The Movies of the Mind

 During the group meditation practice tonight, I felt the distinct sense of being like a radio with a lot of stations going on in mind--and a lot of static. Every now and then, I wondered who is listening to all those stations? In fact, when I am not attaching to the flow of the information coming in through these different channels, there doesn't appear to be a strong sense of me at all. Over time, the thoughts started to seem even a bit absurd, and I was becoming less and less involved in them. It's perhaps like the difference between getting really involved in the events of a movie and merely passing by the theatre to peer into the images. It also makes me wonder how much collectively is involved in getting me into the movie of my mind in the first place.
    Of course, if you think about the movie analogy, movie-makers have to make a lot of logistic decisions to draw their audience into buying the ticket for their movie. They need to consider: what makes 'this' particular movie unique, or exciting, or a 'one of a kind' show? They also need to consider what protagonist they want to create, and how to get the audience to potentially identify with the protagonist and invest in her or his fate. If a movie only consists in unbelievable or simply robotic characters, very few people will pay the ticket to see the movie. In order for thoughts and images to have power in the mind, they would also need to have a similar function.
    The problem is that a lot of time, movies of the mind just keep playing and replaying. For instance, if I am in a disagreement with a colleague, I may end up playing the movie repeatedly to the point where I assume that it's my reality and there is nothing more to it. I am not realizing how I am using the mind actively to believe that the images are truly who I am. In that moment, I am choosing some images to be my reality while rejecting others or ignoring others altogether. I forget that the movie is designed precisely in such a way that it hooks you, and you keep spinning new thoughts and new scenarios only to find yourself getting more and more drawn into the drama.
     Meditation is opposite to this process, because it uses a process of non-attached seeing to take in what is occurring. The movies (and radio stations) are still there but they don't have such a powerful grip on the person.