When we say to go inside, it is really a misnomer. First, there is no going. Second, there is neither an inside nor an outside.
What we are really indicating is to stop going. Normally, we are constantly projecting. When a thought crosses our space, we project ourselves onto that thought and run with it.
Once we break that association, we are able to see a thought appear and at the same time there is space, and we are aware that we are not that thought. It is an appearance. By staying home, the thought scampers off to find another suitor.
The “practice” consists of this remembering and breaking the habit, the automaton that is our usual way of being. This in turn frees up energy that is normally consumed constantly. It also keeps from wearing out the mental mechanism which is not designed to be running constantly. Then, when it is needed for daily functions, it is fresh, rested, and ready to respond.
-purushottama
This is from the collection of stories, essays, poems and insights that is compiled to form the book From Lemurs to Lamas: Confessions of a Bodhisattva. Order the book Here.