The Importance Of Mind

With this post I would like to get started in making really clear (if it was not already) the importance of looking within. Particularly I would like to talk about the critical role mind has for us as human beings in the context of awakening.

Picture Credit: Jr-Korpa on Unplashed

"All that we are is the result of what we have thought.

The mind is everything. What we think we become"

- Buddha -

Exactly 5 years ago, at the beginning of 2015, I have officially started my journey without really knowing what I might have to go through. I simply knew that the level of mental suffering I had been previously experiencing in my life had to stop in a way or in another. What happened a year later, during summer 2016, has represented a turning point, an event that left me no choice than dedicating my life in digging into the rabbit hole of reality ("First Glimpses Towards My True Nature"). Even though at that time I had no ability in correctly contextualize what had happened to me due to a lack of consciousness, in a fraction of a moment life has shown me what was possible and that "impossible" was a self-imposed and self-created limitation.

After this event I had many others experiential insights that have profoundly changed my view of reality and the way I walk through life. Especially, the realization of being aware of being aware has changed everything. I have already tried to point to this simple but radical truth in some of my previous posts ("Look Within You", "Neti-Neti: Who Am I?", "No-Self: The First Step Towards You") but it is worth to be repeated.

You are not whatever you think to be, human being included. You are That which is aware of being aware. What is it? Who is it? Some traditions call it Nothingness, others Consciousness, other God. It does not really matter the name you give to yourself. You simply need to become aware of It, not by looking outside into the world but within. By self-observation you would realize that everything you thought to be is actually "known" or "observed" by something. What you call emotions, feelings, mental chattering, perceptions, thoughts, ideas are being witnessed by someone, You. And by looking closer, by getting to the core of any experience, by trying to find which features and shapes you have, you will realize that there is nothing there and this nothing is what you are. And from this simple realization, you will soon realize that the entire Universe, as you know it, is not material as we have believed to be but made out of nothing ("Before The Big Bang", "Meet Consciousness").

What you are, the substance of which you are made out of, cannot be different from the substance by which the entire Universe is made out of. Therefore to get to know the Universe you need to look within. No matter how much sophisticated technology is going to become, no matter how far science is going to go: by being focused outwards into the world no one will ever be able to find the substance of which the Universe is made out of.

You, Consciousness, have been playing hide-and-seek with yourself all time long. By veiling yourself with a new identity, you have managed not only to hide your true nature from yourself, but also to fool yourself in thinking to be someone else when in reality there is only you. Undertaking this journey means to realize that you have fooled yourself by your own tricks, you have fallen into this illusion by using your own powers. Awakening represents the process through which whatever identity you gave to yourself awakes to the realization to have always been Consciousness. Which better mechanism would you come up with to hide your true identity than forgetting who you are and strongly believe to be someone else?

My view of reality has drastically changed by doing this work and I am not (anymore) afraid to openly share these realizations with others. Not only because of the beauty and the elegance of this new model but also because I retain it represents a great opportunity to give to our human life a more positive, optimist and efficient taste. Every model of reality needs to have a primary entity out of which everything comes to be. Science and materialist claim that a physical God's particle was responsible for the Universe to exist. I became conscious that Consciousness not only is the source of reality but that anything else that seems to exist, such as the sun, the moon, your body, a rock, a bird is still Consciousness that appears to be something else.

How is this possible? Through mind.

Science and rationalists are looking for the ultimate substance of reality through experiments, by looking through the microscope. Science and rationalists deny the existence of God since It does not appear to be anywhere. The irony of this work is that God (in religious term) or Consciousness (in non-dual term) has been always completely revealed to us all the time and it represents your true nature. Only you, as a mind, are preventing to see Yourself.

Mind is the veil you have been laid on yourself to believe to be someone rather than Consciousness itself. Mind is the character in this detective novel called life that has to be spotted to reveal the culprit of the illusion. Mind is the main character that needs careful investigation because it represents the tool through which Consciousness veils itself in order to be able to get to know and interact with itself.

Mind plays a double role in reality. Ultimately mind is just another manifestation of Consciousness itself. Assuming mind to be something else would imply that reality is dual, and this work "proves" it is not the case. Mind is the tool that allows Consciousness to participate in the reality it has created. Without mind Consciousness would simply be itself but it would never know what this creation is about. By assuming an identity, Consciousness is able to walk around its own creation, thinking to be a human and labeling and studying Itself. Scientists are nothing else than Consciousness studying Itself. Atheists are nothing else than Consciousness denying Itself. Artists are nothing else than Consciousness expressing Itself. Religious people are nothing else than Consciousness praying to Itself. Anything you think you are doing as a human is in reality Consciousness doing it to itself.

The second role of mind is relative to the human condition. As I said without mind all manifestations would simply be, they would exist as Consciousness without knowing to exist. Mind is able to give an identity to what you call "your" body and by doing so you can think to be a human being living in a world where other beings are present. Without mind this show would still go on but no one could participate. Mind needs to get attached and to cooperate with a specific form in order to give the illusion of being existent as something specific. Mind is simply taking ownership over a particular manifestation of Consciousness that you now call "your" body. That body becomes "yours" only when you think to be. Before mind claimed ownership over it, that body was a simple manifestation of Consciousness, it was pure Being.

Both "your" body and mind are important in this process of identification: the body represents the home used by mind and ultimately by Consciousness to operate, whereas mind is the software that can achieve its agenda through the body. Even though one is necessary to the other, I nevertheless consider mind to play a much more important role. History is full of human cases with physical limitations that could achieve amazing goals in their life. This is because mind is the lens through which we live and see reality, it is how we relate to the world. Nothing objective exists in reality, you as a mind create your own reality ("Objectivity Is Your Own Creation - Part 1","Objectivity Is Your Own Creation - Part 2","Objectivity Is Your Own Creation - Part 3","From the Illusion Of Matter To The Reality Of Consciousness", "The Universe Is NOT Conscious", "About Perceptions").

If you have noticed, you as a human can definitely have some room to change and transform the environment you live into but overall you are at the mercy of nature. However, no matter what happens in life, it is up to you as a mind to decide how to relate to whatever reality has in store for you. The Universe, as it looks, it is simply Consciousness manifested. Our human body itself is part of this creation: Consciousness wanted to experience Itself in this specific form being tall, short, fat, skinny, bold, hairy, pale, black and so on.

A difficult implication of awaking to digest is that reality is perfect as it is, only mind wants it in a certain way. It is therefore the mind that wants the body to be in a certain way, it is the mind that tries to be taller, skinnier, fatter, tanner, buff and so on. The possibility to change our body and the environment around us is a precious gift that can however become a double-edged blade tool if used improperly. Thanks to mind we can express our self, we can manifest our inner desires and ideas, we can relate to others, we can share emotions and feelings to others. However, most of us use mind to create self suffering, to limit our self, to create negative thought patterns, to judge and blame others.

The problem in doing this journey is that what you think to be in this precise moment is mind itself. Do you see the problem you find yourself into? To be able to get to know your true nature and to accept reality as it is, you need to get rid of you. There is a big self-interest conflict here.

More unconscious you are about your true nature, more you as a mind will live your life according to your own self agenda and self interest trying to change reality at your own benefit. Agenda that will vary according to your status quo, your cultural and family tradition, your personal cravings and desires that have been created to mold this specific identity. This identity is totally relative and do not represent at all what you are. It has been created with the aim to fall into the illusion of believing to be someone specific. This mental construction is strengthened by a large and complex emotional spectrum that together represent an incredible tool to protect this identity. Everyone that has ever tried to change its life in one of its aspect knows how difficult it is due to the emotional and mental distress. This is you, the mind, protecting yourself from any variation causing destabilization from the center of stability you have imposed to yourself.

On the contrary, more conscious you become about your true nature, less you will be identified with mind. This process has both benefits and downsides for you as a human. The benefits are quite remarkable. Among many others you will realize that your true nature is inherently complete, it does not need anything, it cannot die and it cannot be hurt, realizations that will give you great strength as a human to accomplish whatever you love. You cannot lose this game, you are on a safety net. The downsides are that you, as a mind, need to let go of your own selfishness to open up to something more caring and loving and you need to oppose less resistance in your life. There are several degrees of consciousness you can reach and it is up to you how far you want to go. Needless to say, Truth is antithetical to your own survival as being an identity and it will get you in trouble with whoever does not want to make this journey ("Truth is Radical").

Mind is the most powerful invention existing in reality and as every invention it can be used for the collective interest of for your own self-agenda. Mind is what creates good and evil and since mind is you, you are responsible for the good and the devilry present in your life. Projections, deception, fear, manipulation, blaming, lying, pointing fingers, naming are all tools used by us to commit and spread devilry in name of our own reasons, whereas self-acceptance and self-observation are activities aimed to tame mind and to use it in the proper way.

To conclude most of humans are now identifying themselves to be a body and a mind and this is an unstable place to ground your life because it pushes you to be driven by self survival forces. By doing this work it will be clear that the body is a manifestation of Consciousness not different than a rock, a dog, a star or your worst enemy and that it is the mind that classifies and labels Consciousness to be something specific. There is no real, objective and physical body, dog, star and enemy in reality unless you as a mind create this distinction to exist.

Consciousness is not a hidden place accessible only by few. Consciousness is the Universe as it looks right now and it is what you ultimately are. It is up to you as a mind, as a dissociated character within Consciousness to create your own distinctions. You have been given total freedom to do so. You, Consciousness, have no boundaries and anything that seems to limit you and makes you suffering has been your own creation ("You Are Nothing, You Are Zero: An Effective Path Towards Real Change"). By doing this work you can dismantle whatever you have created to become someone more functional for whatever purpose you have given to your life.

I consider mind the best invention of reality. It represents the bridge between You and you. Becoming aware of the importance of mind means to realize that hell and heaven are not destinations for the after-life but the reality you create every day by creating your own distinctions within yourself.

Thanks for reading.