Q: How can we quiet our thoughts?

A: To what purpose? Thoughts are not the enemy here.

Whether thoughts are elevated and spiritual or base and horrible… what could it matter? Are thoughts the same as you? Like a bird in the sky there for a moment, then gone. Yet the sky remains. So too with thought - there for a moment, then gone. You remain as always, untouched and free.

See that the thoughts are not yours, that they appear and disappear without volition. There is no need to quiet that which has no existence apart from your fascination with it.

See that thoughts are not yours. And be done with it.

Q: How can I do this?

A: There is no ten step plan. No one can do this for you. No one can help you, despite the steady growth of teachers, satsangs, traditions, and self-help books to the contrary. But if you feel so inclined, whenever you can, notice the source of everything that appears. It has been said that this is the only method.

Q: But I keep thinking this is wrong, that people are suffering and I should help.

A: Yes, we are all convinced that God keeps making mistakes and it is up to us to correct Her flawed handiwork. No wonder we want a quiet mind - all that noisy ego telling us we are powerful and can save the world. Truly though, is the mantra “I want to help others” not merely another way of saying “I know what others need”? Do you? People have been ‘helping’ others for all of human history, from giving money to beggars to sending in a military to ‘liberate’ the oppressed. Yet has human suffering decreased? Perhaps one Light in the darkness is of more use than a million good intentions? The Buddha helped many, not because of what he did (which according to commentators at the time was very little), but rather because of what he was.

Look from the Source of all that suffering. Then see if anything more is needed, and act accordingly.