Your mind will answer most questions if you learn to relax and

The enigmatic writer William S. Burroughs, a mind that moved between chaos and clarity, once spoke these words of deep wisdom: “Your mind will answer most questions if you learn to relax and wait for the answer.” Though born in the modern age, Burroughs here touches upon a truth known since the dawn of thought—that stillness is the gateway to understanding, and that wisdom is not something seized by force, but something revealed through patience. His words are a whisper from the ancients disguised in the voice of a modern rebel: to truly know, one must first learn to be still.

To relax and wait is not an act of laziness or apathy—it is an act of profound trust. The human mind, like a restless sea, cannot reflect the heavens when it is storming with noise and agitation. In the depths of silence, however, the waves settle, and truth begins to emerge, calm and clear. Burroughs understood that the answers we seek—to our doubts, fears, and confusions—are often already within us, buried beneath the constant turbulence of overthinking. If we quiet the noise, the mind will speak. It is not the act of questioning that brings revelation, but the art of listening to the quiet voice beneath thought.

This wisdom echoes that of the great philosophers of old. Lao Tzu, the sage of the Tao, once said: “The muddy water clears itself when allowed to rest.” And so it is with the mind. The harder we struggle to grasp the truth, the further it drifts; the moment we release our frantic need for control, insight returns. The ancient Greeks called this sophrosyne—the state of calm self-control, in which the mind finds harmony with itself and the world. Burroughs’ modern phrasing is but another expression of this eternal principle: that clarity arises from composure, and that wisdom flows naturally to those who are patient enough to receive it.

Consider the story of Isaac Newton, who, after years of restless pursuit of the mysteries of nature, sat quietly beneath an apple tree. In that moment of stillness, as legend tells, the falling fruit stirred in him the revelation of gravity—a law that would transform the world. It was not during struggle or striving that his mind found the answer, but during rest. The truth was already there, waiting to be recognized. Newton’s story, whether literal or symbolic, reveals what Burroughs understood: the mind’s power to self-reveal when allowed to breathe. For insight is not an explosion of force; it is the gentle unfolding of awareness.

Burroughs himself was a man of turbulence, wrestling with the storms of addiction, art, and identity. Yet even he, amidst his chaos, saw that the mind holds its own medicine. To relax—to cease the endless chase of the intellect—is to allow the unconscious to work its subtle alchemy. The human spirit, when free from tension, connects to something larger—the river of intuition that flows beneath all thought. The mystics call it divine guidance; the scientists call it the subconscious; but both speak of the same mystery: the silent intelligence within that knows, if only we would learn to wait.

To wait for the answer is an act of faith. In our age of haste, we seek instant solutions, mistaking speed for wisdom. But the most profound truths come slowly, ripening in the quiet spaces between action and reflection. The artist waits for inspiration, the philosopher for understanding, the warrior for the right moment to strike. Patience, then, is not weakness—it is power held in stillness. It is the strength to trust that life, in its rhythm and timing, will unveil what you need to know when you are ready to receive it.

So let this be your lesson, traveler of the mind: when confusion clouds your thoughts, do not chase the answer with desperation. Instead, breathe. Sit with your question. Let it rest in the silence of your being. Do not force your mind to speak—let it whisper. The truth you seek will rise like the morning sun, slow but certain, illuminating what was once dark. For your mind, like all of nature, obeys the law of rhythm: there is a time for asking, a time for waiting, and a time for knowing.

And when that knowing comes, it will not be from the outside world, but from the quiet within. Remember then the words of William S. Burroughs: “Your mind will answer most questions if you learn to relax and wait for the answer.” To relax is to trust; to wait is to allow; to listen is to awaken. And in this awakening lies the greatest victory—not over others, but over the chaos of one’s own restless mind.