The Colored Spectacles

What is the nature of the mind? 

 

This is no simple question. Perhaps we should simply continue exploring what the mind does. We have already established its compulsive and fragmenting nature. 

 

But what actually happens when the mind moves towards a new situation? 

 

Essentially two things. Interpretation and categorization. The mind makes sense of the new situation by comparing it to what it has previously stored as memory. The situation is then labeled accordingly. Good, bad and like, dislike are usually the first labels that will appear. The mind is constantly doing this with everything it encounters. It moves to conceptualize the experience. It moves to put experience in words. 

 

Why is the mind doing this? 

 

It wants to survive. Maybe this answer seems too simple to be true, but lets explore a little deeper. The mind constantly moves to gather information in order to understand the human experience. This ultimately leads to a story and this story becomes a personality that the mind takes for itself. It relies on these identifications to make sense of what it has created. 

 

The human mind is geared towards self-preservation. Mind activity has its place in human affairs, but compulsive thinking distorts the whole life process. The mind is always afraid of annihilation, and will go to great lengths to preserve what it is identified with. This creates all kinds of inner and outer conflicts. Just take a moment to look within yourself and you will see this clearly. Then look at worldly affairs. Much conflict and violence is there, because human minds are striving very hard to preserve what they are identified with. 

 

The irony is that the intellectual mind is incapable of knowing life. It gathers all kinds of information, but remembering this information is not the same as knowing life. Life can only be known by experience. What do you really know of something as simple as an apple? You call it an apple and use all kinds of labels to dissect it even further, but what is it really? We simply do not know. All you really have is your direct perception of it. What we call life is a mystery that can't be known by the mind. This insight can bring great peace and open you up to new possibilities.

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How does the mind create its story? 

 

From the input that it gets. 

 

One day little Johnny shows up in school dressed as a clown. All the kids are laughing and having some fun with it. “Johnny what are you doing dressed up as a clown, you can't wear that to school, are you mad”? The teacher suddenly says. “Well, I don’t know teacher, my dad told me I am a clown.” Johnny responds. 

 

Children are like sponges, they will take anything you tell them as truth, and can't help but take in what you tell them. Human nature is designed like that, to aid survival of the young. Now Johnny going to school dressed up as a clown is a little absurd, but if dad keeps telling him he is a clown, he will start feeling like that and it will become part of his identity. 

 

When you grow up people tell you that you are all kinds of things. They can't help but define who you are and compare you with everyone else. They can't stop thinking and you are a limited entity in their eyes. When you are not fully conscious yourself, you are influenced by this. You start believing these labels and make up a story about yourself. This is the creation of the mind, not you. 

 

Your parents and your direct peers are the most influential, but their beliefs are shaped by the popular beliefs in society. Religion has played an important role in shaping those beliefs. Even in this day and age this remains true. Centuries of religious teaching has definitely left its mark on your mind. 

 

Then there are your ancestors. Genes carry unconscious tendencies like habits, behavioral patterns, and emotional memories. These underlying tendencies shape the way you think, feel and act. Much of what you call your personality was never consciously chosen. 

 

Conditioning shapes identity and identity distorts reality.