Mind The Gap

"Mind the Gap" -- I have a T-shirt from London with that on it. A mug too. It gives me pause to think. About a lot of things. About the mind. About gaps. About gaps in the mind. And, of course, about minding the gap.

In London, and in Athens too, the subways have these big gaps between the platform and the train car. A good sized toddler could drop right through there, disappearing in a sad tragedy. Hence... "Mind the Gap". Apparently, it is deemed to be the parents' responsibility to keep their toddlers on the platform or on the train. And an adult is expected to keep his/her foot on one of those surfaces. Humans are expected to own the responsibility of keeping themselves out of the gap. Mind the Gap. Be aware. Notice where you are. Take responsibility for your place on the planet.

Thinking about the mind, and the constant stream of thoughts, ideas, emotions, memories that flood through. Really, they go in sequence. Mind can't deal with more than one thing at once. It may jump quickly enough that we THINK we are multi-tasking, but actually, we're sequential-tasking really really fast. And sometimes, there is just the tiniest of gaps between the processes. ThoughtIdeaEmotionThoughtThought...Idea. The GAP. In the rare instance when you can catch the gap, the empty space between Thoughts, emotions, ideas... that empty space is a precious gem. It is so hard to mind the gaps in the mind. There are so few, and we aren't trained to notice them. From an early age, we're trained to recite, relate, compare, recall, think, describe. We don't really have a course called "Stillness", though it would create more wisdom than many courses we do subject our children to.

One can mind the gap. One can train the mind to create a bigger gap, and to notice the stillness there. It is like a teleporter, and the soul can slip quickly through that mysteriously small gap into an unknown universe. Indescribable. Returning with a tale that cannot be told. You will know those who have transported through the gap. They wear a steady, radiant smile. There is a way about them that is compassionate, connected, caring, yet not attached or craving.

I think Buddha called it enlightenment. Going through the gap, beyond this world, to experience the greater connection with all life, wherein there really is no gap.

So, Mind the Gap, Mind the Stillness, Still the Mind. And, in the Gap, find the ultimate universal connection.