Mind vs. Consciousness

Our mind is tangible and perpetually changing; it has two aspects: (i) our conscious mind: the aspect we’re aware of, evidenced by thoughts, and (ii) our sub-conscious mind, the aspect we’re not conscious of, evidenced by sensations and actions.

Our consciousness, on the other hand – is as different from our thoughts, as they are from our body! Our consciousness is the intangible, immutable awareness OF our thoughts; it’s the essence of what and who we are.

Conscious vs. Sub-Conscious Mind

Our conscious mind generates a perpetual stream of individual thoughts which are either analytical or observational, and which either elicit emotions or not.

We can’t stop our mind from thinking any more than we can stop our heart from beating – though seriously advanced Raja yogis can feign death!

Our conscious mind works like our heart and lungs: generating single, consecutive, hopefully constant beats, breaths and thoughts. One of the side-benefits of meditation is that after awhile, the three systems tend to synchronize, eliciting a sense of deep inner calm.

Our sub-conscious mind contrarily, simultaneously processes countless bits of information received from our environment, and issues countless commands in response. Our sub-conscious mind also stores our memories, the source of our emotions, which color our thoughts and precipitate our actions.

Under stress our most pressing fears and desires (energetic manifestations of memories) percolate up into our conscious mind via sensations and images and we become aware of otherwise sub-conscious concerns.

Obviously, the two aspects of our mind function very differently:

• in short, one we hear, the other we don’t;
• one communicates bluntly using words, the other communicates subtly using sensations and imagery; and
• one makes decisions; the other affects our decision-making, and precipitates our actions.

They both play equally critical roles in our survival: effectively, our sub-conscious mind runs the ship, and our conscious mind acts as the ship’s rudder!

Meditation vs. Concentration

Concentration may involve focusing our attention externally, for example on our actions, an object or a mantra; concentration teaches us how to control our conscious mind; specifically, to distinguish between the two aspects of our mind, and distinguish between analytical and observational thoughts.

Meditation focuses our attention internally; it teaches us to hold our conscious mind in benign, compassionate observation mode – to bear witness to the energy of our memories, fears and desires – exposing them – albeit indirectly through our open conscious mind – to the infinitely calm acceptance of our own essence: our consciousness.

Observation vs. Analysis

“Mindfulness” is synonymous with our conscious mind’s “observation” mode. It’s a passive mental state of witnessing without analysis or judgment – NOT evidenced by the voice in our head. To get a sense of the difference between analytical and mindful or observational conscious thought:

>  If we’re making a decision, we’re engaging our conscious mind and thinking analytically; [i.e., we’re “in our head”; we’re not being “in the moment” or mindfully observant; we’re not being “mindful”]; however,

>  If we’re silently, wondrously watching a Monarch butterfly land on a big, bright yellow sunflower, and the butterfly begins to slowly open and close its wings, and it strikes us that it seems to be sunning itself – our conscious mind is likely in observation (aka “open”, “pause”, “neutral”, “sleep”) mode: just witnessing (without analysis or judgment) whatever sensations and/or actions our sub-conscious mind is processing [i.e., we’re being “mindful” inasmuch as we’re wholly engrossed in what we’re sensing]; and

>  If we’re so engrossed in a task that we sub-consciously tune out our other senses, (e.g., we don’t hear the phone ring!) – and we don’t hear the distracting voice in our head – it’s very likely that our conscious mind is simply observing our sub-conscious mind in action [i.e., we’re being “mindful” inasmuch as we are wholly engrossed in what we’re doing].

Walking the Dog

Walking the dog around mother-in-law’s hood

Want to practice mindfulness? The next time you’re walking the dog around your mother-in-law’s neighborhood (or whatever YOU happen to be doing), pay attention individually and sequentially to your five inbound senses: literally witness what your body is experiencing and doing (e.g., being aware of the temperature, wind, the sensation of each footfall).

Thich Nhat Hanh may have said it best: the real miracle isn’t walking on water, it’s simply putting one foot in front of the other!

God bless.

EMPATHY

“You have to reach people’s hearts first – THEN their minds!” – so says my teacher whom I vacillate between loathing and loving! <3

The people in our lives are all teachers whom we learn life lessons from: some good, some not. The teacher I’m referring to is Milena Origgi, a guru in the truest sense.

I get it. If I’m closed off emotionally because of some invisible mental barrier I’ve constructed over a lifetime to protect my self, I’m not coming from a place of empathy, and thus, I can’t be as effective as a teacher/healer.

So this damned nuclear-resistant mental wall of mine (which would give Little Fingers a hard-on) has to come down. I literally have to change my view of MYSELF – to embrace and love myself – if I’m going to help others do so; in short, I need to walk the talk – though in this case, the walk conjures up images of walking the plank!!

INTROSPECTION

At our essence, we are EACH miraculous.

The entire purpose of meditation is to tap into something deep within us: an aspect described as indescribable, immutable, intangible, eternal, compassionate, curious, impelling, pervading, impelling, aware, intuitive, and blissful.

The only way to reach people’s hearts is to speak from our own – and the only way to do that is to come from a place of empathy and compassion (to be truly selfless).

One way to foster compassion for ourselves and others is through meditation or introspection: consciously and benignly observing our otherwise sub-conscious fears and desires, effectively, reverse-engineering our behavior at an intuitive level, and in the process, venting the underlying emotions triggering our behavior.

When we meditate, we lovingly and non-judgmentally accept, absorb and release the energy triggered by our negative memories – consciously, embracing and accepting that energy for what it is: something which has been affecting our body/mind, but which CAN’T affect the essence of who and what we are: our consciousness. Without awareness we wouldn’t even realize we were alive – so wtf would be the point?!!

LEGEND OF OUR DIVINITY

Milena also shared the following old Hindu legend with me this morning:

“…there was once a time when all human beings were gods, but they so abused their divinity that Brahma, the chief god, decided to take it away from them and hide it where it could never be found.

Where to hide their divinity was the question. So Brahma called a council of the gods to help him decide.

“Let’s bury it deep in the earth,” said the gods. But Brahma answered, “No, that will not do because humans will dig into the earth and find it.”

Then the gods said, “Let’s sink it in the deepest ocean.” But Brahma said, “No, not there, for they will learn to dive into the ocean and will find it.”

Then the gods said, “Let’s take it to the top of the highest mountain and hide it there.” But once again Brahma replied, “No, that will not do either, because they will eventually climb every mountain and once again take up their divinity.”

Then the gods gave up and said, “We do not know where to hide it, because it seems that there is no place on earth or in the sea that human beings will not eventually reach.”

Brahma thought for a long time and then said, “Here is what we will do. We will hide their divinity deep in the center of their own being, for humans will never think to look for it there.”

All the gods agreed that this was the perfect hiding place, and the deed was done. And since that time humans have been going up and down the earth, digging, diving, climbing, and exploring-searching for something already within themselves.” – Author unknown