“Persistent meditation” is an oxymoron. What you resist, persists. So if you are persistent in your meditation then you are resisting something. If you are resisting something then you are not surrendering, which is the whole point of meditation.

Without the mind there is TRUE communication, TRUE calmness, TRUE happiness, and TRUE self-control. But it is the TRUE self that takes control rather than the false self: the mind. The mind is a tool to be used by the TRUE self. We cannot be in control if we identify with the tool rather than the one using it. Meditation is a surrendering of the mind in order to step back into the observer mode of our true self that utilizes the mind as the divine gift that it is.

In order to “correct your mind,” as Lao-Tzu said, you must step back and become an observer of your mind. Meditation can be very helpful in this regard.

By the way, I thoroughly loved your high-speed train analogy!