Jonathan Swift, the 18th century author who wrote Gulliver’s Travels, said this and it pertains directly to a central objective of esoteric spirituality. While my book is filled with discussions of abstract ideas that seem far away from the practical, down to earth issues we all face every day, the insights it has drawn from the great wisdom traditions of the world pertain directly to where you are and what you are doing right now. If you have ever tried to meditate, even for a short time, one of the first things you realize is that your mind is chaotic, filled with a jumble of ceaseless thoughts. Until this initial attempt to sit silently and concentrate on a single object, you may not have realized just how out-of-control your mind was. To truly be present, to discover what is real in our daily lives, we cannot be thinking about something else. Nevertheless, that is the case almost all the time.

Why don’t you give this a try? The next time you are talking to someone else, see if you listening? The chances are good that, while you may be hearing their spoken words, your mind is busy formulating what you will say in response! We are all guilty of doing this and that is the reason we seldom are blessed with someone who really listens to us. And even if you decide to be attentive to the next person you have a conversation with, it will become quickly apparent that the thinking we do while they are talking is a very hard habit to break. It is reasonable to assume that if our listening is not diluted by a mind busy with thought, the responses we give to others will be more effective and helpful. They would be based on what the person actually said, rather than on our preconceptions of what they need to hear. When you see how true this is while you are listening, you will begin to understand how it characterizes just about everything else you do as well. If you want to really live your life, you must find a better way, and the great wisdom traditions of the world are a great place to look.