“The mind is everything.What you think, you become.”
This profound and dramatic observation about the absolute power of the human mind was made more than 3000 years ago by Gautama Buddha, the founder of the Buddhist religion. He taught that in life, there is no enemy that any man will ever encounter who is as powerful as his own human mind. He insisted further, that all the fear and suffering that man undergoes in his lifetime begins in his own mind, and that neither an enemy nor any bad experience can ever cause as much damage to anyone as his own mind. By the same token, Buddha also reminded his followers that all the joys, happiness and fulfillment man enjoys during his lifetime are directly related to the state of his mind. So that in the end, the quality of peace and of happiness anyone feels can always be traced back to how he uses the power of his mind.
But although, for as long he has
existed on this earth, man has recognized the absolute truth in the statement, yet
the majority have, for a multitude of reasons, continued to choose to disregard
the power of their own minds and give into the fears and suffering that
inevitably follow. It is for this very reason that Franklin D. Roosevelt, the
32nd President of the United States publicly warned the people in
1939, as the nation was overwhelmed by a severe economic depression, that:
“Men and women are not prisoners of fate,
but only prisoners of their own minds.”
In stating this, he was attempting to persuade the people, who had by then lost all hope of recovery after undergoing more than 10 years of economic failure, to believe in themselves again and take positive action. He was in fact, reminding them, as Buddha had done many centuries before, that by correctly making use of the natural power of their minds, they are all fully capable of achieving their hearts desires.
The working of the human mind, much more than any other aspect of human activity, has been the subject of extensive studies and diligent investigations by every succeeding generation of mankind, as far back as when he first recognized that he was able to think, feel and act totally independently from the surrounding environment. Over the years, an endless variety of different explanations have been offered. The ancient Greek scholars, for example, suggested that the mind itself, the thetan, was a spiritual being that was the person himself. It not only served as his communications, control system and the seat of human consciousness, but was the source of all creation and even, life itself. The Buddhists, on the other hand, viewed the mind as being immortal, and a ‘visitor’ that inhabited the body while the person lives, and then moves on to another after his demise. The 17th century Europeans however viewed the mind and body as two aspects of an underlying reality which was variously described as nature. But whatever their views were, there was general agreement that the mind was beyond question, the center for, and the origin of all the human phenomena.
The real power of the mind is largely dependent on our thought processes. As Buddha, in his wisdom, so wisely noted:
“What we think, we become!
Control your mind, control your life.”
Our
thoughts are far more than just random activities. They are what defines us and
guides us through life. Without question, the thoughts we choose to entertain
have direct influence on everything we do or not do, and as a result have a
heavy influence on how we deal with life and respond to environment. Even more,
our thought patterns largely influence how we interpret the events and the
challenges we encounter along the way, and directly determine the actions that
are undertaken. In addition, our thoughts, knowingly or without being aware,
are responsible for our beliefs, attitudes and interpretations, as well as. how
we view life, and make choices. As Napoleon Hill, the very successful
American self-help author stated:
“Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve.”
The exploration and understanding of the infinitely creative power of the human mind is limited only by our beliefs, or lack of beliefs, as to whether it is possible or feasible to accomplish any task we set out to accomplish. John Milton, the great English 17th century poet and accomplished author, described this dichotomy in these elegant terms:
“The mind is its own place. It can make a hell of heaven, or a heaven of hell.”
In saying this, he was drawing a clear distinction between what our minds are capable of achieving, the inherent power, and what in fact, we actually achieve, the perceived power. The mind itself is endowed with the endless potential to achieve to the limit of what we are capable of doing, even as we ourselves, are content to be fully satisfied with what we consider to be our limit. This, clearly, is the single most important factor that has served to prevent the full use of the mind’s vast capabilities, as Carl Jung very clearly observed:
“It all depends on how we look at things, not how they are in themselves.”
Although we are all using our minds continuously, in one way or another, every moment of our lives, and in everything we do or avoid doing, and every other way that can conceivably relate to us, very few of us ever take time to understand this amazing gift we have all been given. Most of us tend to associate our minds strictly with just what we actually are thinking and doing in the present moment, without realizing that these activities are but a very small part of the mind’s capacity, merely the tip of a large iceberg, with 90% totally submerged from consciousness. In fact, by far, the most important activities that go on incessantly and without interruption take place far away from consciousness and completely outside our control. And for those of us who take the time to try to understand, the fundamental principles of how their mind operates, are rewarded far beyond their own expectations. This fact inspired Mary Kay Ash, the very successful American entrepreneur who built a cosmetic business far beyond anyone’s expectations, to declare:
“Don’t limit yourself. Many people limit themselves to what they think they can do, but you can go as far as your mind lets you. Remember, what you believe, you can achieve.”
No one has been able to demonstrate exactly where the mind is positioned in the brain. In fact, we can only assume its existence by its effects on us. There has been an endless torrent of opinions from a wide range of experts including Neurobiologists, physiologists, Psychologists and Philosophers. They all appear to present plausible conclusions, but there is no tangible, reproducible explanation as yet. But there is general agreement that there are two components, the conscious and the unconscious (subconscious). The conscious part, which makes up about 10% of the activities, using a variety of faculties that include thought, memory, sensation, imagination and will power, is responsible for all the mental phenomena. They, working together, are directly responsible for the person’s reactions in areas such as perception, remembering, imagination, belief, desire, emotion and intention.
We are also aware that the brain uses a complex variety of chemical, electrical and physiological activities to exert responses, but no one can accurately explain their origins. The subconscious mind, on the other hand, by its very nature, is unknown and we are left to draw our conclusions on the effects produced. It is convenient to consider the conscious mind functions in two levels, The higher intellectual faculty which deal with such complex activities thinking, reasoning and memory recall, and the lower intellectual faculty, sensing and avoidance, which are generally shared, to some degree, by the rest of the animal kingdom. It is convenient to consider the brain as a uniquely, sophisticated computer that runs on in coming information, but this does not do justice to its amazing complexity. Perhaps this is what Sigmund Freud was alluding to when he declared:
“There is a powerful force within us, an un-illuminated part of the mind, which is constantly at work, molding our thoughts, feelings and actions.”
-The desire to truly understand the working of the conscious human mind continues to be an urgent need among scientists. We are aware that some of its activities such as thoughts, feelings and behaviors involve the coordination of a complex network of cells that are constantly receiving information, both externally and internally, and somehow convert them into experiences and action. It goes without saying, that how this takes place, is still unknown.
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