I’ve been preaching for years about distinguishing the self from the ego, and yet, I still need to be reminded quite often in order to put that thought into action. so, I came across this beautiful, buddhisty reminder and wanted to share some of its teachings with you all. it’ll resonate with some of you by using different terminology :) general psychology teaches us that our mind IS thought, and therefore, that thoughts ARE us. of course, some models of psychotherapy ironically work to teach us otherwise, because it creates problems (for example, cognitive therapy helps you distinguish yourself, YOU, from your THOUGHTS/cognitions to curb behaviour). let’s get real here-- the ego isn’t always kind to us nor others, which can take a toll on a sensitive being such as yourself (you’ve read this far, and since interest tends to point to the true self, you’re a sensitive. SORRY. I mean, if you wanna get more manly about it, you can call yourself an empath instead. a badass empath, baby. yeaaahhhhh) the buddhist article I came across teaches the idea that there are two kinds of minds: the conditioned mind and the true mind. the conditioned mind is the thoughts that are mistaken to be our true mind, our true self. the article explains that this conditioned “mind” is merely made up of mental processes. lets take the sentence I think Im stupid, for example. I=ego, and thinking relies on the 6th consciousness, an intellectual process. more about that in just a bit. but uh, if you have that thought, throw it away, cause it aint you. the true mind is one that is not reliant on your senses. sight, sound, sense, taste, and smell….and even the (here it is!) 6th sense, the intellectual process, or the “6th consciousness” as the author describes. I love the way he explained that particular sense, saying that it “plays around in your mind with “shadows” of sense objects, which are thoughts/memories”, making them a “memory of what we have perceived before through our senses”. therefore, they rely on our thoughts, thus making it a part of your conditioned mind, and not your true mind. the author of the article holds that the true mind is not dependent upon thoughts (a perceived mental object), as thoughts are impermanent, and if your mind was your thoughts, then you would cease to exist every time they did. your TRUE mind still exists between these thoughts, in that beautiful, pure space. what a beautiful teaching. but what does this all mean? well, hey, we’re human. yeah yeah, I can hear some of you sighing on the inside, wishing you were back on your source planet ;), but hey, this is the life we chose here this time. so you have to deal with it. ya gotta deal with the ego, the conditioned mind. but the first step is acknowledging that that’s what it is— not you. and then you can free yourself from being so friggin’ mean to yourself! this teaching kind of touches on why my humour is so dark at sarcastic. I think it’s SO hilarious to know that, as someone who values kindness, generosity, and love above all else, I can think these HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE, TERRIBLE things. I’ve attached a video that makes me laugh and “proves” that even people who have “pure” intentions can have these HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE, TERRIBLE thoughts. and that makes us fun, and silly, and exciting. so embrace the being that you are. all of it, even the human part :)
Posted on: Tue, 12 Aug 2014 21:32:11 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015