One of the main challenges and purposes of meditation is addressing the ‘monkey mind’, that inner dialog that just yakkity yak goes on an on. As we’ve discussed in an earlier post, a problem with this inner monologue is that when we’re paying attention to it, when we’re internally talking to ourselves, our ability to focus our attention on anyone and anything else is severely compromised.
Indeed, although this inner conversation is frequently called the ‘inner dialog’, it is in fact an inner monologue. So then, one of the purposes of meditation is to get a better handle on our inner monologue, to not be quite so enslaved to it, so we can do a better job of paying attention to whom and what is around us.
That inner monologue does have its uses, however — that’s how we engage in ‘discursive thinking’ (reasoning). And language is how we communicate with each other — conversation is an externalization of that inner monologue — turning it into a true dialog with someone else.
Maybe there’s yet another way we can put that inner monologue to use: include God in it! When you’re alone, and you catch yourself engaging in inner monologue, invite God to the conversation!
After all, implicit in `inner monologue by ourselves’ is that we are separate from everything — the Cartesian model of “I’m a mind and everyone and everything else is out there and separate from me.” But, if you invite God to the conversation every time you catch yourself in inner monologue, you stop being separate.
Perhaps this is just another way of describing “pray without ceasing.”
As I try to put this idea into practice, this simple idea (simple in concept, not in practice!) significantly realigns how I see Life. Because when I include God in my inner dialog, I can’t but help to start seeing things from Her point of view a bit more. Which is quite different from my default Cartesian point of view that it’s all about Me Me Me and I’m the center of everything.
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