You’re out in a small boat, in the middle of the ocean. A storm is brewing; the sky darkens, the wind howls, and 60-foot-high waves loom above you. From your perspective on the surface of the ocean, it seems that the whole ocean is in chaos and upheaval. Your small rowboat is at the storm’s mercy, and there is little to protect you from the elements.
Now zoom out. In reality, the ocean beneath you is 2 miles deep. If you look at a cross-section, you can see that the storm affects the surface and a small depth below it, but the deeper you go, the quieter, stiller, and more peaceful the water becomes. The ocean is active on the surface, yet utterly still at its depths. Even if the waves were 200 or 300 feet high, they still wouldn’t disturb the natural silence of the deep.
Your mind is like that ocean. The surface of the mind is the active, thinking mind, and everything you’re thinking about on any given day are the waves. A thousand things might be on your mind at once – deadlines, to-do lists, errands, appointments – but no matter how high the waves roll, there is always, always silence deep within you.
And that deep place of silence and stillness is actually brimming with inner peace, inner happiness, inner inspiration… just waiting for you to access it. It’s just a matter of getting there and bringing a little back up to the surface with you. And that’s where the Transcendental Meditation technique comes in handy.
The TM technique is a vehicle – a submarine, if you will – with which anybody can dive within themselves and access the level of the mind that is always peaceful, always blissful, always alert … the list goes on.
Unlike a submarine, though, it doesn’t take a long time to learn to master it. You learn how to dive within on your first day of instruction.