An image popped into my head during meditation today. I imagined that my “ego” or “I” was like a hook. And onto that hook were strings that connected to balloon. Each balloon, a thought. In the beginning before meditation takes hold, the balloons are plentiful and diverse. Each balloon or thought represented whatever was the main theme in life at the moment. But as meditation practice takes hold, the balloons are unhooked. At first, it’s a relief. There seem to be fewer balloons and we seem to be capable of unhooking the balloons/thoughts. But after a while there are now new balloons getting added. These tend to go unnoticed and tend to be about the meditation.
“oh! That was a good session”
“drats! I should do better”
They seem real and they are accepted. At times we’re swimming in these balloons but only looking for other kinds of balloons on the hook.
Non-duality puts a swift end to this. It asks us to pay attention to the hook. Because the premise of the hook is imaginary. There is no I that these thoughts belong to. Realizing this sets us free!