Question: If we cannot force a mind to be quiet, how does a quiet mind come about that is not forced?

Answer: The mind is capable of seeing that what is disturbing it is itself an opposite. Here I am, and I am so concerned about tomorrow — my mind just won’t stop thinking about tomorrow. In the instant that the mind thinks about tomorrow, it has to create a sense of self that sustains the fear. The self that is brought into existence by the disturbance cannot end the disturbance. When one understands that resistance to the disturbance is the disturbance, the mind naturally quiets down.

No opposite can cancel itself. Just like a Chinese finger puzzle… what happens the more you pull? The tighter it gets. So can the answer be to pull harder? But the self that pulls can’t imagine what life would be if it weren’t struggling. When you see that nothing you struggle with in thought can be put to rest by the thought that struggles with it, the mind will quiet itself.