We Are Not The Mind — Mind The Mind
We think that the mind is king, it is everything. We attribute so much importance to the mind that we think we are the mind. Recall the famous words of Descartes: I think, therefore I am. But is this true? Are we the mind? Of course, life is impossible without thoughts. The moment a person is brain dead and the thinking process of a human being ceases, then everything comes to a stop. It is the mind that creates thoughts that lead to feelings and then actions. But what exactly is the mind? Where is it located? We must also understand that the mind is not the glorified king we think it is, in fact, it is our biggest enemy. If we contemplate, we will realize that the mind itself is an illusion. Therefore, how can we be the mind?
So, what is the mind? It is a thought factory. It is constantly producing thoughts. It produces one thought practically every second and this can sometimes add up to an astounding 50,000 thoughts a day. We have to bring down the number of thoughts the mind produces, the MTR, the Mental Thought Rate, from 50 thoughts a minute to one thought a minute. We must practice being in silence, being still.
While we are aware of our mind, have we ever seen it? The mind, of course, seems to exist. It worries and it wanders. But where is the mind, we cannot find! Has anybody seen an image, a picture of the mind? While it is believed that the mind is in the brain, or is a part of it, thoughts appear to us from every part of the body. Our 5 senses trigger thoughts and thus, even if our toe steps on a small creature, the mind triggers a thought. It seems that all the neurons and the sense receptors of our body are connected to the ‘software’ of the human body – the mind.
The mind is both positive and negative. It creates thoughts that are both productive and destructive. It depends on the raw material that we feed our mind. If we feed the mind with NEP - Negative Energy Poison, then it will produce poisonous, toxic thoughts. Some of the NEP emotions are fear, worry, anxiety, hate, revenge, jealousy, and anger. On the other hand, if we feed our mind with positive emotions like courage, confidence, optimism, enthusiasm, faith, hope, compassion, and love, our mind will produce PEP - Positive Energy Power that will produce positive thoughts. Therefore, we have a choice to control what we think, although most of us are unaware of how our thought factory works.
We also have another invaluable weapon which is the intellect. The mind is the subtle part of our body. The subtle body constitutes 4 different entities: the Mind, Intellect, Memory, and Ego. The intellect is the tool to discriminate thoughts. It is a gift unique to human beings. It helps us differentiate good from bad, the myth from the truth.
Therefore, while the mind often jumps like a monkey from one thought to another, it is the intellect that can control it. It also discriminates between the thoughts that our mind creates. Thus, we must sharpen the sword of our intellect. The mind jumps into a past that is gone, and a future not yet born. It is the intellect that can stop such thoughts from becoming feelings that will fill us with regret and worry, making us live miserably. Most people confuse the mind with the intellect, though as we can see, they are completely different. Unless the mind is reined by our intellect, it will gallop with the 5 horses of our senses and become uncontrollable. It is only a properly disciplined mind that can think right and lead us to our destination.
To truly live a meaningful life, our biggest challenge is to understand the mind and then take charge of it. The mind can be a very powerful weapon if controlled by a well- developed intellect. It is this mind that will ultimately create thoughts on how we should live life. If we want to make the best of our life, we must learn to control the mind. We must make the monkey mind, a monk. Then we can introspect and contemplate life, as we live with peace, joy, and bliss. It is when we have no mind, when we become thoughtless, when we are in the state of Consciousness, when we become the observer, the witness, that we can be enlightened with the truth, that we can be in union with the Divine.
