, you create space that allows you to see reality clearly - without the filters and constructs your mind adds to it. This, in turn, helps you be more skillful in your behavior (decisions, actions, reactions). Another way to say it is, moving your attention away from the mental noise is analogous to leaving muddy water alone: you are left with a clear view of reality (unclouded by thoughts you are no longer indulging), just like you are left with clear water (unclouded by the sediment that settles to the bottom). Why do we struggle?If you're like the rest of us, you spend a lot of time trying to “fix” everything that’s wrong in your life. But, you tend to ignore your mind, which is more often than not the root cause of those problems you're trying to fix.
We experience every single moment of life with our minds. And, it's our minds that create the majority of our struggles and suffering. Reality is, no matter where you go or what you do, you can’t escape your mind. The good news is, you don't have to! You only need to understand how your mind works, and learn to stop getting lost in the non-stop thoughts running through your head. We wrote “Your inner narrative” to help you do exactly that, and you can read more about it here (includes a free preview). Comments are closed.
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