Table of Contents
What is the Mind?
Psychologists all over the world are overcomplicating the question of what the mind is.
The answer is so simple but we are taught to look for complexity, so complexity is what we get. Yet the greatest truths are so simple because that’s a hallmark of truth, simplicity.
So the mind is simply the sum total of all your thoughts and emotions.
This includes beliefs, ideas, identities, and every other subform of thoughts and emotions.
You don’t have to be a genius to see this. It’s right in front of us and self-evident.
Some will have difficulties accepting this because, again, we have been made to believe that everything worthy of investigation must be complex and confusing.
The funny thing is that we are trying to understand the mind by using the mind. So if your mind is looking for complexity in mind, your mind will satisfy your search.
If you want complexity, you’ll never see simplicity.
But if we accept the simplicity of what the mind is, we have a much easier job transcending the mind, and thus re-discovering the true Self.
If you keep asking, “What is the mind?” you’ll be busy chasing a phantom.
To reach ultimate Freedom, Happiness, Love, Peace, or whatever you want to call it (all with capital letters), we have to turn towards the Self, because the Self is synonymous with all of the above.
But when we focus our energy on the mind and try to understand it, we are turning towards the not-Self or ego, and are thus strengthening it.
If Happiness is what you’re after, leave the mind alone. The mind is just a survival mechanism composed of programs (thoughts and emotions).
You might wonder where the brain comes in in all of this? Well, one way to see it is that the mind is the ethereal brain. So the brain is the physical manifestation of the mind.
See the mind for what it is and then be your Self.
What is the Subconscious Mind?
The seeming complexity of the mind has brought us to a point where we have divided the mind into two parts. The conscious and the subconscious/unconscious mind.
This is another topic of research for psychologists, psychotherapists, psychiatrists, neuroscientists, brain scientists, cognitive scientists, and so on.
Generally, the conscious mind is considered as the smaller of the two, while about 95-99% of our behavior is directed by the subconscious mind. So this is also where the majority of our thoughts are hanging around.
Now, what is the subconscious mind?
Let’s stay with simplicity, shall we?
The subconscious mind is the sum total of all the thoughts and emotions that we are currently not looking at.
Easy, right?
Now, many people believe that the key to understanding ourselves lies in the subconscious mind. If we could just see what’s going on in there, we would understand our self-destructive behaviors and neurotic tendencies.
They are not wrong.
But it’s way more profound than that. If you, at this moment, could make your whole subconscious mind conscious, you would be free.
And when our desire to be free is strong enough, we will dig up these subconscious habits and begin to let go of them.
Here is another fact of simplicity. To let go of a subconscious thought or habit, all you have to do is make it conscious. Then you’ll automatically start letting go of it.
Isn’t that great news?
We don’t have to analyze every thought. We just see it and wave it goodbye.
The more we do this, the more of our Freedom we are revealing. Freedom or Happiness is already there, it’s just obscured by thoughts and emotions.
Transcending the Mind
Before you start the arduous task of digging up your whole subconscious mind, know that this is not necessary.
Another and more elegant route to transcend the mind is quieting it.
When we’re able to get the mind totally quiet, what’s leftover is the infinite Self, Freedom, Happiness.
Every thought is a thing of limitation. Therefore when we quiet the mind, we still these limiting thoughts and the infinite Being we are shines forth.
So basically there are two ways for transcending the mind.
The first is the negative way. We eliminate the negative by going into the mind and seeing the cause of the problem. When we bring the thought that caused the problem into consciousness, we naturally let go of it.
The second way is the positive way, which is usually much faster. Quiet the mind and see who and what you really are, the infinite Self. Then all the problems and limitations will drop away on their own.
So, you either eliminate the negative or put in the positive. The choice is yours.
The best way to start with this is to observe the mind. Just watch your mind as if you were outside of it. Watch your thoughts and emotions. This is a wonderful practice.
Not only will this quiet the mind but also make you not it.
If you observe the mind thoroughly, you’ll recognize that it is an illusion. If you trace the source of the mind, you’ll find it is nothingness.
And when you see that you are not the mind and that its source is nothingness, the next question that you’ll ask yourself is “Who am I?”
This is the final question that everyone answers, so why not begin with the final question?
So supplement your observation of the mind by posing the question: “Who am I?” Then, if other thoughts come in, ask, “To whom are these thoughts?” The answer is “To me.” “Well, who am I?” and you’re back on the track, seeking to see your Self.
This practice is called self-enquiry which is the constant attention to the inner awareness of “I” or “I am.”
It was recommended by the Indian sage and mystic Ramana Maharshi as the most efficient and direct way of discovering the unreality of the “I”-thought.
When we observe the mind and seek the Self, we’re well on our way to Freedom and Happiness.
So instead of asking “What is the mind?” why not ask “Who am I?”
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“Just let go of the mind completely and what’s left over is your infinite beingness, all knowing, all powerful, everywhere present.” – Lester Levenson
Luka
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Great content! Keep up the good work!
Thank you for your kind words!
Looking for the Looker. I understand your post. But I am having trouble getting to the point that Sri Ramana Maharshi was expounding about ‘doing nothing’. Clearly he was still doing something as he was living and breathing and speaking. So what does this ‘doing nothing’ mean cos on the surface it’s irreconcilable?
Thanks for your comment, Clancy. Of course I can’t say what Ramana meant but as far as I’m concerned, there are two ways to look at it. One, ultimately, there is no doer, which means whatever is apparently being done is not done by an entity. Two, doing nothing doesn’t mean that there is no doing only that personal volition is suspended. You can experiment with this by simply sitting down on your couch, for example, and waiting until the body moves into action on its own, which it will, without any preemptive thoughts. “Doing nothing” can also be a… Read more »