A friend reported to me earlier today that she had temporarily lost her mind. She said it as though it were a bad thing.

But I was instantly jealous. Frankly, I frequently wish that my mind would just fuck off and leave me alone. I have done a lot of thinking and I have come to the conclusion that I do far too much of it. Enough is enough. There has to be a better way.

So I am trying to get a quasi-religious movement up and running based around the idea of non-thinking. Neutral thoughtlessness, if you like. I understand the difficulties, especially at the moment, with rampant pandemics, climate change, the threat of nuclear war and so on, seemingly engulfing us all.

Yes.

As I say – I understand the difficulties.

But I haven’t given it much thought.

*

Anyway, getting back to my friend……. I wrote her a little poem to cheer her up and to perhaps encourage her to embrace her mindlessness, at least for a little while. The gift of thought comes as something of a mixed blessing, in my opinion.

*

This is what I had to say….

I lost my mind just yesterday

I left it on a boat

When I jumped into the ocean

To see if I could float

The waves came washing over me

And I begun to sink

You can’t remember how to swim

When you’ve forgotten how to think

Drowning was quite wonderful

I caught a glimpse of God

He asked if I was ready

And I gave a little nod

But they rescued me eventually

And put me in a bed

They gave me dry pyjamas

And put my mind back in my head

They gave me lots of tablets

And told me I was good

So when I exclaimed, “this isn’t right!”

They never understood

For as soon as I was thinking

My mood began to fall

And I missed when I was sinking

Without a care at all.

***