The Mind's Intentions Are Innocent

I've recently read/listened to quite some spiritual books - especially by Eckhart Tolle.

In The Power of Now, for instance Eckhart Tolle clearly states that the mind which obsessively keeps thinking - and our identification with it is the root cause of unhappiness and stress.

I have noticed this with my own mind: whenever I am alert and observant, I keep seeing my mind chattering away all the time.

For example, I may be cooking and my mind may be lost in thinking what X thought of my yesterday or what Y will think of me tomorrow.

Similarly, I may be brushing my teeth and my mind may be playing and re-playing snippets (especially the embarrassing ones) from the previous day or imagining scary outcomes for the day to come today. Or it might just be playing some gossipy snippets that capture my attention.

So, I have seen Eckhart Tolle to be right when he says the mind goes on and on until you observe it.

But all this is just the introduction to what I noticed today.

I noticed two important things about the working of my own mind.

FIRST: The mind is almost inevitably concerned with the concept of my identity (which is actually its identity). Sometimes, it is scared of its identity being changed in the future - this is anxiety and fear. At other times, it is worried about how others perceived it in the past - again - it's trying to strengthen its identity. At yet other times, say when someone close to you talks angrily to you - it is trying to defend its identity.

The core of the mind's activity is defending and strengthening its identity. 

SECOND: The mind is..in a way, quite innocent. It's been called a mad monkey in the Bhagavad Gita (as far as I remember). It's been derided in a way by Eckhart Tolle. I've always considered to be some kind of bad thing - a part of me wondering why we were even given this nutcase thing if it was so dysfunctional.

So, how is it innocent?

It is innocent because it doesn't really have so to speak 'a mind' of its own. It is just like an instrument that was programmed to do one thing well - to protect and ensure survival WITH one bonus role in the case of humans: find out who they are.

What does that mean? It means that the mind - from the time we're born - is always trying to ask the question: who am I? When it doesn't get an answer, it tries to create one.

For example, even very young children become happy when you appreciate and praise them. Why? Because the mind's identity - the answer to who am I? becomes stronger when someone appreciates them. 

When someone scolds a child, the child becomes upset, angry or starts crying? Why? That's basically the mind intensely resisting a weakening of its identity. 

It is in the nature of the mind to always focus on strengthening its identity. It is not something it does to harm you.

Of course, the mind is smart but not smarter than you - the master. The mind is like a very effective servant who just wants to protect and strengthen the house and household. Or like an employee trying to protect and strengthen the company. But in the absence of the master or the CEO, there's only so much the mind (the employee) can do. 

The intentions are good - to make your sense of identity stronger but the capability is limited. For instance, according to Tolle, the whole idea of strengthening your identity using the world of form is useless because the world of form is so volatile - here today, not there tomorrow. 

So, what's the point of all this? What can I do or anyone do with this info? If the mind is innocently just trying to protect your identity, then what?

Then this: when you are angry, it will be easy to observe your mind if you ask yourself - is my mind trying to protect some identity? Is it resisting someone else breaking that identity? This will help you watch your anger more easily.

If you're very scared, try to be the watcher who sees that the mind is desperately resisting any possibly change in your identity in the future.

If you're very excited after everyone praised you, notice that the mind is relishing the fact that its identity is now very strong. Notice also that if exactly the opposite happened - had everyone hated you - this same identity would be destroyed and the mind would feel destroyed - it's identity very weakened.

It's a bit like this:

You - the CEO

The mind - COO - an important employee who helps you in day to day strategies for better performance. This COO handles the body and emotions often.

Body - The infrastructure that helps you (the CEO) produce your company's output.

Emotions - The feedback loop that tells you how your company's output is going. It either shows you a green light, yellow light or red light depending on how things are running.

The COO (the mind) can screw up the running of the body and emotions when the CEO is not present. For example, the mind can order the body to eat and eat because it thinks that will strengthen its identity (by making it feel good). The mind can order the red light to be lit (in the case of emotions) when someone says, "I hate you." because the mind's identity has been threatened.

When the CEO is at home, things are different.

Well, that's all for today. Lots of ramblings with hopefully some sense spread here and there.

That's the point of writing everyday I guess - helping my COO - the mind learn the skill of writing more expressively.