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The next few months we are adding a series called--
Parts of the Mind
BY Peter and Helen Evans
Most of the letters we receive from people who have read our
contemplations say they have actually tried some of the exercises or
experimented with some of the ideas in their own lives. Contemplation is
work. Putting into practice a new idea is work. It requires being
conscious, and that's what the spiritual path is all about; becoming more
conscious, more aware of our true nature and living from that
consciousness. The path is not about adding more information to our
already overwhelming store of information. As we become more conscious we
become "different" beings, if you will. We perceive the world differently
because we are truly different. We are transformed. We give you a
refresher from one of our prior contemplations on transformation:
"In most of our teachings we speak of the spiritual part of the human as
being "perfect, whole and complete". Yet we conduct classes and attend
classes ourselves because we usually don't "feel" perfect, whole and
complete. There is still a yearning, a sense of incompleteness within most
of humankind. So, how do we resolve this apparent contradiction?
Understanding transformation might be the answer. The level of
"being-ness" we are at gives us our perspective of
completeness/incompleteness.
Let's take the acorn as a metaphor for transformation. It comes from the
oak tree, it has all the attributes of the oak in potential, but it sure
looks different. If it were a human being it might not remember being part
of the original whole tree. It has a hard shell, a boundary; and might
feel it must maintain this boundary to survive. Our egos and small selves
can be seen as this boundary, this shell. We just want to "be ourselves"
and get along with the other acorns. There are plenty of psychological
methods and books and workshops that merely make us better acorns. For
instance, trying to understand the acorn of the opposite sex, or the
aggressive acorn, or the humble acorn, etc are all working at making the
acorn shell more important and easier to understand.
Transcending the shell must feel like that little death we all heard about
on the spiritual road. It means transforming from an acorn into a growing,
becoming tree. We don't know anything else besides being an acorn. Our
integrity, our very being, seems to be falling apart. We may have read
alot about trees, we may dream about trees, but actually becoming one
means real change, real transformation. A magazine article noted that many
people talk about wanting to "go to heaven", but if you ask if someone
wants to go to heaven right now, or offered them the opportunity for
instant enlightenment, very few are ready to accept all the changes
involved in that transformation.
Most people are at the stage of feeling the pressure to break the shell,
to grow and transform into the tree, their whole, complete divinity, but
it is not always easy. Spiritual growth is not merely adding on new
knowledge. It's actually seeing the world from a new perspective. We often
talk about re-building our old house. First we must tear down the existing
one and then rebuild with the salvaged materials and more; not just add on
rooms." --end of refresher
So, how do we participate in our own transformation? We can sit back and
wait and natural evolution will do the job, but it may take 20,000
lifetimes. Or we can consciously work at accelerating the process. We can
meditate, we can contemplate, we can try some exercises during our days.
Although many like to think of the spiritual path as something very occult
and full of fantasy, it might be easier to think of our ourselves as
receiving stations for the Divine. The better equipped we are, the better
we can receive the energies and wisdom. If you're going to build a radio
or TV you must learn its parts and what they do. Eastern Wisdom has spent
thousands of years investigating the nature of existence, Divine and Human
and everything in between. Western psychology has just begun in the last
100 years or so. Therefore we'll use some of the Eastern terminologies and
examples.
First, we'll give an outline of different parts of the mind. In this rough
sketch we acknowledge our gratitude to Sri Aurobindo (and his many
predecessors) for blazing the trail.
The "One Mind" (some call it God) can manifest on many levels:
Unconscious: This is basically the consciousness of rocks, inanimate
objects.
Subconscious: This is part of the mind that sees, hears and remembers
every single thing we experienced. Sometimes we act from subconscious
motivations and our ordinary surface mind is just not aware of "why" we do
these things, but these motivations are all "beliefs" we accepted as our
own sometime in our lives.
Ordinary Waking Consciousness: This is where we think we live most of our
lives, although it comprises only a small portion of our consciousness;
10% or less. Yet most of us want to know God from this level. It's like
plugging in the toaster and expecting to get your favorite TV show. This
level of mind is just not equipped to "know" God. It can 'think' about
God, it can 'wonder' about God, but we must expand or "change" our mind to
really 'know' God. As Sri Aurobindo says, "this mind is so thick, so
sticky, that it absorbs everything, discolors everything, pulls everything
down into its obscure gravitation - we cannot for long contain joy or
suffering, cannot bear much light; it is all too small, spasmodic, quickly
extinguished. All in it are subject to a thousand conditions."
The Higher Mind: This level of consciousness is less opaque, more free. It
is more 'detached' and less prone to judge what it sees from emotional or
egoistic notions of "good vs bad" or "right vs wrong". It is less subject
to the innumerable conditions of the lower levels, which create confusion
and suffering. We begin to know things "as they are" rather than simply
how they affect to us.
The Intuitive Mind: Here, we have glimpses of large "clumps of meaning"
through flashes of intuitive knowing, clarity. This is the beginning of
knowledge by "identity", rather than by intellectual "understanding".
Further knowing is not a matter of lifting ourselves higher, but of
clearing obstructions between us and what is already all there.
The Illumined Mind: This is a still higher state or condition of
consciousness. The sticky fog of dualism which chokes ordinary waking
consciousness is burned away by the steady illumination which
characterizes this level. Everything is unified in a great, joyous
harmony. Life is vaster, more true, more vivid. One is in the presence of
Truth, but beyond any rational understanding of it. It simply is.
The Overmind: This is the peak of human consciousness. Cosmic
consciousness but without the loss of the individual.
The Supermind: Simply... beyond mind.
Ordinarily, when speaking of "changing our minds", we're really talking
about exchanging one idea for another. This won't do much to change our
lives, though. However, when we exchange a small or limiting belief for a
larger, more liberating belief, then, changes automatically begin
happening in our lives. When we recognize that what we believe defines our
participation in the One Mind, then we begin to see ourselves moving,
somewhere on the continuum of consciousness, between the unconscious and
the supramental, and begin to choose to change "our minds" in ways that
enable us to partake more fully in the "One Mind."
Now, on to to the exercise, which is to notice just one part of the
ordinary waking consciousness called the Physical Mind.
The Physical Mind's job is to make sure things are done. However, when we
dwell only in this part of ourselves we can be overcome with doubt.
Scheduling properly and doing the task to completion can be replaced by a
habitual loop of doubt. To isolate and know this part of your mind, do
this simple exercise: Pay full attention to setting your alarm clock,
closing a door or turning off the stove. Now, if you give your physical
mind free rein, it will probably continue to ask you over and over again
if you did indeed do the task.
We give you an excerpt from The Mother's experiment with this part of the
mind:
"....the truth is the physical mind is truly, completely stupid! I removed
my control and left the control to the physical mind -- it is the physical
mind which doubts. So I made the following experiment: I went into a room,
then came out of the room and closed the door. I had decided to close the
door; and when I came to another room, this mind, this material mind, the
physical mind said, "Are you sure you have locked the door?" Now, I did
not control, you know, I said, "Very well, I obey it!". I went back to
see. I observed that the door was closed. I came back. As soon as I
couldn't see the door any longer, it told me, "Have you verified
properly?" So I went back again. And this went on til I decided: "Come
now, that's enough isn't it? Closed or not, I am not going back any more
to see". This could have gone on all day. It is made like that. It stops
being like that ONLY WHEN A HIGHER MIND, THE RATIONAL MIND TELLS IT, "KEEP
QUIET!". --end of excerpt
We bet all of you have had occasion to check and double check and triple
check some detail. Please remember the physical mind has a purpose and
it's only when it's not properly integrated or not properly controlled
that we have constant doubts. It's like a pager that will keep on beeping
until we shut it off.
So we ask you, do you know your physical mind?
NEXT
MONTH'S TOPIC: MECHANICAL MIND
* * * * * * * * * *
Peter and Helen Evans are on-line teachers, authors,
workshop leaders, sculptors and. A description of their classes can be
found at OneCenter "
www.onecenter.org "
This is a more detailed bio: Peter and Helen Evans are international
teachers and authors. They have developed several in-depth and
experiential study courses which have helped students in over 25 countries
practice self-empowerment and freedom through realization of Self. They
are authors of the books "Manifest Success!" and "Freedom Through
Contemplation" as well as numerous articles. They are founders of
OneCenter "
www.onecenter.org ", a non-profit organization dedicated to providing
practical techniques and methods of self-discovery, forgiveness, peace and
self-empowerment. They have also developed the People Helping People Help
Themselves Program. Having been ordained Ministers in the Church of
Religious Science, they have been furthering their work through the study
of Integral Yoga and other disciplines. Descriptions and sign-up for
workshops can be found at the OneCenter website.
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