Destructive interference of waves: if you add the top wave and the middle wave, they cancel each other out.
The Goal of Spiritual Practice Is Peace of Mind
The Yoga Sutras describe peace of mind better than anything I know: yogascittavritti nirodhaha (Yoga is the complete settling of the fluctuations of the mind).
This is the goal of yoga, and there are many ways to move in this direction. For example, I’ve been practicing Transcendental Meditation since I was six, and I experience a distinct settling of my mind when I sit with my eyes closed doing this meditation. In this case, the mind settles with the proper use of a mantra, or sound.
The Work of Byron Katie is also a form of meditation, though its method is quite different. You don’t necessarily sit with your eyes closed. You don’t use a mantra. But the goal is the same: a more settled state of mind.
Let’s See How This Works
A stressful thought is like a wave. It is like the crest of the wave in the diagram. That crest is an agitation of the mind that arises from what used to be a flat line. In fact, the more you think a stressful thought the bigger it gets because the thought waves reinforce each other.
Look at the diagram below. If two waves are lined up so that their crests line up, then the crests become twice as high. This is called constructive interference of waves. This is what happens when you reinforce your story and go into justification. The stressful thoughts get bigger.
The Work Does The Opposite
Instead of allowing the mind to go into justification and reinforcement of its story, The Work gives the mind a chance to consider if the opposite could be true.
A turnaround of The Work introduces an equal and opposite thought which cancels out the original stressful thought. The crest of the stressful thought lines up with the trough of the turnaround and they cancel each other. This is called destructive interference of waves. The result is that the mind comes back to its resting state, which feels like peace.
How Much Of The Turnaround Do You Need?
The key word is balance.
If you have a stressful thought then, when you apply the turnaround, it balances it. But if you don’t apply enough of the turnaround (don’t find enough genuine examples), then the original stressful thought won’t get canceled out completely. Likewise, if you apply too much of the turnaround (find examples that swing to the other extreme), you will start to make a new wave in the opposite direction. In other words, the trough will become larger and larger.
Having too big of a trough is just as stressful as having too big of a crest. Both are fluctuations. Neither is peaceful.
So The Work is always relative. It’s a constant balancing of opposites.
Have a great week,
Todd
“When the mind wants to prove that it’s right, it can get further into a rut, like a stuck car. Trying out turnarounds and considering whether they may possibly be true is like rocking your car back and forth to free it from the mud.” Byron Katie, I Need Your Love, Is That True?
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