The mind and the child
In many ways, the mind is like a child. Its incessant needs disallow us from having clarity in thought. When the child or the mind play the biggest roles in our life, we tend to become scatterbrained, unable to think, forgetful, numbed, and slow. Something inside of us that drives us to complete our tasks at hand is interrupted so many times that it just gives up. And you have this constant feeling of "I haven't done what I need to get done" "I have no time."
Like the child, the mind is demanding, needs to be trained, and is happy to consume all our living hours: giving us no time to reassess, unless we take time away from it. Both jump from one topic to another in a random fashion, for no rhyme or reason. Both play subtle games that can't be easily caught, and even when caught, the games can't be easily won.
The child and the mind: the two things most capable of giving us happiness, while also the most capable of giving us distress. Can't do without them, but its a pain to constantly have to give them attention.
Like the child, the mind is demanding, needs to be trained, and is happy to consume all our living hours: giving us no time to reassess, unless we take time away from it. Both jump from one topic to another in a random fashion, for no rhyme or reason. Both play subtle games that can't be easily caught, and even when caught, the games can't be easily won.
The child and the mind: the two things most capable of giving us happiness, while also the most capable of giving us distress. Can't do without them, but its a pain to constantly have to give them attention.
posted by Lotus at 7/18/2011 07:07:00 PM
3 Comments:
Are you separate from your mind? This is one of the difficulties. Thought separates itself as the observer who is watching the mind and trying to control the mind. But is the observer different from the thing observed? Is not the controller itself the controlled? This duality is created by thought, which seeing its impermanent nature, creates a permanent entity, the observer, the censor, the self. It may place it on the highest level and give it names like the aatman, supersoul etc. But is it anything more than a bundle of memories? The self is the past, the image you have created of yourself through knowledge and time. The self creates a distance between itself and that which it observes in order to protect itself but this distance is illusory. Only when the self is absent can there be perception of truth, of what is. But one can't struggle to make this happen; any form of effort only strenghtens the self. All you can do is watch and be passively aware without trying to evaluate or control what you see. The controller is the self, the conditioned entity which can only see its own content and cannot percieve the unknown. The unknown can't be recognized because you do not know it.
I know that I am separate from the endless chatter of my mind. That is for sure. That the "atman" could be another "part" of the mind that does not chatter, but observes the chatter, is a distinct possibility. However, it doesn't matter to me how they are separate or how they're actually one one and the same. some differentiation in function and definition is sufficient for me.
If the self is strengthened, why is it unwanted? What happens in your opinion? Does it ruin everything? Why is it so undesirable to let the self be strengthened?
It is very difficult to communicate in general but written communication is even more difficult. The difficulty lies with words. One must really go beyond the words because the word is not the actual thing. The description of something is not that which is described. We get caught in the words and the description and so merely discuss at the verbal, intellectual level, which has no meaning. It is extraordinarily important to see this for if you are caught up in words, then you are lost. So one has to understand the significance of words.
To see the truth or falseness of something, you have to see how it relates to you, how your mind works and not refer to what you have read in books.
The whole religious issue is that of understanding the nature of self. That is the only issue. To say that self is wanted or unwanted is meaningless unless we become aware of its nature. And we can be aware of it only in relationship to ideas and . people. One has an intimation that self centered activity is destructive
Not only because others say so but because you can see what mischief it does in your daily life. Therefore one tries to be not selfish but that is another activity of the self.
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