Charlotte J. Beck in "Everyday Zen":
If you can just do that for three minutes, that's miraculous. Usually after about a minute we begin to think. Our interest in just being with reality (which is what we have just done) is very low. "You mean that is all there is to zazen?" We don't like that. "We're seeking enlightenment, aren't we?" Our interest in reality is extremely low. No, we want to think. We want to worry through all of our preoccupations. We want to figure life out. And so before we know it we've forgotten all about this moment, and we've drifted off into thinking about something: our boyfriend, our girlfriend, our child, our boss, our current fear…off we go! There's nothing sinful about such fantasizing except that when we're lost in that, we've lost something else. When we're lost in thought, when we're dreaming, what have we lost? We've lost reality. Our life has escaped us.
Beck, Charlotte J.. Everyday Zen: Love and Work (Plus) (p. 26). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.
But I'm wondering: what's so bad about reminiscing, imagining, and such. If I am going to sink into reality on a regular basis, I think I should also dream, fantasize, imagine and figure. You know what Emily Dickinson said, "There is no frigate like a book" or in modern language, "nothing like a friggin' book" (or movie). With those tools, we can visit the moon, Mars, Hades and Paradise. And return!
