Monday, January 6, 2014

353. Thoughts are Natural & Safe if Mind accepts them as they are…..





Thoughts that emerge in my mind are natural and do not need any approval or denial. If I am aware of this I can live for the present neither worrying much about the past nor becoming anxious about future. When my mind is aware, over the period of time I am able to notice that what I am aware of has always transpired in the mind. In other words, nothing left my mind, to cause misery or happiness to me from outside. The miseries and happiness that my physical body experience is in fact the result of abstract projections of my own mind making it look as if some external object is instrumental for them.


When I simply watch my thoughts, I observe in my experience that there is an unmanageable temperament to resist that which is natural. It becomes obvious that there is nothing I can run away from, since it has never left my mind, but due to my ignorance I try to resist. My mind has mastered the art of resistance using many forms, when one does not work there is another in hand. My mind goes head over heels to escape this inescapable.


In reality, this circus of my mind to resist is illogical by nature. The agony in my mind is not in the thought but in the inability to accept that which is natural. It may be little surprising but, that is exactly how my mind works. To give an example, when I am angry, this emotion called anger is an aspect of my mind. It arises when I do not accept a thought in my mind as a mere thought instead I hold on to that and do not want anything to happen contradicting it. Suppose another thought or a notion counters it, there is a conflict in my mind. This conflict is the agony of my mind. Conflict is merely the inability to accept any thought just as it is, the reason being I am attached to the original thought which I hold on to. Further I presume that my thought to be always “right” and those which I do not agree with are forever “wrong”. This right and wrong clash head on causing agony in my mind and this is put out as anger.


If I am mindful and have developed the ability to recognize anger as a product of contrast ideas and if I accept it with right mindedness then that anger will never remain long. Understandably anger arises from not accepting that which is natural and it subsides when accepted. Hence my elders insist me not to make a hasty decision when in anger as my mind is not in the frame. They have given me the most important formula which I need to remember when any disturbing emotions arise, be it in the form of envy, hatred, or despair. All I need do is to recognize the emotion as it is, as if giving it a voice in my mind. I need to just say to it, “I accept you exactly as you are I am ready to give you the space to be what you are” and then miraculously the emotion subsides. By this approach I am accepting the disturbing emotions without trying to resist it. It is surprising to know that if I accept the thought as it is, and try not to fool my mind by trying to fix the agony, the disturbing emotions just vanish into thin air. If not, it gets settled in my sub-conscious mind to emerge back and disturb me again in future.

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