Let the disturbance die of neglect

When the mind sets itself to systematic meditation, there is inevitably a reactionary tendency for irrelevant and contrary thoughts to emerge. This is the law of the mind, and the aspirant should not be upset by the appearance of many contrary and unwholesome thoughts that had hitherto never made their appearance. Meditation involves bringing the subconscious contents of the mind to the forefront of consciousness. It is useless to waste energy by trying to combat and repress disturbing thoughts directly. Any such attempt involves giving further attention to them; and they feed upon the very attention given for the purpose of repressing them. It is best to ignore them and turn to the object of meditation as early as possible. By recognizing the irrelevance of disturbing thoughts and the relative importance of the object of meditation, it becomes possible to let the disturbing thoughts die through sheer neglect.