When difficulties arise and the challenge of the mind Difficulties are a part of life. Some say you have to take the rough with the smooth, well, you certainly do, and there isn’t much choice in the matter. Who wants difficulties, people only really want happiness, they don’t want the troubles, but it seems necessary to almost rationalise troubles are there, and that only the tough survive, as it is said, when the going gets tough, the tough get going, yet even the toughest are prone to feeling discouraged, depressed and other such emotions, though some people may say they aren’t or have no fear and so forth. As we hear the mind can be our best friend or our worst enemy. It might depend on your outlook in life how you perceive that statement. Some people might like anything and everything which comes to mind, they may be in some category of insane, though the accepted level of sanity appears to have come down in some people’s estimation. We get so used to our mind, that we more or less believe it, think it’s right and may rarely question our thoughts. Or we may find ourselves wondering how some thoughts came about, especially if they are not favourable, or too negative. Perhaps some may like to wallow in self-pity, and feel sorry for themselves, and that maybe because nobody else feels sorry for them, or they don’t get enough attention, these are fairly well know predicaments. Temptations are also a part of the mind is the sense of thinking, feeling and willing. If one can stop the process at thinking, but at least feeling, then life can be a lot better, yet we may too often give into temptation, once at the stage of willing, as the anticipation and perceived excitement and result we expect from such contemplation has become too attractive to resist the idea, whatever that might happen to be. Now the danger is that once we succumb to a certain way if life, we may well have more temptations come our way, which are also irresistible, at least by perception, and it is quite likely that we will end up regretting some actions, though we could have stopped it at the early stage. Those who know Bhagavad-Gita know that Lord Krsna states that by contemplating the objects of the senses one develops attachment, and then explains the eventual consequences if one is not able to resist the lure of sense desires and objects. Challenges will come in one form or another, internally or externally. The minds is even tricky, but imagine some of the things which enter our mind, if another person suggested such things, we would most likely tell them they are crazy, yet we don’t so easily reject the ideas in our mind. Most of us will never admit to the many thoughts which enter our mind, as we might be seen as crazy, nasty etc. by others around us. But I can give you one example where people did admit to something. I read a book called “Beyond all odds”. It was a case study of people having problems in their marriage; the facilitator asked if anyone had at any time wished their partner was dead. Now that may sound rather awful, but perhaps some are so desperate to get out of a situation, that such thoughts enter the mind. It’s more than likely that nobody really wants that to happen, but I am using an example to prove a point. If we all spoke our mind in the name of being true and open, I am not sure most people will want to know. The next time somebody asks how you are, ask them if they have a couple of hours, most people surely won’t have. Some people don’t know how to help or help too much, and who can you fully trust anyway? I feel as a person who makes the best attempts to follow the life of a devotee of Krsna, the internal challenges are the most testing and demanding, in the sense that, for me, they challenge what I live for, what I aspire for and so forth. They sometimes give me an outside look at what I do, make me questions what I believe in, what I want, do I still want what I wanted 5 years ago, if not why not, how much is my own decision, how much of it is pleasing others. Of course it’s good to please others, no doubt, but not that we can always please others, or appease them. But our decision should be our own, and only our own, we have to take that much responsibility at least. We all have choices, we can all decide how we act on the many varied and sometimes innocuous thoughts, though we not be able to control what enters our mind, we can control what comes out of your mouths and how we act, even if we don’t always get it right. I am often curious why some seemingly unwanted thoughts enter the mind, I use the word seemingly because according to the Vedanta philosophy everything is made up of our karma down to the smallest detail, the body we receive, and the type of mind set we receive, why do some get a certain type of thought as a routine, and others get something completely different, Granted there are others apparent and immediate causes, such as our upbringing and association, but are they not also unavoidable due to our past deeds? So it may appear some thoughts are unwanted. Perhaps there is one Purana or other books which delves into the human psyche more than I know of? When difficulties arise and the challenge of the mind Difficulties are a part of life. Some say you have to take the rough with the smooth, well, you certainly do, and there isn’t much choice in the matter. Who wants difficulties, people only really want happiness, they don’t want the troubles, but it seems necessary to almost rationalise troubles are there, and that only the tough survive, as it is said, when the going gets tough, the tough get going, yet even the toughest are prone to feeling discouraged, depressed and other such emotions, though some people may say they aren’t or have no fear and so forth. As we hear the mind can be our best friend or our worst enemy. It might depend on your outlook in life how you perceive that statement. Some people might like anything and everything which comes to mind, they may be in some category of insane, though the accepted level of sanity appears to have come down in some people’s estimation. We get so used to our mind, that we more or less believe it, think it’s right and may rarely question our thoughts. Or we may find ourselves wondering how some thoughts came about, especially if they are not favourable, or too negative. Perhaps some may like to wallow in self-pity, and feel sorry for themselves, and that maybe because nobody else feels sorry for them, or they don’t get enough attention, these are fairly well know predicaments. Temptations are also a part of the mind is the sense of thinking, feeling and willing. If one can stop the process at thinking, but at least feeling, then life can be a lot better, yet we may too often give into temptation, once at the stage of willing, as the anticipation and perceived excitement and result we expect from such contemplation has become too attractive to resist the idea, whatever that might happen to be. Now the danger is that once we succumb to a certain way if life, we may well have more temptations come our way, which are also irresistible, at least by perception, and it is quite likely that we will end up regretting some actions, though we could have stopped it at the early stage. Those who know Bhagavad-Gita know that Lord Krsna states that by contemplating the objects of the senses one develops attachment, and then explains the eventual consequences if one is not able to resist the lure of sense desires and objects. Challenges will come in one form or another, internally or externally. The minds is even tricky, but imagine some of the things which enter our mind, if another person suggested such things, we would most likely tell them they are crazy, yet we don’t so easily reject the ideas in our mind. Most of us will never admit to the many thoughts which enter our mind, as we might be seen as crazy, nasty etc. by others around us. But I can give you one example where people did admit to something. I read a book called “Beyond all odds”. It was a case study of people having problems in their marriage; the facilitator asked if anyone had at any time wished their partner was dead. Now that may sound rather awful, but perhaps some are so desperate to get out of a situation, that such thoughts enter the mind. It’s more than likely that nobody really wants that to happen, but I am using an example to prove a point. If we all spoke our mind in the name of being true and open, I am not sure most people will want to know. The next time somebody asks how you are, ask them if they have a couple of hours, most people surely won’t have. Some people don’t know how to help or help too much, and who can you fully trust anyway? I feel as a person who makes the best attempts to follow the life of a devotee of Krsna, the internal challenges are the most testing and demanding, in the sense that, for me, they challenge what I live for, what I aspire for and so forth. They sometimes give me an outside look at what I do, make me questions what I believe in, what I want, do I still want what I wanted 5 years ago, if not why not, how much is my own decision, how much of it is pleasing others. Of course it’s good to please others, no doubt, but not that we can always please others, or appease them. But our decision should be our own, and only our own, we have to take that much responsibility at least. We all have choices, we can all decide how we act on the many varied and sometimes innocuous thoughts, though we not be able to control what enters our mind, we can control what comes out of your mouths and how we act, even if we don’t always get it right. I am often curious why some seemingly unwanted thoughts enter the mind, I use the word seemingly because according to the Vedanta philosophy everything is made up of our karma down to the smallest detail, the body we receive, and the type of mind set we receive, why do some get a certain type of thought as a routine, and others get something completely different, Granted there are others apparent and immediate causes, such as our upbringing and association, but are they not also unavoidable due to our past deeds? So it may appear some thoughts are unwanted. Perhaps there is one Purana or other books which delves into the human psyche more than I know of?
Posted on: Sat, 15 Mar 2014 07:00:51 +0000
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