Is there my mind outside of me? Who am I, if not my mind?
Many of us have experienced moments of internal conflict in which it seems as if two different persons are arguing within us, only to eventually agree with one of them. Sometimes we are even surprised when we realize that our mind seems to have its own mind. “I don’t know what came over me,” we say confused, “how could I behave like that?” That is not how we would choose to act in our better moments. Perhaps that is the point – our better moments are when our higher self guides our actions. It doesn’t seem like us because our mind is not actually who we are. It is a tool we use, but it is not what we are.
So who are we actually? What lies beyond our thoughts, feelings, and bodies? Many traditions speak of the soul, a non-physical, immaterial being that gives life to the body. It is believed that this part – neither physical nor tangible – continues to exist even after the body’s death. That part of us – which many believe to be the most important part – is our true essence.
Autonomous and unlimited, rather than temporary and limited like the body.
To the question “Do you possess a soul?”, ancient philosophers would respond: “No – I am the soul, the body is what I possess.” Soul… The very word evokes something sublime within us. It inspires us to desire to reach that indescribable something that is so pure and subtle that it is difficult to describe with words and define with language. So we ask ourselves: what is this higher self called spirit that most traditions speak of as the classic opposite of matter?
Greek philosophers differentiate what most of us call the mind from the spirit, referring to our psychic world of thoughts and feelings as psyche, and our higher self, or spirit, as nous. They clearly distinguish the motives and manifestations of each. They say that our psyche functions like a mirror and can reflect either our lower self, filled with our animal impulses and the tangle of emotions that accompany them, nourished by the ego, or it can reflect our higher, selfless, humane self that recognizes itself as part of humanity and feels like a part. about all of life driven by a spirit that strives for harmony.
In a similar way, Indian philosophy describes the concept of two levels of mind: manas, an objective, clear-cutting mind that belongs to our higher self, and kama manas, a subjective mind that is influenced by kama, i.e. personal desires, and is actually clouded and enslaved by them. This aspect of the mind belongs to our lower self and is not who we truly are – it is just a transmitter, a tool designed to assist us in thinking, organizing, and calculating. But it sometimes seems to work on autopilot, or worse, behaves like a runaway train for which it seems we simply don’t have enough strength to stop, even when we know it is rushing towards trouble, like an outburst of anger that we know will lead to further tension in a relationship and, instead of healing, have the completely opposite effect of what our true intention was, or a moment of selfishness that drives us to do something we will regret, yet we still do it; or Simply put, it is the constant procrastination of things we avoid doing because they seem too burdensome – until they spin out of control and we find ourselves caught in the consequences of a storm that should never have happened. So helplessly, we stand and watch ourselves repeatedly falling into the same traps because we ignore our flaws and allow the monkey mind to take control. And it, in accordance with its nature, burdened by desires, pulls us down. In those moments, we feel that our mind is our enemy.
In addition to excessive thinking, which plunges us into various troubles, another common trap we fall into is the false sense of peace. They say, “An idle mind is the devil’s playground.” If the monkey mind is not directed towards something productive and positive, it will turn to mischievous thoughts. Therefore, we must keep it on the right path. Buddha called it the “monkey mind,” something we must tame and train to be productive at the level of its immense potential that it rarely expresses. When it is not directed, the lower mind is an illusionist. – more of a master of manipulation than imaginative and inspiring. Because we are talking about the same entity that has the power to create both Homer’s Iliad and Hitler’s Holocaust.
If the mind has such power, do we all have the potential to create verses like Shakespeare’s or films like Spielberg’s? What about the talent needed to compose compositions like Mozart’s and create masterpieces like Michelangelo’s? We could wonder if this muse of creativity resides in all of us or if it is a blessing bestowed only upon a few chosen ones. Although I believe that everyone has that potential, perhaps, for example, we wouldn’t have been able to grasp the concept of gravity ourselves if Newton hadn’t been the first to understand and explain it to us. So what can we do to make that leap and bridge the gap between limited knowledge and the unlimited mental space that great people all over the world have expressed in different ways?
What could help us are three I’s: Imagination, Inspiration, and Intuition.
To begin with, we could practice our imagination, a skill that differs from fantasy in that it is not about idle wishes but about deliberate desires. It stretches our ability to imagine a scenario that does not yet exist but can be shaped in our minds. This can be an innovation that enhances our understanding of the world, like a telescope that allows us to see countless constellations, or saves our time and effort, like an airplane or a mobile phone. However, even though these inventions are of great help, we cannot say that they are inherently good – it depends on how we use them. We should use these efficient tools to free up our time to think about things that go beyond our comfort and to identify the needs of the world we live in. The same goes for our mind. By itself, it is one of our greatest treasures, it analyzes and calculates. But most importantly, it can imagine. It is not truly original. Originals already exist as archetypes, and we simply channel what we have glimpsed from them, a small part that we have recognized and understood, and therefore can share with others, spiced up with our personal expression. But the idea itself already exists and has always existed.
Therefore, inspiration is also needed to elevate our minds towards manas, our innate ability to think objectively and see the bigger picture. Something must ignite our spirit and lift our gaze above the material limitations of our everyday lives, in order to inspire us to truly look at the infinity of the cosmos around us and grasp our role in it; to enable us to recognize the limitations of our earthly forms, while learning how to identify invaluable opportunities that allow us to transcend them; to see ourselves not as limited bodies, but as unlimited minds that sent man to the Moon and the spacecraft Mangalyaan to Mars; to remind us of the power of Mahatma Gandhi, Mar Tina Luthera Kinga, Nelson Mandela, and twelve-year-old Malala emerged victorious over injustice without firing a single shot or even uttering an insult; they achieved this through the power of their spirits.
If we can reach and connect with our mana, that other dimension within us, we could make our mind our strongest ally. We could be on the same side, instead of one half of the mind constantly taming and restraining the other. We would realize that it is only the ego wearing an intellectual mask, parading around as the master, and choose to hand over the reins to the coachman instead of letting the horses pull us in different directions. And the compass that will enable us to do so is ethics – that inner moral code that helps us consistently choose what is right, just, and noble.
Delia Steinberg Guzmán says, “It doesn’t matter that being good, honest, fair, prudent, polite, courageous, generous, and dignified is not in fashion – the truth is that without these and other qualities, society cannot progress.” Personal characteristics will not lead to a quality life. And the facts show that. In a spiritual sense, without delving into fanatical and exclusive definitions, some answers must be offered to the questions of the soul that wants to know what we are doing here, where we come from, and where we are going… The truth is, we all want a better quality of life. But we want to give life its true and wide meaning and ensure that this quality enhances us in all aspects. Then we will be more efficient, happier, more intelligent, a little wiser, and proudly call ourselves human beings.
That is the great battle, Mahabharata, in which Arjuna fought, seemingly defending the kingdom against relatives who had turned into enemies, but symbolically representing the inner battle between our virtues and the countless desires that threaten to darken them.
And so, in our efforts to free our minds and allow ourselves to make that great leap towards brilliance, the third quality we need to develop is intuition – a kind of instant knowledge of what is right. Intuition is valuable because it is based on deep roots of wisdom within ourselves. The website Dictionary.com defines intuition as “the process that allows us to have direct knowledge without analytical reasoning, bridging the gap between conscious and unconscious parts of our mind, as well as between instinct and reason.”
What intuition can truly help us with is connecting our mind with our heart. Somewhere in between lies that indefinable something called consciousness. It always guides or pushes us to do the right thing, to make ethical decisions.
What could help us is connecting with our inner self, as it is the beginning of expressing our human potential – freedom from a mind clouded by desires, and towards one that sees harmony and wants to be a part of it. It is our duty, as well as our privilege, to fully embrace this opportunity. It is also a way to make our world a better place by each of us giving our best and setting off a chain reaction of positivity. It expands around us, until, drop by drop, a better ocean is formed… and, person by person, a better humanity.