Awakening The Thinking Mind An Inward Journey by Balvinder Kumar

To my parents from whom I inherited the ability that enables me to understand and explore, to whatever extent I can, the meaning and purpose of existence. Above all, I want to thank Neha, Akshay and Ishan along with Manju and Mahendra who facilitated my journey to this stage. Special appreciation also goes to Ms Jo-Ann Langseth, USA and Sonalini Chaudhary for editing and Vikram Nayak for making illustrations for the book.

CONTENTS PREFACE

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Part I

1

Introduction 1. Changing Worldviews on the Mind

25

2. Mental Suffering is Universal but Avoidable

36

3. Mind-Body is One

43

Inherent Nature of the Mind

53

4. Beyond Our Conscious Mind

56

5. The Observing Mind

65

6. The Illusionary Reality

71

7. The Outer World – a reflection of inner world

79

8. The Inner Voice

86

9. Empathy and Compassion

92

Part II

Part III Inherent Limitations of the Mind

103

10. M ind’s Limited Capacity to Construct Real/ Objective Reality of the World 11. Mind’s Negativity Bias

106

12. Suppressing Negative and Unwanted Thoughts

119

13. Mind’s Wandering

126

14. Uncertainity and Irrationality in Decision Making

134

15. The Illusionary Freewill

142

Part IV A cquired Traits/Nature of Mind that Obstruct Personal Growth

112

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16. The Mental Conditioning

155

17. The Emotional Burden

161

18. Cognitive Bias

166

e Mind’s Inherent Power to Fulfill Dreams Th and Ambitions 19. Law of Attraction

175

20. Neuroplasticity

188

Part V

Part VI Mastering Our Own Mind

178 197

21. Accept Life as It Is

199

22. To Bring Awareness to Life means Being Alive

207

23. Deconditioning of the Mind

217

24. Science of Transforming the Mind

222

25. Th e Ultimate Answer to Modern Living Lies with Mindfulness and Meditation Part VII All Minds are Intimately Interconnected and Together They Affect Collective Human Consciousness

255 266

PREFACE

I

have been reading and exploring various aspects relating to true reality of the world for many years. Primarily, the temptation has been to explore and search for the hidden truths of life's experiences.

We all have a tendency to take things for granted without going deeper into the rationality and logic of our long-held beliefs, which eventually become an integral part of our lives. Though I have been an avid reader of new age authors but in recent times, I have gone through the writings of Deepak Chopra, Amit Goswami, Stephen Hawking, Bruce Lipton, Thich Nhat Hanh, Eckhart Tolle, Sam Harris and many more. Their writings have greatly enhanced my understanding and knowledge about the world in which we live.

This book is in continuation with my previous book titled Man's Spiritual Journey, which is the expression of my own spiritual journey.

I am not a religious man but I have a great passion to explore truth through spiritual readings and practices like meditation. I mostly write from my own experiences and personal knowledge. The more I read and experience spirituality, greater curiosity arises in my mind for finding the hidden reality of life's intricate phenomena. It further inspires me to move on the spiritual path.

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Understanding the structural and functional aspects of the brain, the workings of the mind, and the complexities of human is one of the central challenges of 21st century science. Though in my previous book, a considerable portion was devoted to the nature and working of the mind, I later thought of enlarging the scope of understanding the nature of the highly complex subject of the mind. After going through vast reading material including recent studies on the mind, and then assimilating their conclusions in the book, I feel this book will prove handy in understanding the characteristic features of the mind in simpler language to interested readers.

The book will allow readers to associate themselves with their own experiences relating to the mind. Readers will be using their own mind and body for their deeper exploration and better understanding. This book covers wide and diverse areas in the field of neuroscience and psychology so as to help the readers understand the functioning of the mind without coming across medical terminology and technicalities of the subject matter. In writing this book, I hope to inspire and assist readers to learn more about their mind, which will surely help them to identify their core beliefs which may be limiting and regressive in nature. Merely knowing and being aware of those beliefs can make a noticeable difference in their lives.

The ability to be aware of our mind's basic features allows us to know that we are far more than the psychosomatic body having limited control over the world around us. New understanding of the mind teaches us that we are the sole architect of our life and have vast ability to mould our outer reality in the way we wish to. The mind works in harmony with the body to form the whole experience. It is the mind

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that shapes our destiny through the way we respond to life's situations and especially the challenging moments. Major breakthroughs in neuroscience are all pointing to the same conclusions that irrespective to our physical limitations, we can do far more than anyone ever thought. Every day we watch videos on social media displaying feats which we never imagined earlier in our life.

In the book, an attempt has been made, to understand the process and mechanism through which our mind operates. Though prima facie, we feel the process is extremely intricate and perplexing but our mind acts rationally and there are laws that regulate its functioning. Like physical laws, there are mental laws that overall govern our mind. Our emotions and actions are the end products of our thinking process. Most of the time, we do not observe our mind because we are totally identified with the thinking process. As the mind arises from the brain, it is quite natural that its functioning would be equally complicated. Its role, nature and relationship with consciousness are equally baffling. Recent scientific discoveries have led us to believe that it is the consciousness or the mind, instead of matter which is central to the entire universe.

However, this issue is still to be fully resolved by modern science.

The aim of writing this book is also to briefly explain key laws of the mind that can be applied by readers to improve their physical and mental lives. I wrote this book in an attempt to make the advances accessible to a wide spectrum of readers. The approach taken is to compile important features/laws about the mind, to organize them into three broad categories, to present them in a way that is easy to understand and to suggest ways this understanding can be applied by the readers to transform their minds. In this book, I am discussing as

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to how we can overcome life’s difficulties that we come across due to mental suffering in our life’s journey. We all suffer in one or the other way due to a variety of reasons, out of which many are avoidable. For our personal mental and spiritual growth we need to understand as how to regulate and control our thought process.

In this book, after briefly explaining the changing worldviews of the mind based on modern scientific studies, basic features of the mind have been categorised and explained in 24 different chapters. These features have also been grouped into 1) inherent nature of the mind, 2) inherent limitations of the mind, 3) acquired nature that obstructs our personal growth, 4) the mind’s inherent power to fulfil our dreams and ambitions and lastly, mastering our own mind, in which I have elaborately explained how we can transform our mind through awareness, observing the thinking mind, accepting life as it unfolds and by practicing various kinds of meditation and awareness techniques.

Through this book, readers can learn how to develop and improve their ability to control the flow of thoughts and quieten the mind, especially during troubled and distressed moments. Many of us have had traumatic experiences of some kind in our lives and live with emotional baggage. Cleaning out those experiences is a big challenge.

Learning how to keep our mind serene and make its best use is the key to achieving success in our life. Developing awareness through meditation and other spiritual methods will help the readers to have better control over mind, emotions and feelings, which leads to greater freedom and flexibility in handling day-to-day situations. This will generate a sense of inner satisfaction, leading to happiness and peace of mind.

Part I

Introduction

T

here is no reality outside of our mind. The world we perceive exists because of the mind. In Buddhism and many other mystical traditions, it is believed that the mind is the centre of reality. This very world we live in, and the surrounding physical reality, is nothing more than a projection of our mind, the Source, or the Brahman.

Since prehistoric times, when man began to think rationally and start searching for the answers to life’s mysteries, the mind has taken centre stage in man’s thinking domain. Some of the earliest recorded views/ concepts about the mind and its relationship with soul and divine forces were given by the Buddha, Plato, Aristotle, Adi Shankara, and many other ancient Indian, Greek, and later Islamic philosophers.

Observe the mind! Thoughts are coming from nowhere, are they not?

Who is bringing thoughts into our mind? If not this very “I” then who or what is generating those thoughts, and toward what end?

Enter consciousness, which brings thoughts to the mind through collapse of the wave function (a phenomenon described by quantum mechanics). Scientists are now seeking to unravel the mysteries behind consciousness: How it arises in our mind is among the most difficult questions facing mankind. And who is in charge of “I”? It is certainly

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not “me�. There are serious doubts whether ownership of decisions we make and actions we perform lies with us?

Most of the time, we are totally identified with and absorbed in our thoughts. We fail to closely observe the mind like any other part of the body; therefore, we simply don’t realise that it is the mind that draws most of our problems to us as we create by (unconscious) default, rather than by (conscious) intention. Therefore, quite often we fail to control our mind, and that is why we become a victim of the mind rather than its master.

Our thoughts form our overall character and personality. We are what we think we are, and all of our actions proceed from our thoughts. Our thinking is reflected in our surrounding environment, because much depends upon how others respond to our actions. If we are happy because of positive and pleasant thoughts, then naturally there are positive vibrations all around. Happy thoughts and positive thinking lead to increased secretion of serotonin and lower levels of cortisol, the stress hormone. This in turn creates a sense of well-being. The selfgenerated changes in our life are always preceded by changes in the way we think about something. Happy and positive minds are generally more creative, quicker, and more aware and alert.

It is hence clear that the relationship that we have with our life always mirrors the relationship we have with our own mind and emotions.

Somehow we tend to get ourselves imprisoned in our minds and then spend our entire life in that prison. Therefore, we need to understand our mind and the thoughts and emotions we choose to identify with and then act upon. If we have an agitated and disturbed mind, our life cannot flow smoothly and contentedly. The thoughts and emotions we

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choose to follow have karmic consequences. Our deeds are based on what we think. These very actions eventually determine our destiny.

Therefore, if we want to transform our life, work must begin with our mind. For that, we need to understand its nature and the way it functions.

In Incognito: the Secret Lives of the Brain, an American neuroscientist, David Eagleman very beautifully explains the intricate structure of the brain in the following words:

Our brain is built of cells called neurons and glia – hundreds of billions of them. Each one of these cells is as complicated as a city. And each one contains the entire human genome and traffics billions of molecules in intricate economies. Each cell sends electrical pulses to other cells, up to hundreds of times per second. If you represented each of these trillions and trillions of pulses in your brain by a single photon of light, the combined output would be blinding. The cells are connected to one another in a network of such staggering complexity that it bankrupts human language and necessitates new strains of mathematics. A typical neuron makes about ten thousand connections to neighbouring neurons. Given the billions of neurons, this means there are as many connections in a single cubic centimetre of brain tissue as there are stars in the Milky Way galaxy.

To truly appreciate the working of the mind, let us take the example of a large integrated city (the mind) having massive establishments of industrial, housing, commercial activities (neural networks) where millions of people (neurons) are working round the clock. This city

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through an intricate network of communication controls the whole nation (physical body). It ensure all vital supplies and services through various regulatory systems relating to food, drinking water, drainage, sewerage, communication, etc., throughout the nation. Any disruption in these services leads to serious problems in the whole nation.

At the heart of this city lies a command centre (the conscious mind) where few hundreds of top officials are overall managing the city but they are ill-equipped to supervise, control or even know the details of millions of people working in that massive establishment of the integrated city (unconscious mind). The command centre, however, may be aware about the major incidents/accidents that take place in the city or it intervenes when its officials wish to but the city runs on its own (default mode) and is self-sufficient to carry out all kinds of operations throughout the nation, without the command centre being beeped at every stage. Though most of the time the command centre works on default mode but it has the potential to gather information about its working and can take control of situations as they arise from time to time.

Though the command centre takes all major and crucial decisions but behind the scene, all the groundwork is done beforehand by the people working in the integrated city. In many situations, the city takes and executes major decisions on behalf of the command centre but the overall responsibility lies with the officers engaged in the command centre. The relationship between the conscious mind (command centre) and the integrated city (sub and unconscious mind) has been elaborately explained in the book.

The unconscious mind (or the integrated city of the nation) is running

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us at least 95% of the time on its auto-pilot mode. Neuroscientists have shown that the conscious mind, the command centre provides 5% or less of our cognitive (conscious) activity during the day. For many people, the unconscious mind operates around 99% of the time, which means they run their day-to-day life on automatic mode. Dr Bruce Lipton, an American Developmental Biologist says that the unconscious mind operates at 40 million bits of data per second, whereas the conscious mind processes at only 40 bits per second. So the unconscious mind is much more powerful than the conscious mind, and it is the unconscious mind which shapes how we live our life.

Scientists show that most of our decisions, actions, emotions and depend on the 95% of brain activity that is beyond our conscious awareness, which means that 95 to 99% of our life comes from the programming in our subconscious mind. This is why we are generally unaware of our actions and , in fact most of the time we are not even aware that we are acting unconsciously. But must we continue to live in our “default mode” of not being consciously “awake?” Or might we somehow become enlightened enough to understand the true purpose of our life? We need to ponder on this question. The default mode means we are busy in our internal dialogue, either lost in the past or the future, or our ongoing worries. People can easily spend their entire lives doing just that. Is this not a tragic waste of human potential?

The purpose of the mind is to entertain thoughts. It is mostly engrossed and lost in its stream of self-referential thoughts, coming and arising from nowhere and then vanishing to nowhere in the next moment.

And yet the mind has infinite capacity to think about anything at all.

It can recall past memories, construct images and stories about the

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future, and reflect on any situation, including imaginary ones. It is a storehouse of data about our lives and experiences, and has an efficient system of information retrieval from layers of years. It has mastery over time travel; it can take us into the past or future instantaneously. With just the slightest hint or miniscule bit of information, the mind can expand into full story/scenario. The moment we switch away from the mind, we have absented ourselves from the moment. We can be deceived, cheated, or misled by the mind without awareness.

Nowadays, evolutionary psychology has become a hot research topic, as it studies the way our mind has evolved over the millennia. Evolutionary psychology, which is a theoretical approach to psychology, focuses on how evolution has shaped our mind. Evolutionary psychologists argue that much of human is the output of psychological adaptations that evolved to solve recurrent problems in human ancestral environments.

Our bodies evolved over an indefinitely long period of time, slowly calibrating to the African savannah on which most of our ancestors lived. So, too, did our brains. Evalutionary psychology postulates that the mind is shaped by pressure to survive and reproduce. In this view, our mind has been evolved by natural selection to solve adaptive problems faced by our hunter-gatherer ancestors.

Our ancestors spent well over 99% of our species’ evolutionary history living in hunter-gatherer societies. That means that our forbearers lived in small, nomadic bands of a few dozen individuals who got all of their food each day by gathering plants or by hunting animals. Each of our ancestors was, in effect, on a camping trip that lasted an entire lifetime, and this way of life endured for most of the last 10 million years. The environment that humans – and, therefore, human minds – evolved

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in was very different from our modern environment. Generation after generation, for 10 million years, natural selection slowly sculpted the human brain, favoring circuitry that was good at solving the day-today problems of our hunter-gatherer ancestors.

The world that seems so familiar to us has lasted for only an eye blink of time when compared to our entire evolutionary history. The computer age is only a little older than the typical college student, and the industrial revolution is a mere 200 years old. Agriculture first appeared on earth only 10,000 years ago, and it wasn’t until about 5,000 years ago that as many as half of the human population engaged in farming rather than hunting and gathering. Between 8,500 and 2,500 years ago, humans started abandoning their hunter-gatherer way of life for one in which they had fixed homes and farmed the land.

Natural selection is a slow process, and there just have not been enough generations for it to design circuits that are well-adapted to our modern life. Even relatively simple changes in us can take tens of thousands of years. We should therefore realize that our minds were not evolved/ designed to solve our day-to-day problems, they were designed to solve the problems of our hunter-gatherer ancestors. In saying that our modern skulls house a Stone Age mind, we do not mean to imply that our minds are unsophisticated. Quite the contrary: they are very sophisticated computers, whose circuits are elegantly designed to solve the kinds of problems our ancestors routinely faced. In a way, we are basically Stone Age thinkers living in modern times, our minds not equipped to handle the situations we face today.

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Triune Brain developed by Paul MacLean

With this background, if we now look at the overall anatomical relationships of our brain, we find that the most recently evolved neocortex of the cerebral hemispheres surrounds the older limbic system, which in turn surrounds the ancient reptilian upper brainstem. This division of the brain into three parts constitutes what Paul D.MacLean calls the Triune Brain of mammals (meaning three brains in one). This conceptualisation represents a hierarchical organisation of the brain from an evolutionary perspective. The oldest, deepest and smallest ‘reptilian brain’ is responsible for the most basic survival functions, such as heart rate, breathing, body temperature, and orientation in space. It enables aggression, mating and reactions to immediate danger.

On the other hand, the limbic system is located on top of the brainstem and buried under the cortex. Limbic system structures are involved in many of our emotions and motivations, particularly those that are related to survival. Such emotions include fear, anger, and emotions related to survival. Key areas of interest in this part of the brain are the hippocampus, the amygdala and the hypothalamus.

The amygdala is like an early-warning system, with the motto “safety

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first” – put that safety plan into effect before consulting the executive brain, the new cortex. The amygdala is responsible for determining what memories are stored and where they are stored in the brain. It is found that this segregation is based on how much an emotional response an event invokes. The hippocampus sends memories out to the appropriate part of the cerebral hemisphere for long-term storage and retrieves them when necessary. Lastly, the hippocampus is primarily associated with memory and spatial navigation.

Lastly, the cerebral cortex or neo-cortex is the newest, largest and outermost area of our brain. It is our “smart” brain, the executive part of our system that is responsible for all higher-order conscious functions such as language, abstract thought, imagination, and creativity, to name just a few. It also houses much of our memory – not just our biographical memory, but all of the automatic memories essential to talking, writing, walking, etc. It also learns new things. The cerebral cortex can however be “hijacked” by the limbic system in the event of a perceived threat (whether imagined or real).

One of the most notable features of the Triune Brain is that while the reptilian brain and limbic system, the older brain areas did not change in size, the cerebral cortex became enormous in size and structure compared to our ancestors. While the brainstem that we share with reptiles governs our autonomous functions like breathing, heart beat and the rudimentary drives like aggression, the limbic system that we share with other mammals is responsible for our emotions and a higher grade of consciousness than the brainstem alone can support. On the other hand, the cerebral cortex enables more advanced cognitive functions that include self-awareness

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and awareness of the past and the future in relation to the present.

To understand ourselves better, we need to understand ourselves as beings with the minds of hunter-gatherers who have acquired vast scientific knowledge and technological power over a period of time. According to Peter Kareiva, director, UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, humans have at least 100,000 generations of evolution as hunter-gatherers, enduring feast and famine, acting as predators and hoping to avoid being prey. The legacy of that evolution is hardwired into our brains. We have been evolved to be fearful, since that helped keep our ancestors alive, so we are very insecure and vulnerable to being frightened and even intimidated by threats, both real and imaginary ones.

If we look around the world where we live, we see widespread discontentment, sorrow, frustration, and suffering prevailing among vast populations of the society. Crime, violence, and aggression persist among fellow beings across the globe in the age of reason and rationality.

We are becoming more and more intolerant and hostile toward others.

Aggression and violence is rising in many parts of the world. Human aggression can be classified into direct and indirect aggression, whilst the first is characterized by physical or verbal behaviour intended to cause harm to someone, the second one is characterized by a behaviour intended to harm social relations of an individual or a group The World Bank estimates that 1.2 billion people, roughly one-fifth of the world’s population, are affected by some form of violence or insecurity during 2015. Sixty-three armed conflicts led to 56,000 fatalities in 2008, whereas 180,000 people – more than three times as many – died in 42 conflicts in 2015, as per the study conducted

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by International Institute for Strategic Studies. The study found the number of displaced people exceeded 50 million in 2013. It warned that civilian populations continue to pay the price of conflicts in short-term dislocation and the longer-term impact of the collapse of government services, particularly education, healthcare and economic development.

We suffer more than ever from stress and tension in our day-to-day life. In our life, fear operates, at the fundamental level, in our collective psyche as well as at individual level. Among a majority of us, fear because of death and old age, loss of power, reputation, wealth, trust and relationships is reflected in our thinking, and actions. Due to this underlying fear, we humans have become vulnerable and insecure.

This vulnerability to feeling threatened has affected us at many levels, ranging from individuals, couples, and families to organisations and nations. At all levels one can witness underlying fear or threat ruling our actions and behaviour. It is the same human brain that reacts in that manner. As a result, our mind generally reacts more intensely to negative stimuli than to equally strong positive ones. We have an inbuilt negative bias. We perceive negative stimuli more easily and quickly. Therefore, our mind has become so vigilant and wary, and so easily hijacked by alarm or threat.

In this modern world, the mind is bombarded by massive amounts of data through the Internet and electronic media of all kinds. Daily, most of us are flooded by innumerable videos, messages, quotations, articles, etc., via social media. This has led to a virtual world in which parallel processing of data takes place in our inner processing system.

It attracts the major share of our conscious attention as we find almost

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everything attractive to read, watch, and learn. Our mind has become overburdened with the heavy processing of digital data throughout our waking hours. All this leads to a stressful life, as the body struggles hard to keep up with the changing scenarios.

All around us are the signs of a society under stress. Almost every one of us suffers from mental stress, however, its severity differs from individual to individual. Hormones released in response to stress not only affect brain function, but also change the physical structure of our brain. The stress hormone cortisol can kill, shrink, and stop the generation of new neurons in the hippocampus, which is critical for learning, memory and emotional regulation. Indeed, stress symptoms can affect our thoughts, feelings, and behaviour. Stress that is left unchecked can contribute to health problems, such as high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity and diabetes (‘How Stress Is Making You Lose Your Mind’ by Jenny C Evans in Huffington post). In fact, the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, USA says that 90% of all illnesses and diseases are stress-related.

Technically, mental health is a broad term that revolves around a person’s emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It is evidenced by a person’s lifestyle and the way he thinks, feels, and reacts. Unfortunately, large numbers of people from all walks of life fall increasingly victim to mental disorders of many kinds. The burden of mental illness continues to grow, with significant social and economic consequences throughout the world.

Mental disorders are usually identified by how a person feels, acts, thinks, and perceives. According to a WHO Report of October 2015, globally, an estimated 350 million people suffer from depression; 60

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million have bipolar affective disorder (manic and depressive episodes separated by periods of “normal” moods); 47.5 million people fade away into dementia, deterioration in the ability to process thoughts (most often occurring in old age); and 21 million suffer the severe disruption of schizophrenia, a psychosis resulting in distorted language, perception, and sense of self. The response of our health systems to the growing crises of mental disorders has been generally inadequate.

In developing countries, more than two-thirds of those with mental disorders receive no treatment at all. These illnesses are also closely related to the rate of suicides, cardiovascular problems, and many lifestyle diseases, such as type-2 diabetes cases.

We can make out from the above that the lives that so many of us lead are clearly disconnected and not in harmony with the nature and true reality of the world. At one time or another, most of us may have suffered or felt miserable, distressed and sorry for ourselves. We are so absorbed in our small personal worlds that we barely get the Big Picture. From a vast, cosmic perspective, this is a tragedy. We are simply not available for the higher potentials to emerge within us, because our attention is so distracted (Evolutionary Enlightenment by Andrew Cohen).

Most of the people are unaware of their thought processes because they are completely identified with their minds. Totally engrossed in thinking about everything except the present moment, the mind operates mainly in default mode. We fail to clearly register what’s happening around us.

We often experience time lapses when we don’t know “where the time has gone.” For our personal mental and spiritual growth, we must learn to regulate and control our thought processes. Most importantly, we need to free our mind of noisy inner dialogue and its erratic thought

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patterns that often disturb us. Shifting our attention away from our thoughts to focus on what is really happening in this present moment is a basic practice and the key to unleash unlimited opportunities.

Theory of Mind In every individual, all kinds of emotions and moods, perceptions and sensations, mental images, thoughts, beliefs, and desires exist in the mind. The ability to reflect on the content of one’s own mind and others’ minds is called “Theory of Mind” or ToM. A person with poor ToM skills has little insight into the mental state of another person and what other people are thinking. Many autistic individuals do not even understand that other people have their own thoughts, motives, and point of view. The basis of this theory is that no one can see what is present in another person’s mind.

However, we at times may guess and assume what the other person may be thinking, and this assumption and understanding is based primarily on social interaction.

In a child of around two, when the mind is less developed, the primary focus is on oneself. The child is not yet aware of what is in the other person’s mind. Gradually, as mental faculties develop, the mind starts “reading” or intuiting, the other person’s mind. Over time, we develop the ability to think and care about the mental state of others, and are able to make predictions about what is on others’ minds. Merely by reading the body language of others, we can make guesses about moods, temperament, and mental state.

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How Thoughts are Generated?

According to one study, a human being has an average of nearly 60,000 thoughts every day. Most of these thoughts that pass through the mind are unstructured, random, and largely incoherent. We start thinking about something, only to have our mind shift to some other subject, which is probably not relevant to the earlier one. Thoughts take us away from the moment. For instance, when we are driving and thinking about something interesting and absorbing, we are completely unaware of the surrounding world.

The mind becomes unaware of time because we lose track of time.

We are disassociated from the many ongoing sensations of the body in an external environment. The world has simply disappeared for us during those moments.

All conceivable thoughts that can potentially appear arise in our consciousness, and when the wave of any thought is collapsed by consciousness, then that particular thought appears in the mind (actuality). Hence, mind is a perpetual event in which thoughts appear and disappear in an infinite progression. Because of this phenomenon, the mind engages us in a continuous stream of thoughts and we just forget that like any other organ of our body, our mind has a separate identity.

Where do all these thoughts come from? This is a perplexing question that neuroscientists have long struggled to answer. Even if we seek to avoid them, thoughts invade the mind, usually repetitive and conditioned thoughts, and most often uninvited. These are

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electrochemical responses, which arise from neurons. With new brain-imaging techniques, researchers are making inroads in their understanding of how thoughts arise in the brain.

The human brain is comprised of about 100 billion neurons/nerve cells, interconnected by billions and trillions of synaptic connections, each transmitting signals. Some specialized connections send up to 1,000 signals per second. Somehow, thoughts are produced from those reactions, says Charles Jennings, Director of the Neurotechnology Program at MIT’s McGovern Institute for Brain Research. All external stimuli, received through any sense organ, such as the skin, eye, or nose, trigger a series of signals in the brain.

Within a few milliseconds, the signal reaches billions of neurons in many interconnected areas of the brain.

Given the extreme complexity of what is happening within the brain, it is not easy to trace a thought from beginning to end. On average, each synaptic connection between neurons transmits about one signal per second. Some specialized connections send up to 1,000 signals per second, and somehow that is producing thought, says Jennings. In some mysterious way, trillions of connections and billions of simultaneous transmissions coalesce inside our brain to form a thought.

“I” am not “My Mind” or “My Thoughts” The mind, like any organ of the body, generates thoughts incessantly, and in that process, we become totally identified with it. We are so entangled and engrossed in our thoughts that we

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forget to acknowledge our mind as an entity that is separate from “I”. Rarely do we observe the space between our thoughts, and how thoughts arise in our mind. However, the fact remains that “I” is far more than my mind and the thoughts I experience. My mind is seemingly uncontrollable, and thoughts are just popping up from nowhere. Moreover, these thoughts are not personal; they are not “mine”. And like its thoughts, even the mind, in a truer sense, does not belong to “us”. The mind is essentially an impersonal aspect of our inherent nature. Most of the time, it keeps on generating the same thought patterns, based upon conditioned thoughts and associated emotions.

To enjoy true happiness and to bring peace to all, Buddha advocates: “One must first discipline and control one’s own mind.” If a man can control his mind, he can find the way to enlightenment, and all wisdom and virtue will naturally come to him. The first step in controlling our mind and thoughts is to observe and notice what we are thinking. We should realize that I am the thinker behind all the thoughts that arise in my mind. Awareness and realization of this fact that “I am not my mind” can in itself empower us to have a better understanding of how thoughts arise in our mind. This is the first step in transforming our thinking.

We must try to be the observer of our own thoughts, train ourselves to observe the thoughts appearing randomly in our mind. This demonstrates the distinction between “I” – Real Self – and my thoughts. Especially, if we pay attention to negative thoughts and start noticing them in a nonjudgmental way, we can mitigate the

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effects of such thoughts on our body. Once this is achieved, we can start to experience better control over the thought process.

Where is Mind Located?

Since the beginning of civilization, man has been struggling to unravel the mysteries surrounding the brain and mind, and their relationship to the body. Brain-mind-body has long been among the central issues in the study of philosophy and an extremely challenging problem both philosophically and scientifically. Is the mind located in the brain, or is it beyond the structural and functional boundaries of brain? Where, exactly, does the mind reside? This is a contentious question that brain scientists have been trying to answer for centuries. The most straightforward scientific evidence of a strong relationship between the physical brain and the mind is the impact that physical alterations – such as traumatic brain injury, structural and genetic aberrations, and the effects of psychoactive drug use – have on the functioning of the mind.

Recent findings suggest that mental functions might not be tied to fixed brain regions. Instead, the mind might be more like a virtual machine running on distributed computers, with brain resources allocated in a flexible manner, says David Rudrauf at the University of Iowa in Iowa City. Current advances in functional neuroimaging, a technique that measures brain activity in an effort to find correlations between mental functions and specific regions of the brain, have led to numerous studies that map specific functions onto brain regions (Location of the Mind Remains a Mystery by

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Douglas Heaven in New Scientist). However, this issue is far from being settled, as brain scientists of different disciplines strive to identify the specific areas of brain that lead to self-awareness and consciousness.

Meanwhile, medical research has unveiled an intimate relationship among the complex communication networks between cells, neurotransmitters, neuropeptides, hormones, the immune system, blood, and nerves – a remarkable orchestration of communication and integration of form and function. Body-mind may thereby work as one healthy, balanced, and integrated whole. Moreover, the whole body has intelligence across all its cells and organs. Even memory is not restricted to the brain, but rather spread throughout the physical body. Since thoughts are generated in our mind, we presume the mind to be located in our head, corresponding with the brain. However, scientifically speaking, mind and body is one; they are intimately connected and, in fact, inseparable.

Our behaviour and emotions are predominantly ruled by the Reptilian Brain According to evolutionary biologists, the branch of biology concerned with the evolutionary processes that produced the biodiversity on earth, the minds of human beings living in the modern world have their origin in our Stone Age forefathers. Homo sapiens emerged on the African savannah some 200,000 years ago; people today still have those traits that made survival in that era possible. Life at that time was very short and fragile. Living conditions were extremely dangerous for those

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hunter-gatherers. There was scarcity of food, clothing, and shelter. They were constantly under threat from predators, harsh weather conditions, and impending natural disasters. They relied predominantly on their instincts, which preserved their lives through the most extreme of adversities. Thus, evolutionary psychologists argue that although the world has drastically changed, human beings have not.

Humans who survived the extreme conditions of the Stone Age adopted successful survival strategies to avoid threats and maintain stability.

They relied mainly on their reptilian brain, which is the most ancient part of the brain, developed over 100 million years ago. The higher brain, or neocortex, came along a mere 40,000 years ago. The reptilian brain fundamentally influences our and controls body functions required for sustaining life, such as breathing and body temperature.

It is all about survival when it comes to the reptilian brain– emotional responses based on the fear of not surviving. The reptilian brain does not know the difference between real and imagined threats. Anxiety is a state caused by the reptilian brain even when nothing is happening that should cause us to feel anxious.

The basic emotions of love, hate, fear, lust, and contentment emanate from this area of the brain. It is therefore clear that even in our modern and generally secure world, our mind still retains the traits that are generated by the reptilian part of brain. When we are out of control with rage, it is our reptilian brain overriding our rational brain. When someone says that they reacted with their heart instead of their head, what they really mean is that they conceded to their primitive emotions (reptilian brain-based) as opposed to the dictates of the rational part of the brain.

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While the more modern, sophisticated parts of the brain get to do all the really complex day-to-day thinking, it is still the antiquated reptilian part that rules the roost. When we calm the reptilian brain, we have more control over our thoughts and our intentional behaviour.

According to al psychologists, we inherit all of our traits; and we remain basically true to our genetic blueprint. If we do not consciously make positive changes in our thought process, then we are mainly governed by the reptilian brain. We each differ in the expression of our various spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical abilities, and in the manner in which various traits combine in our personality.

Some Interesting Facts About Mind ))The human brain creates a complex neural network in which consciousness appears, expressed by the mysterious mind. The wrinkled and jellylike brain of 1.3-1.4 kg has nearly 100 billion neurons (i.e., the functional units of brain) and each neuron contains from 10,000 to 100,000 dendrites/branches which form synaptic connections with dendrites of other neurons. ))The number of synapses in the human brain is larger than the number of galaxies in the observable universe. Also, there are more synapses in an average brain than there are stars in our Milky Way galaxy. ))The typical brain is about 2% of a body’s weight but uses 20% of its total energy and oxygen intake. ))Each neuron acts like an autonomous, miniature mind. In this

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way they form an intricate neural network with trillions of connections. ))Neurons communicate both chemically and electrically. The most important chemical functionaries of the brain are the neurotransmitters that carry signals in the neural network.

They are capable of triggering different chemical processes in the neurons. Neurotransmitters cause a wide range of changes in the brain in which different mental states emerge in an inexplicable manner. ))A full-blown mind has not developed until the teen years have been reached, because by that time, all connections in the neural network are more or less complete. And the idea of unique identity gets firmly attached to the image of the physical body.

From that time on, the mind goes on extending and enlarging its capacities. ))The National Science Foundation, US, reported a few years back that the average person has somewhere in the neighbourhood of 1,000 thoughts an hour. Depending on whether or not we are “deep thinkers,” we can have between 12,000 and 50,000 thoughts each day. Most of our passing thoughts remain just that -- brief glimpses into what could be, what might come to be, or what has been. ))Imagine, 95% of our decisions take place in our subconscious mind. So now think, who is in charge of our life? ))John von Neumann, the “father of the modern computer,”

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once calculated that the human brain could store up to 280 quintillion bits (280 with 18 zeros following it) of memory. It is further estimated that the human brain has a mind-boggling raw computational power of 100 trillion to 100,000 trillion operations per second. ))The conscious mind has been described as operating with the computer-processing power of about 40 bits of information per second, while the subconscious processes information at 20 million bits per second (Cell biologist, Dr. Bruce Lipton) ))Many of our most deeply held beliefs are subconscious, and inculcated before the age of seven, when our brain readily absorbs the ideas of others. This is because before the age of, seven, our brains are in a hypnotic or dreamlike state, where the mind is absorbing everything it can about its surroundings. ))We all live in the past, at least 80 milli seconds, just slightly longer than the blink of an eye, because our conscious mind takes this much of time to process the information that it gets from our senses. ))It would appear that the window of consciousness opens for a very brief period of only 15 seconds. Our short-term memory can hold perceptual experiences for but a fleeting span of time.

Yet the mind creates an illusion of continuous consciousness by cleverly adding up several short-term memory episodes.

Hence, our consciousness or awareness arises from 15 seconds of awareness. Moreover, a single conscious event can hold only

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about seven discrete variables at a time. ))Empirical evidence has established that the brain is capable of considering the factors necessary for making decisions much before the mind becomes aware of them. And certain routine activities that we perform are totally automated. This shows that the mind is indulging in the most subtle kinds of self-deception.

All that the mind does at times is to add an explanation or justification for a particular act of commission or omission. ))We perceive “less than a 10-trillionth� of what is out there, according to neuroscientist David Eagleman. It is a pitiful percentage of what is happening around us all the time.

However, our brain is extremely good in figuring out what is important for us to perceive from the surroundings.

CHAPTER 1

Changing Worldviews on the Mind – Traditionalist to modern scientific

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he collective worldviews of humanity are changing radically in view of revolutionary progress in the field of science and technology, especially since the 20th century. Scientific evidence accumulated thus far has effected a paradigm shift that is radically influencing the direction in which mankind is heading. Though science has successfully shed light on many of life’s mysteries, there is still a long way to go before fundamental issues – such as how consciousness arises, the nature of dark matter/energy (which constitutes nearly 95% of the observable universe), what triggered the Big Bang nearly 14.5 billion years ago, and what caused the Cambrian explosion – are better understood.

Many views, currently considered radical, have evolved from recent scientific discoveries but have yet to take hold in our collective psyche. Despite indisputable evidence in their respective fields, these revolutionary ideas have not gained full acceptance, neither in the scientific community nor among the masses. As these emerging ideas are difficult to embrace due to their immense ramifications and implications on our life, universal acceptance will naturally take some time.

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Despite all of our scientific advances, most of us still believe that the mechanistic Newtonian universe is the foundation of our physical reality. This is because what we see around us appears to be a strictly material reality, made up of particles. Sir Isaac Newton, in 1687, laid the foundation for the materialistic and mechanistic worldview.

Newton’s Principia Mathematica formulated the laws of motion and universal gravitation, which dominated the scientists’ view of the physical universe for the next three centuries.

The Newtonian world is assumed to be predictable, measurable, and deterministic. Our broad understanding of the way life “works” is therefore based on materialism, i.e., matter as the fundamental substance in nature, with even mind and consciousness arising from material interactions. The majority of us hold the traditional worldview of living in a strictly material world because we believe in what we see with our own eyes. In this world, “seeing is believing.”

In the early 20th century, Albert Einstein proved that time is relative, not absolute as Newton had claimed. The faster someone travels, the slower one’s time will pass relative to someone located on the Earth. If one were to travel at the speed of light, time would cease completely and the reality would be one of timelessness. The next radical development was the discovery of quantum mechanics. At the subatomic (quantum) level, the laws of physics do not apply. It is, rather, a world of potentialities or possibilities. Nothing exists as solid particles.

With this theory, all changed when scientists began to recognise that everything in the universe is made of energy. The quantum world is not one of deterministic and fundamental particles, but rather one of waves of probabilities – until they are observed. Before the point of

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observation, no real/actual particles exist. They are only potentialities.

The phenomenon of entanglement in quantum physics shows that particles that are distant from each other in space, even across billions of miles, remain connected, even though there is nothing in between.

This action cannot be explained through any traditional understanding of science.

As humanity evolved, most of the traditional beliefs and views are being replaced with a new set of modern scientific worldviews.

Throughout human history, scientific understanding has changed continuously. The findings of quantum physics left the scientists baffled, especially with the discovery that our physical material reality isn’t really physical at all. In the words of Niels Bohr, “Everything we call real is made of things that cannot be regarded as real.” It seems that the philosophers of old were right: our senses really do deceive us. By

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proving that atoms and subatomic particles are not really solid objects, quantum mechanics shook the foundations of our material world.

Particles do not exist with certainty at definite spatial locations and at definite times. Most importantly, quantum mechanics explicitly introduced the concept of the mind and the observer. The mind is interwoven with the external world.

Quantum physicists discovered that physical atoms are made up of vortices of energy that are constantly spinning and vibrating.

Bohr, a Danish physicist who made foundational contributions to understanding atomic structure and quantum theory, for which he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1922, famously said, “If quantum mechanics hasn’t profoundly shocked you, you haven’t understood it yet.” Matter, at the tiniest observable level, is energy, and human consciousness is connected to it, human consciousness can influence it and even restructure it. Scientists have demonstrated that mental processes like thoughts, emotions, and intentions can directly influence our physical material world.

The double-slit experiment established how consciousness and our physical material world are intertwined. The most stunning revelation of this experiment is that “the observer creates the reality.” The role of consciousness in shaping the nature of physical reality has been definitively proved in these experiments. A fundamental conclusion has been drawn in quantum mechanics that the observer creates his own reality: as observers, we are personally involved in the creation of our reality. Physicists can no longer deny that the universe is a “mental” construction. Pioneering physicist Sir James Jeans observed, “The stream of knowledge is heading towards a non-mechanical reality;

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the universe begins to look more like a great thought than like a great machine.” In the words of “Sleeping Prophet” Edgar Cayce, “Mind is the builder.”

The universe and the world we experience are made of everchanging fields of energy, which interact with one another to create the world we perceive. We can describe this as the world of probabilities and possibilities. Quantum mechanics has transformed our conscious role from that of passive observer to active contributor, or the active agent of change through our interactions with energy fields throughout the universe. All the properties that create reality are contextual; they depend on the acts of observation. Quantum theory has opened the door to a noetic, mind-based universe.

Reality, we would infer, is mind-based (Deepak Chopra, Menas Kafatos, and Rudolph Tanzi, The Mysteries of Reality). In a completely revolutionary interpretation of our relationship to the world, we are seen as active contributors to everything that we see, just as the spiritual traditions of the past have advocated. In a sense, our world exists only because we perceive it and create it.

Quoted from Man’s Spiritual Journey by the author

The great twentieth-century theoretical physicist, Erwin Schrödinger, who co-invented quantum theory, claimed in his autobiography that he obtained his central intuition from the Vedas: the universe is based on superimposed and inseparable waves of probabilities. This new concept is entirely consistent with the Vedantic concept of “All in One”. For the past couple of centuries, consciousness was assumed to

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be a manifestation of matter. Now it seems no longer valid. The new era of science is working with the idea that consciousness is deeply embedded in the fabric of existence. Consciousness and the mental world are now seen as central to all manifestation.

We are moving toward a philosophical worldview, which is actually a rebirth of ancient wisdom. In simple terms, this understanding accepts that consciousness or mind plays a fundamental and co-creating role in our interconnected world. Materialism is now being replaced by a worldview in which consciousness is at the core of reality. Increasingly, consensus about this central truth is emerging among scientists, philosophers, and thinkers of various disciplines. This new model goes a long way toward explaining various mysterious phenomena which are otherwise inexplicable using materialist theory. Many physicists are comfortable in describing the universe as “conscious”. Hence, a worldview beyond the dogma of materialist physics is finally making a convincing comeback.

Ancient spiritual traditions have been advocating, and recent scientific studies have established, that we are the sole architect of our own life. We create the reality around us. More specifically, our thoughts are the creative force in constructing the reality that we perceive and experience in our life. We navigate our lives based on what we believe about our world, ourselves, our capabilities, and our limits. Very succinctly, Gautama Buddha explained, “All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything. What we think, we become.” Who could have imagined such a tremendous force within each one of us!

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Unless we imbibe modern worldviews at an early age, fundamentalist/radical beliefs will continue to persist Fundamentalism usually has a religious connotation that indicates unwavering attachment to a set of irreducible beliefs. Belief is the state of mind in which a person thinks something to be the case, with or without there being empirical evidence to prove that something is the case with factual certainty. Another way of defining belief is, it is a mental representation of an attitude positively oriented towards the likelihood of something being true. Throughout history, people have perpetrated extreme violent acts in the name of religion – whether it be Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism or another faith. A complex series of psychological, political, historical and theological factors combine to trigger such behaviour.

Fundamentalist beliefs have driven countless beheadings, bombings, and executions by terrorist groups like ISIS and Al Qaeda in the last year alone. At a time when religious extremism is running rampant in large areas of the world, and steadily growing in virtually all others, finding effective ways to fight it at its core is in the interests of all free nations.

Even in progressive nations like the U.S. and England, courses on subjects like evolutionary biology, quantum physics, cosmology and fundamental physics–that give well-established physical explanations for questions about our origins and how the world works–are not mandatory for all students in high school or even

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college. Given that ideas are easily accepted as true in early stages of life, great progress could be made if public schools provided children and young adults with a basic science education from the beginning of their academic career. We need to change our education policies across the world so that science subjects are introduced and made compulsory in schools’ core curriculums. Otherwise at later stage of life, it becomes very difficult to decondition the mind corrupted with radical and fundamentalists’ beliefs.

The hard truth of the matter is that for the human mind, believing is more of a reflex than a conscious, careful, and methodical action.

Rather than looming over this somewhat disconcerting fact, we should use this information to change the conditions that allow fundamentalist beliefs and dangerous ideologies to flourish. We may not yet be able to go into the brain and change it to fit what needs to be learned, but we can certainly change what needs to be learned to fit the brain (Religious Fundamentalism: A Side

Effect of Lazy Brains? by Bobby Azarian).

Do not dwell in the past; do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.

– Buddha Perennial wisdom, much of it Eastern, has now become the foundation of the New Age Spiritual Movement. More and more thinkers, philosophers, and scientists are expressing their views based upon this ancient wisdom. The “New Age” encompasses a range of

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spiritual beliefs, aspirations, and practices that came to the attention of Western seekers in the 1960s, and continues to grow. One of its most important beliefs is that the human mind has deep levels and vast powers, which are even capable of overriding physical reality. We create our own reality. Another belief that modern physics has proved is that all humanity – indeed all of life, everything in the universe – is spiritually interconnected, and participates in the same energy. Even our thoughts may be viewed as vibrational energies at various frequencies, and these are the building blocks in creating reality around us.

We have vast power to focus our intentions to influence the surrounding world by arranging and modifying energy fields based on what we have in mind. This is the universal way of everything that presents in our life. Spiritual and biblical quotes, such as “You reap what you sow”, are clearly validated by quantum mechanics.

Quantum physics shows us that the world is not a hard thing to change, although it certainly appears to be so. Rather, it is a fluid milieu, continuously shaped by our individual and collective thoughts. Our life becomes what we have conceived, imagined, and thought in the past, both consciously and unconsciously. We literally become what we think, via the intentions we hold. The world is, in that sense, a mirror, enabling us to experience on the physical plane what we most strongly believe.

The problem, however, is that humanity has not, thus far, embraced these seemingly radical views, and most people are still skeptical about such ideas. This is mainly because most of us haven’t understood the application part of the “law of attraction” – how these principles and ideas of the New Age Movement may be applied to real-life situations.

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For instance, we very often fail to focus purely and consistently on exactly what we want to achieve or possess in life: most of the time, the mind wanders, and/or engages in multitasking. The biggest impediment to the realization of desires is one’s focus on negative thoughts – on what is not wanted – usually that which is feared in life – rather than on what is wanted.

Most of the problems in our lives are created by this wrong way of thinking. The world is programmed to give us exactly what is held in our mind, whether desired or not. If we keep on thinking of what we do not want, it is attracted to us. Most of us therefore do not apply the law of attraction consciously and correctly, and are often unhappy with our results. In re-embracing ancient wisdom, science reminds us that “we are the architect of our life”. Universal Intelligence, to which we have unlimited access, is happy to direct us, to the extent that we are aligned with it, to the fulfillment of our heart’s desires.

TO SUM UP )) The mind is intricately connected with the outer world. )) A growing number of modern scientists, thinkers and philosophers alike are strongly of the view that consciousness is deeply embedded in the fabric of existence. Consciousness and the mental world are now seen as central to all manifestation. )) Materialism is now being replaced by a worldview in which consciousness is at the core of reality.

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)) Modern physics has proved that all humanity – indeed all of life, everything in the universe – is spiritually interconnected, and participates in the same energy fields. )) Even our thoughts may be viewed as vibrational energies at various frequencies, and these are the building blocks in creating reality around us.

ď Ž

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CHAPTER 2

Mental Suffering is Universal but Avoidable

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he nature and workings of the mind were examined in detail in the teachings of the Buddha that originated over 2,000 years ago in India. Dukkha is a Buddhist term, commonly translated as suffering, anxiety, or stress. The principle of dukkha is one of the most important concepts in the Buddhist traditions. The classic formulation of these teachings on dukkha is the doctrine of the Four Noble Truths, in which the truth of dukkha –“suffering exists” – is identified as the First Noble Truth. The others are: “Suffering arises from the attachment to desires”; “suffering ceases when attachment to desire ceases”; and “freedom from suffering is possible by practicing the Eightfold Path”. Following this path to liberation, one behaves decently, cultivates discipline, and practices mindfulness and meditation. In this way, an end can be put to craving, to clinging, to becoming, to dissatisfaction, and to the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth.

It is true that Buddhism begins and ends in the study of suffering.

Suffering lies at its root, just as it lies at the root of life itself. We are born into a world of pain, and all must experience sadness and loss.

Obviously, we experience great joy as well, but suffering seems to be a dominant influence in our lives. We live much of our lives entangled in a spider’s web of desires and aversions. When we analyse the various

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forms of suffering and their root causes, we see that they may be reduced to attachments and aversions, based on the illusion of a real and discrete self. Buddhism aims at the demotion of the self, the creation of subtle mindfulness, bliss, great compassion, and moderation and gentleness (A Buddhist View of Suffering by Peter Morrell).

Life quite often makes us suffer; it is a natural phenomenon. Each one of us is vulnerable to suffering. Nothing we experience or possess will remain with us forever. All will vanish, including wealth and our most intimate relationships. Even our physical body changes every minute. Billions of molecules are replaced by new molecules within a few moments. It is rightly said that “If we do not change, we do not grow. If we do not grow, we are not really living.� Change is the only constant; we witness continuous change in our body, relationships, and working environment. However, suffering arises when we resist and react negatively to changes.

Mental suffering is a natural phenomenon in life we lead.

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We do not acquiesce to change easily if it does not better our lives.

We cling to familiarity and to a predictably comfortable environment at all times. Changing circumstances do not cause suffering; it’s the reactive thoughts and emotions associated with those changes that lead to painful feelings. If we are open, flexible, and responsive to changes, then we can surely minimise the suffering associated with those unexpected changes.

Suffering is the result of our internal programming. Our minds are programmed to generate thoughts, especially the thoughts relating to “I”, “me” and “my”, which cause suffering. Life is like a puzzle. We try to make it all fit neatly together by searching for the solutions to our problems. Many believe that status, money, a flourishing business, right relationships, etc., will mitigate their sufferings. We also visit temples, astrologers, pundits and gurus, even performing rituals in search of peace. The egoic mind is the cause of suffering. Suffering happens in response to a thought.

We suffer because of too much thinking. Not only do we think about what has happened in the past, but also about what may happen in the future. More particularly, we tend to suffer over fear, imaginary threats, and negative ideas about the future. Disturbing thoughts often focus on violence, sex and past traumatic events. Psychologists call these types of thoughts intrusive thoughts because they pop into our heads, often without warning, and cause us distress. Even though most of us have these thoughts, some people worry and obsess about thoughts that they would never act on, which can cause them distress.

Why do we suffer? Suffering is actually in the mind. “Mind has thoughts. Witness those thoughts that resist change. Those very thoughts are

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attachments. Witnessing your thoughts, in other words the attachments, is a way of getting out of that. Then you realise you are not a person who is identified with attachments, but you are, rather, the witness. Once you recognise the witness, the spiritual being, in your soul, you will experience far more love than you ever got from ‘out there’.” This is the beautiful realisation of contemporary American spiritual teacher, Ram Dass.

Each one of us is subjected to pain and suffering. Presumably, physical pain exists because it is a biological requirement and useful for survival, since it is a sign of physical harm or illness somewhere in the body.

Emotional pain is the interpretation or meaning we give to all manner of pain signals, especially the internal self-talk and beliefs about it, which then drive our emotional reactions. Suffering is therefore primarily psychological in nature. It results from mental and emotional responses to pain.

We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think. When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves.

– Buddha

Pain is unavoidable; suffering is not. It occurs in response to thoughts such as “Why me?” “Why is God unfair to me?” and “Are my problems due to my past karma?” Imbalance in thinking due to suffering further aggravates physical pain. Our thoughts have the capacity to make us miserable, and negative thinking can be especially insidious in itself, feeding on itself with the potential to become a self-fulfilling and selfdefeating prophecy (Pain Is Inevitable; Suffering Is Optional, by Dan Mager).

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Our minds are generally in a constant state of dissatisfaction, no matter what we possess for leading a comfortable life. Even if we have perfectly fine relationships, working atmosphere and homely environment, our mind may still be disquieted, anxious or disturbed. It is an internal phenomenon of the mind underlying all the better things of life. Most of us fall into the ‘pleasure trap’ which means we tend to seek pleasure from the outside world and avoid painful things. We are wired never to be content and always in search of something new or more than what we already have. We always desire to expand our so-called ‘personal empire’. While pursuing so, we create mental distress, discontentment and unhappiness, resulting in suffering.

When we struggle hard to avoid pain and suffering and striving for pleasure and happiness, we invariably notice that where there is desire, there is a fear, and vice versa. Most of our actions and s are controlled by this desire-fear duality, which very often leads to suffering, discontentment, and anxiety. The fact is that the more we desire, the greater is the fear of its nonfulfillment. To secure and get comfort in life, we possess and accumulate material things, often without drawing a line, knowing fully well that this will inevitably lead to further suffering. This is one way of describing the duality of consciousness that operates throughout our life. What is required is to balance this duality. The Buddhist realisation that duality is unavoidable and has to be balanced is essential to addressing the suffering in life.

We suffer more when we take the expressions of life personally, and resist them. However, when we realise that suffering is impersonal, and accept the circumstances and incidents as they are presented to us, everything changes. Acceptance has a great healing effect. When we are

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convinced that the outcomes of decisions are driven by conditioned thoughts and emotions, we feel relieved. Further, regardless of how rich or secure or successful we are, a fundamental dissatisfaction still persists.

Not everything that we desire or hope for is fulfilled. Of course, most of us fall into the delusional belief-trap that this dissatisfaction can be overcome by getting or accumulating more of what (and who) we want.

To understand pain and suffering, we need to experience and embody the feeling of compassion, empathy, and concern for others. Unless we experience suffering in our own life, we may not be able to understand the suffering of others. One has to wear the shoes to know where they pinch. Thus, pain and suffering are the necessary evolutionary conditions for our survival. Suffering eases as inner peace increases.

All genuinely enlightened persons have compassion and selfless love for their fellow beings because they no longer see separation between themselves and the “others�.

Mental suffering arises when our conscious mind takes us to unpleasant events/experiences of the past or makes us fearful and anxious about the future. Our strong attachment to past memories and anxiety about the future leads to suffering. There is a saying in Eastern mindfulness philosophy that if we are depressed, we are focused on the past, and if we are anxious, we are focused on the future. Peace exists only in the present moment. The practice of being in the present is the solution to self-created suffering. If you are feeling sad about something, feel it.

Really feel it, allow its full expression. Be in the moment with the pain.

Allow it to come and pass, as all things do. Do not hold it longer, or discard it too soon. Be with it.

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TO SUM UP )) Life quite often makes us suffer; it is a natural phenomenon.

Each one of us is vulnerable to suffering. )) We live much of our lives deeply entangled in a spider’s web of desires and aversions. )) All awakened and enlightened persons have compassion and selfless love for other beings because they no longer see separation between themselves and the “others”. )) Changing circumstances do not cause suffering; it’s the reactive thoughts and emotions associated with those changes that lead to painful feelings and suffering. )) Acceptance has a great healing effect. The feeling of “whatever happened has to have happened in that particular way” can relieve us from suffering to a great extent. )) Self-awareness and the practice of being present is the solution to self-created suffering.

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CHAPTER 3

Mind-Body is One – The mind is deeply ingrained within physical body

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arlier, we strongly believed our physical body and mind to be separate, discrete entities functioning in isolation. However, medical science has established, beyond doubt, that they are one because of their deep and intimate connection. If we watch ourselves carefully, we can see how emotions and feelings instantly affect our bodies. The immune system in particular has been shown to be deeply intertwined with our emotions and thought processes. Continuous two-way communication goes on between body and mind, which in turn affects our physical systems and mental and emotional health.

Many doctors have noticed that their patient’s beliefs make a world of difference to that person’s health and disease outcomes.

A mind is the set of cognitive faculties that enables consciousness, perception, thinking, judgment, and memory. Humanity has been struggling to find a convincing explanation of relationship among brain, mind, and physical body. Whether our brain and mind are identical, or mind reflects functional activities of certain parts of the brain, remains an unanswered question. Another question has to do with which types of living beings are capable of having a mind, whether the mind is present exclusively in humans or is possessed by other advanced mammals like chimpanzees and dolphins. In any case, it is

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now widely accepted that the body and mind are intimately connected and directly affect each other in many ways.

Our emotions, thoughts, sensations, and all other responses produce biochemical in the brain. Every memory has a distinct associated feeling and an emotion which is produced by a particular chemical or combination of chemicals. We know that intelligence is not located in the brain/mind but throughout the entire body; the traditional concept of mind-body separation has been thoroughly invalidated.

Our brain houses various kinds of chemical transmitters, one of which is neuropeptides. These neuropeptides transmit signals throughout the body. These very chemicals connecting emotions and receptors are present in all cells of the body. When someone is happy, sad, or disgusted, certain neuropeptides carry those particular emotions to every area of the body. It is therefore rightly said that since neuropeptides and their receptors also exist in the body, the mind is in the body, just as it is in the brain.

It has been firmly established that the role of the mind and emotions in our physical state and wellbeing, is a vital one. Happiness, selfsatisfaction, and contentment reduce the risk of many diseases, such as high blood pressure, diabetes, and pulmonary and cardiovascular diseases; on the other hand, loneliness, depression and anxiety increase the risk of these diseases. To sustain good health, we simply cannot afford to ignore the wellness of mind. Emotions and feelings have direct and immediate impact on our body. By understanding that mind and body work together, we can miraculously cure ourselves.

At least 95% of the human population comes into this world with

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a perfect genetic blueprint, but over the course of time, these same people develop physical and mental aberrations due to their personal experiences and environmental conditions. Every cell has receptors on its outside membrane, receptors that receive information/signals that cause changes in these cells. Negative thoughts and their associated feelings are known to be the root cause of several illnesses, from the simple cold and flu to heart attacks, diabetes, and cancer. Psychologists estimate that an astonishing 70% of our thoughts are negative and redundant. Positive thoughts and perceptions enhance good health, while negative thoughts and perceptions can lead to numerous diseases.

The mind is everything. What you think you become.

– Buddha

Many ancient healing systems have focused on the concept of interconnection between mind and body in healing, including that of Hippocrates, the Father of Western Medicine. Hippocrates taught that good health depends on a harmonious balance of mind, body, and the environment. As we have seen, modern scientific research supports this age-old wisdom. It began in the 1920s, when Harvard scientist Walter Cannon, M.D., identified the fight-or-flight response through which the body secretes stress hormones, such as epinephrine and norepinephrine. When these hormones enter the bloodstream, they produce changes in the body, such as heart palpitations and increased breathing rate – that put the person in an optimal physical state to either escape or confront danger.

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How are Thoughts Linked to Our Immune System?

There is a famous truism that “our thoughts create our reality”.

Though this may sound absurd to many, it is a proven scientific fact. The way we think and the type of thoughts that flow through our mind have profound bearing on our wellbeing. But just how do thoughts affect our body? How could what we think make us sick or keep us well? Dr. Candace Pert, an eminent pharmacologist who extensively researched neuropeptides, was the first to refer to them as “molecules of emotion.” Pert describes the mysterious energy connecting body to mind and emotions as the free flow of information carried by the biochemical of emotion: neuropeptides and their receptors – the information substances.

Neuropeptides are small protein-like molecules (peptides) used by neurons to communicate with each other. They are neuronal signalling molecules that influence the activity of the brain in specific ways. Different neuropeptides are involved in a wide range of brain functions, including metabolism, reproduction, social , learning and memory.

The strong link between emotional responses and the biochemical change they produce, specifically in the immune system, forms the basis of the field known as psycho-neuro-immunology (PNI).

The field of PNI explores the links between mind and body with regard to the immune system. Cortisol secreted during periods of long-term stress, plays a role in immune suppression. Peptides are actually formed throughout the body – e.g., immune cells and

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bone marrow. Gut cells in the stomach not only have the receptors for neuropeptides but they also produce them. The immune cells hence communicate directly with the brain, and vice versa via neuropeptides. Cells in the immune system are responsive to all the neuropeptides that are triggered by our thoughts and emotions.

When we experience emotions, neuropeptides travel throughout our body and influence the functioning of various types of cells.

Neuropeptides change their own configuration, like a chameleon, due to thoughts and emotions. According to Dr. Pert’s research, depending upon the thoughts and emotions, specific neuropeptides are made in the brain and nervous system, white blood cells, reproductive cells, digestive system, and heart. They form a twoway network between psyche and soma, mind and body (Dr. Arien van der Merwe). The complex communication network between cells, neurotransmitters, neuro-peptides, hormones, immune system, blood and nerves demands a remarkable orchestration of effective communication and integration of form and function for the body-mind to work as one healthy balanced and integrated whole.

Numerous scientific breakthroughs have highlighted the mind-body connection. Experimental psychologist Neal Miller discovered that we can be trained to control certain physical responses, such as blood pressure, that were previously considered to be involuntary. This discovery gave birth to biofeedback, which has now been found to be effective in the treatment of anxiety, attention deficit disorder, headache, hypertension, and urinary incontinence. Biofeedback is a

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technique we can use to learn to control our body’s functions, such as heart rate. It helps us to focus on making subtle changes in our body, as by relaxing certain muscles to achieve the results we want, such as pain reduction. In essence, biofeedback cultivates in us the awareness to use our thoughts to control our body, often to improve a health condition or athletic performance. Biofeedback is often used as a simple relaxation technique.

Having established that our internal mental world is deeply and intimately connected with our physical body, its effect upon each and every part of brain and body may also be demonstrated through neuroplasticity. That is, our thoughts and emotions can markedly affect the activity of all physiological systems, including the immune system, hormonal system, and cardiovascular system. All are intimately connected to our brain. Neuroimaging studies, psychotherapy, and the placebo/nocebo effect directly demonstrate that mental activities like thoughts, emotions, and feelings significantly influence our body.

Endorphins – Internal Generation of Morphinelike Chemicals in the Brain Endorphins – also known as endogenous morphine – are endogenous opioid neuropeptides. They are produced by the

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central nervous system and the pituitary gland in the brain. The word endorphins consists of two parts: endo- and -orphin; these are short forms of the words endogenous and morphine, intended to mean “a morphine-like substance originating from within the body.” The principal function of endorphins is to inhibit the transmission of pain signals; they may also produce a feeling of euphoria very similar to that produced by other opioids. These chemicals are produced in the brain in response to a variety of stimuli. Stress and pain are the two most common triggers for release of the endorphins.

Endorphins have profound effects on mind and body. Not only do these chemicals decrease the sensation of pain; they may also create feelings of euphoria in us. They enhance our immune response system, which in turn protects us from various illnesses. Endorphins have been suggested as modulators of the so-called “runner’s high” that athletes sometimes experience with prolonged exercise.

Examples of aerobic exercise that may produce these changes are running, jogging, brisk walking, swimming, and cycling. Aerobic exercise is also a potent long-term antidepressant. Consistent exercise has also been shown to produce general improvements in mood and self-esteem in all individuals.

While the role of endorphins and other compounds as potential triggers of this euphoric response has been debated extensively by researchers, it is at least known that the body does produce endorphins – and attendant euphoric feelings – in response to prolonged, continuous exercise. Yogic breathing exercises like

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pranayama may have similar effects on us due to secretion of endorphins. Likewise, certain foods like chocolate and chilli peppers are supposed to trigger similar feelings in us.

It is well documented that we can change the biology of our body simply by what we believe to be true. We’ve seen innumerable instances of patients being given just sugar pills or some other placebo, who were fully cured or whose symptoms were relieved as if they were taking medicine. If patients have a strong belief in the medicine or the doctor, they can be cured with a sugar pill. Though surprising, it’s true that nearly one-third of patients are cured through belief alone. This is called the placebo effect – the observable improvement in health or not attributable to medication or invasive treatment.

The placebo effect demonstrates that one can treat various ailments by using the mind to heal. Many studies have shown that this phenomenon is real and often quite dazzling. In other words, mind and body are “two sides of the same coin”, and the way we think and feel has tremendous impact on our health and well-being. On the other hand, when the mind is engaged in negative thoughts and emotions, there is noticeable impact on healing; even medicines and other interventions do not work. This is called the “nocebo effect”. The same mind-body power that can heal us can also harm us.

The mere suggestion that a patient may experience negative symptoms in response to a medication, or even a sugar pill, may be a self-fulfilling prophecy. For example, if we tell a patient who is being treated merely with sugar pills that he might experience nausea, there are fair chances that he will feel nauseous. If we suggest that the person might get a

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headache, then most likely that person will. There are even instances of patients dying due to negative beliefs, coupled with extreme fear occasioned by misdiagnoses.

To summarise, what we think and believe has an amazing ability to heal physical conditions through mind-body interactions. Our physical body, in a way, is the product of our thoughts and emotions. The quality of thoughts, feelings, and emotions determines the majority of physiological functions in our bodies. New discoveries are showing that beliefs have a powerful effect on our mind-body. In fact, faith, science, and spirituality all eventually merge on common ground.

TO SUM UP )) The traditional concept of mind-body separation has been completely proven wrong. The mind is not located in our head but throughout the entire body. )) The way we think and the thoughts we entertain have a profound impact on our physical health and wellbeing. )) What we think and believe has an amazing ability to heal our physical conditions through mind-body interactions. )) Our physical body, in a way, is the product of our thoughts and emotions. The quality of thoughts, feelings, and emotions determines the majority of physiological functions in our bodies.

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)) New discoveries are showing that beliefs have a powerful effect on our mind-body. In fact, faith, science, and spirituality all eventually merge on common ground. )) When we experience emotions, small protein-like molecules called neuropeptides travel throughout our body and influence the functioning of various organs and cells of our body.

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Part II

The Inherent Nature of the Mind

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e are all endowed with an inherently divine nature. We can very clearly observe this inherent divinity in young infants.

Those infants with purity of mind can express divine qualities such as honesty, resilience, joy, love, compassion, and kindness. This inherent nature may be seen as a state of openness to life, with feelings of love, joy, peace, and much more. As explained by Donald D. Hoffman in his book Visual Intelligence, all children are born with the same mechanisms by which they construct their visual world, and which allow them to see much the same world as any other child. The infant begins to perceive its mother as an object at about four months.

After approximately eight months, the child begins to perceive itself as an object separate from its mother, this process becoming complete at about 15 months. It seems likely that these developments must also be a result of the child’s inherited abilities. Studies show that our ability to perceive separate objects and individuals is a product of our innate tendencies (Stanley Sobottka). Yet, the perception of ourselves as separate, autonomous entities is the basis of all of our suffering. Thus, it seems that we are all born with a tendency to suffer. Likewise, we are born with many innate qualities of mind, inherited through genes, and these as a whole constitute an inherent nature of mind.

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As we age and gain experiences in life, our subconscious and unconscious mind gets developed and start controlling our actions, emotions and behaviour. Our subconscious mind is like a huge memory bank. Its capacity is virtually unlimited. It permanently stores everything that ever happens to us. Scientists say that by the time we reach the age of 21, we already have permanently stored more than one hundred times the contents of the entire Encyclopaedia Britannica. The function of our subconscious mind is to store and retrieve data. Its job is to ensure that you respond exactly the way you are programmed. Gradually, the conscious, subconscious and unconscious mind interacts in complex ways. Most of our conscious actions and emerge from unconscious processes, in a bottom-up fashion. The unconscious mind consists of the processes, which occur automatically and include thought processes, memories, inner motivations, etc.

If we pay close attention, we find, most of the time, that the mind is in a very passive default mode when it is completely absorbed in internal dialogue. During that time, the subconscious mind reigns supreme, controlling all emotions, thoughts, and the resultant decision-making process. It has been established by neuroscientists that this unconscious state is far more active than the conscious state, and can account for as much as 90% of the activities and decisions we make. Most of those thoughts and actions are impulsive, and all of them, regardless of how long in coming, are automatic, as we don’t make fully conscious choices.

Another inherent feature of our mind is that we are incapable of perceiving the true reality of the world around us. The senses through which we construct reality in our brain are ill-equipped to receive, perceive, and interpret the whole range of data pertaining to image

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formation (sight), smell, sound, taste, and touch. We construct reality in our brain on the basis of that limited range of sensory data.

More importantly, our past learning, formal teachings, and the hard conditioning of inculcated beliefs affect the process and construction of the mind’s “reality”. And that is why what we perceive as reality is illusionary, often quite misleading, and just plain “not so”.

What we see in this world is a true reflection of our own inner state of mind. Our fears, anxieties, and other negativities are faithfully reflected by the outer world. Though this seems to be a simplistic view of this world, the fact is that our mind becomes conditioned to a certain way of perceiving and reacting to this world depending upon our own attitude and beliefs. Tranquillity and serenity of mind make the world looks wonderful and friendly. On the contrary, if we are inwardly in distress and turmoil then we are certain to see a tumultuous world.

There is a famous observation of author Anais Nin that “we don’t see things as they are; we see them as we are.”

CHAPTER 4

Beyond Our Conscious Mind – A far more Powerful Subconscious and Unconscious Mind

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t is popularly believed that the conscious mind forms only 10%

of the human mind, while the rest is either the subconscious or unconscious mind. The conscious mind is what we consider to be at work during our waking hours. We use this mind for making choices and decisions after interpreting and analysing the information available. It makes us aware of what is happening in our outside world.

It functions on the basis of information that it gets through our senses.

The conscious mind communicates with the outside world and the inner self through speech, pictures, writing, physical movement, and thought. It is like the captain of a ship, standing on the bridge and giving out orders and commands to the crew that will ensure smooth sailing of the ship.

The subconscious mind is what lies just beneath the conscious mind and works silently and continuously. All complex tasks are performed in perfect harmony and accuracy through the subconscious mind.

Even if we are at rest or not doing anything during our waking hours, our brain keeps on working incessantly. Many brain regions are very active in those moments. This part of the brain may be working or preparing for the next moves we are likely to make. The subconscious mind always thinks two steps ahead for which we are not consciously

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aware. To avoid any likely threat or danger, it may be working without letting us know. In this way, thousands of activities and functions are being carried out round the clock in perfect synchronization with our various body parts.

We are completely unaware of its functioning. It is much more capacious than the conscious mind and accounts for 50 to 60 % of our brain capabilities. It is vast, deep, and largely inaccessible to conscious thought. The subconscious mind is in charge of our recent short-term memories. It maintains vigilant awareness of our surroundings. In fact, according to one study, we are bombarded with over 2 million bits of data every second. Such gigantic information/sensory data input cannot be processed by our conscious mind. Hence, the subconscious mind plays an extremely important role in our day-to-day functioning.

It is the subconscious part of mind that is driving our vehicle while mind is busy elsewhere.

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In addition to the subconscious, we also have a deeper layer called the unconscious mind, which is the storehouse of all memories and past experiences, including those that have been repressed through trauma and those that have simply been consciously forgotten and are no longer important to us. It is from these memories and experiences that our beliefs, habits, and behaviours are determined. The unconscious mind constantly communicates with the conscious mind via the subconscious, and is what provides us with the meaning to all our interactions with the world, as filtered through our beliefs and habits. It communicates through feelings, emotions, imaginings, sensations, and dreams (The Conscious, Subconscious, and Unconscious Mind – How Does It All Work? posted on themindunleashed.org). It is a long-term storage place for all our memories and programs that have been installed since birth. It accounts for nearly 30 to 40 % of our mind’s capacity.

All the routine and repetitive activities like driving, walking, bathing, etc., are performed perfectly by our subconscious mind. It works tirelessly “behind the scenes” to meet our needs and desires without even letting us know. It is left alone to make important and crucial decisions at its leisure. When we drive, it is primarily the subconscious mind that guides us from moment to moment and even at critical junctures. It is now common knowledge that the subconscious mind is far bigger and faster than the conscious mind. According to cell biologist Dr. Bruce Lipton, the subconscious operates 500,000 times faster than the conscious mind.

Men are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own minds.

– Franklin D. Roosevelt

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The hidden Unconscious Mind is far bigger and faster than the Conscious Mind.

In our day-to-day lives, most of us are, in fact, only partially conscious.

Our untrained mind and tendency to react to mostly subconscious and conditioned responses, disposes us to live within a personal comfort zone throughout life. Few try to emerge from that secure though habitual and limiting cocoon. George Gurdjieff, an influential mystic and spiritual teacher, premised his life’s work on the observation that we are effectively “asleep” – unaware of reality while totally engrossed in our routine affairs. In other words, we are generally in a “default mode” in which mind is completely absorbed in internal dialogue.

That is the subconscious setting, when mind is occupied by its own thinking process and we are not consciously aware of the here and now.

Most of what we consider conscious is actually the adaptive subconscious.

It is argued that evolution has brought about the amazing feats of the subconscious. The less we have to pay direct attention to a task, the

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more mental energy we have for other activities. As we master more tasks, doing them at a less-than-conscious level, the more we can process other information. Established in the present, the conscious mind may then look ahead to the future, figuring out or simply intuiting the next best move, where to go from here, what’s to be done next. This reliance on the subconscious makes us more efficient. Further, the subconscious mind is a repository of automatic skills, such as driving, and the source of intuition and dreams.

Generally, we can recall memories from the unconscious mind only when they are triggered by some particular sensation or event. For instance, we can recall certain childhood memories when we visit some old familiar place. Through hypnosis, such repressed memories can be recalled. The unconscious mind is the source of all those programs that our subconscious uses to carry out various activities on automatic/ default setting. The unconscious mind is the source of hidden beliefs, fears, phobias, and attitudes that interfere with our everyday life. Most forms of psychotherapy aim to bring these hidden hindrances into conscious awareness, so that we can examine them and choose how to deal with them (Unconsciously Rushing to Be Unconscious, William Berry, Psychology Today, July 2013).

Philosophers have for millennia debated the nature of “reality” and whether the world we experience is real or an illusion. However, modern neuroscience teaches us that, in a way, all of our perceptions may be considered illusions. Given that so-called reality is primarily constructed by our unconscious mind, its objective reality is questionable. With a limited amount of sensory data, the unconscious part of our mind creates the reality we perceive. Our brain does all of

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this without any conscious effort, and we accept the vision concocted by the unconscious without question or awareness that this reality is but an interpretation (“Our Unconscious and Social ‘Reality‘”, Leonard Mlodinow, Psychology Today, May 2012). Therefore, it may be said that the central function of the unconscious is to construct a useful reality, and to fill in the blanks in the face of incomplete information. This applies not just to our perception of the physical world, but also to our social perception.

The unconscious mind plays an important role in creative activities.

When our conscious mind is wandering, our unconscious mind is working nonstop. Even when we have some problem at hand to be solved, the unconscious mind is busy gathering relevant information or finding other knowledge that relates to that pending problem. And when we come back to the problem that information will be presented to the conscious mind. Researchers often distinguish between two phases of creative idea generation – divergence and convergence.

In the divergence phase, we generate a lot of potential solutions to a problem. In the convergence phase, we evaluate and hone in on those ideas that are most promising. The work of unconscious thoughts suggests that the unconscious may be most effective during the divergence phase of creative thought (Can You Be Unconsciously Creative? Art Markman, Ph.D., “HuffPost Healthy Living”, October 2010). As we think more and more about a particular problem, unconscious mind activates memory to generate helpful ideas that take us to new perspectives, so critical to creative thinking.

Another recent finding is that people do indeed make optimum decisions – but only when their unconscious minds make the choice. “A lot of

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the early work in the field was on conscious decision-making, but most of the decisions you make are not based on conscious reasoning,” says Alex Pouget, associate professor of brain and cognitive sciences at the University of Rochester. “You don’t consciously decide to stop at a red light or steer around an obstacle in the road. Once we started looking at the decisions our brains make without our knowledge, we found that they almost always reach the right decision, given the information they had to work with.” We have no idea how much information our unconscious has gathered and analysed before any conscious decision is made. Mechanically, the unconscious mind works and prepares the ground for the fruits of its decisions.

Most of our mental processes do, in fact, occur automatically, and without the involvement of our consciousness. This prevents the mind from being overloaded by simple tasks. But when it comes to decisions, we tend to assume they are made by our conscious mind. Researchers have found that it is possible to predict from measuring brain signals what decisions their test subjects would reach – before they make any conscious decision. Surprisingly, those decisions can be predicted long before they are made. Professor John-Dylan Haynes of the Max Planck Institute has shown that brain activity predicts – up to seven seconds ahead of time – how a person is going to decide. This study shows that decisions are unconsciously prepared much longer ahead than previously thought. Other studies are increasingly showing the role and significance of unconscious mind in our decision-making process.

When we allow our unconscious mind to work even at critical moments to make decisions, the delegation of responsibility comes at a cost. Often that part of the mind commits mistakes and we are not sure

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how those mistakes came about. Though we tend to take ownership of such decisions, in a way we are not wholly responsible for such decisions. It is true that our unconscious mind, over which we would appear to have very little control, plays a leading role in making choices at crucial moments, which could, in turn, change the course of our life.

At those moments, our actions were impulsive and automatic, as we didn’t make a conscious decision.

Later on, we justify our decisions as our mind comes up with explanations for our actions or , convincing us that we were logically and rationally justified in making that particular choice. This is called rationalisation. It is an unconscious defence mechanism by which perceived controversial or feelings are logically justified and explained in a rational or logical manner in order to avoid any true explanation.

It is our way of “making excuses” for our irrational or selfish . Hence, even after committing an obviously wrongful act, we strongly support our actions and s. It is a common phenomenon often encountered in our life.

Quite often we act irrationally, and then feel that we misled ourselves while doing so. Why do we then attempt to justify those unconscious actions or behaviours? It is because people are governed by what Sigmund Freud called irrational and unconscious urges. As explained earlier, our unconscious mind is much larger and faster than the conscious mind. We become conscious of discordant acts or decisions after the fact, but we still think we made those decisions. That is why we later justify those acts. In fact, we have an “interpreter module” in the left hemisphere of our brain which creates an explanation and provides a convincing storyline and narrative. We are thus able to believe we are

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free agents, making important free-will choices. It is an illusion that we act consciously though, in fact, much of the time we are not a party to those decisions.

TO SUM UP )) The subconscious mind is far bigger and faster than the conscious mind. According to cell biologist Dr. Bruce Lipton, the subconscious operates 500,000 times faster than the conscious mind. )) We are generally in a “default mode” in which the mind is completely absorbed in internal dialogue. In such a situation, our mind is occupied by its own thinking process and we are not consciously aware of those moments. )) Most of our mental processes do, in fact, occur automatically, and without the involvement of our conscious mind. )) Research shows that our unconscious mind has a significant role in our decision making process. It prepares the ground for taking decisions. )) When we are not fully conscious, our unconscious part of the mind decides and later on we justify the decision as if that decision was consciously taken by us.

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CHAPTER 5

The Observing Mind – The ability to observe own thinking mind

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he purpose of our life is to move and grow along a spiritual path, and this can be achieved only by transforming ourselves through all of the experiences of life’s journey. However, we simply cannot transform ourselves unless we transform our mind. There are many ways to change the way we think and feel about ourselves. We cannot change our mind unless we have the willingness to watch and observe our thinking mind; otherwise we are, most of the time, so deeply engrossed that we forget that it is the mind that does the thinking. We are completely identified with our mind. We are largely unaware of what we are thinking and who does the thinking. One needs to observe the mind, and it is the first condition when we undertake the task of the mind’s transformation.

We are trapped in incessant streams of thoughts, which are mostly useless and repetitive. Watch the mind closely. Just below the thoughts is an undifferentiated stream of consciousness. It’s a zone of “no thought,” a place of eternal peace and bliss.

If we observe our mind closely, we realise that it operates at two levels; hence there are two entities within our head. On the outer level, we have what Buddha called the monkey mind. It is mostly restless,

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capricious, inconsistent, indecisive, and very difficult to control. Here “I” reigns supreme. If we remove our attention from this monkey mind, and ignore the clutter of our thoughts, we find our inner mind.

The problem is that our monkey mind (thinking mind) engages our consciousness in so much fast-changing data from the surrounding world that we forget to acknowledge our inner mind, the witnessing mind.

“We can never obtain peace in the outer world until we make peace with ourselves.”

– Dalai Lama XIV Every one of us must have noticed that when we expect our mind to avoid any particular set of negative thoughts, we realise after a few moments that those very thoughts still arise in our mind. If that is so, it means that some part of our mind must have been noticing the thoughts arising in the mind during those moments. If our mind was thinking, then who was observing the thinking mind? It was our mind watching our mind! In Zen, they refer to this as the “thinking mind” and the “observing mind.” It is a common concept in Buddhism, the two minds theory. Today psychotherapists use this concept in resolving many of the mental problems that we face in modern society.

Our thinking mind is always chattering, whenever we are free, not paying attention to any task or activity, and even when we are attending meetings and engaged in conversation. The other person might assume that we are being attentive to what he or she is saying, but on average, at least half of the time our thinking mind has wandered elsewhere.

The mind is not one hundred % present at that moment. It is busy

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traveling, often recalling memories or worrying about the future. This causes stress, because it is not enjoying what is at hand, which is the present moment.

Most of our psychological stress happens because our thinking mind and observing mind are “fused”, and we do not recognise the difference (http://markmanson.net/your-two-minds). The main reason is that we simply cannot control our thinking mind. The emotions pop up and will continue to pop up. Emotions, thoughts, thinking mind, and our “Self ” intermingle, and there is no separation among them.

The thinking mind and the observing mind both operate simultaneously and parallel in the mind. Generally, though, the observing mind is not noticed because we are totally engrossed in the thinking mind. In the thinking mind, thoughts keep on appearing and disappearing, and our “Self ” is completely identified with this aspect of our mind. In this part, we either enjoy or struggle with the thoughts. They preoccupy our entire mind. Human suffering is also a by-product of thoughts that arise in the thinking mind. Negative thoughts and emotions are natural to the human brain; we cannot escape them. If we resist those negative thoughts and emotions, they rebound with even greater force.

Then the suffering, instead of getting redressed, increases.

As described by Dr. Cliff Heegel, “Rather than helping us to connect with the reality around us in the present moment, the thinking mind often captures our focus and takes us mentally to seemingly more interesting thoughts of a different time and place. When the thinking mind dominates, we spend most of our time only partially aware of our surroundings, scarcely capable of noticing the richness of the world we actually inhabit in the present moment.” On the other hand,

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Dr. Heegel tells us, “The observing mind is incapable of boredom. It perceives everything it notices with openness and interest, because this moment is fleeting, alive only this instant. It is always present and is always available.” Through the observing mind, we connect with the vast range of our experiences. It does not matter if the experience is new, exciting, familiar, or even unpleasant – it is all simply acceptable.

One of the toughest tasks we face is how to control unwanted thoughts. Instead of quickly dismissing them and judging ourselves harshly for having such thoughts, we should first acknowledge that these thoughts are neither right nor wrong. They are just thoughts.

However, it is the emotion that is associated with such thoughts that makes it unpleasant or unwanted. By observing those thoughts closely, we can delink (dissociate) thoughts from the associated emotions.

Witness the thoughts even if they are frightening, and fill you with fear.

By witnessing them, their associated negative energy can be dissolved.

Besides, by observing thoughts, we can cultivate “space between the thoughts” or the primary consciousness that underlies all thinking.

This is the place of internal peace and bliss. We can penetrate this place only through the observing mind.

Awareness through the observing mind can do wonders as far as management of mind and thoughts is concerned. Mindfulness skills are extremely useful in emotional regulation, distress tolerance, and interpersonal problems. This is the foundation for many therapies that are used to cure a host of mental conditions. Through this simple technique, we can know what we are thinking, how far we are able to manage our thoughts, and what we may do to control our thoughts.

The benefit of observing is that the mind becomes quiet and serene.

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Eventually, we can observe things without a running commentary of a talkative/thinking mind. Observe without getting caught in the experience. We must experience without reacting to that experience.

Mindfulness involves observation of constantly changing internal and external stimuli as they arise. If we start practicing simple observation, we can manage and control the incessant inflow of unwanted thoughts.

As explained by the Western spiritual teacher Eckhart Tolle in A New Earth, “The problem most people have is not thinking; it is not knowing how to stop thinking.” Observing is the basis of self-awareness. When we observe our experience, we are more likely to have a feeling of being in control of our thinking. No matter what we are doing, we can just step back and observe. Let thoughts come and go without disturbing the mind. Unwanted thoughts should not stick to our mind. Many researchers have found that this is a way to cope with intense feelings.

Most of us feel that the stress or anxiety or depressed state that we experience is due to the events outside of us. We expend much energy trying to control these states without realising that their source is internal. Observing is very beneficial because when we do this, the thoughts just come and go. We can free our mind from too much thinking, especially of the negative kind. To understand the reality of this world, we must go inward, and this is exactly what the ancient wisdom also says. An inward journey is necessary for true realisation of who we really are. Going inward simply means taking the path of introspection and self-contemplation.

Introspection has been a subject of philosophical discussion for thousands of years. It generally provides a privileged access to our mental state. It is the closer observation of our conscious thoughts and

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feelings. In psychology, the process of introspection relies exclusively on observation of one’s mental state, while in a spiritual context, it may refer to the examination of one’s inner self. It is closely related to selfreflection. The only person with the power to change us is ourselves.

Through this inward journey, we can learn about our thinking and behaviour pattern through the observing mind. So the greatest gift we can give to ourselves is the opening and flowering of self-awareness. By doing so, we get to observe the mind and its thoughts, coming in and out of our awareness. Self-observation can eventually free us from the negative conditioning that so often impedes our progress.

TO SUM UP )) By observing thoughts, we can cultivate “space between the thoughts” or the primary consciousness that underlies all thinking. We can penetrate this place only through the observing mind. )) If we start practicing simple observation, we can manage and control the incessant inflow of unwanted thoughts. )) Only by way of closely observing our thoughts, can we dissociate those thoughts from the associated emotions. This act will make negative or destructive thoughts neutral. )) Through the observing mind, we connect with the vast range of our experiences. It does not matter if the experience is new, exciting, familiar, or even unpleasant – it is all simply acceptable.

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CHAPTER 6

The Illusionary Reality – Inability of the Mind to perceive the objective reality of the world

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e humans simply cannot imagine the reality of this world/ universe. For instance, we are stationary when we are sitting, but the earth spins eastward on its axis, making one daily rotation at a speed of 1,040 miles per hour. As the earth orbits the sun, we are being carried along at 70,000 miles per hour. As the sun orbits the Milky Way galaxy, we are moving at 500,000 miles per hour. Consider further that the earth is situated 27,000 light-years from the centre of the Milky Way galaxy. Our galaxy is among the estimated 100 to 200 billion galaxies in the (known) universe. Do you know that one lightyear is six trillion miles?

Now imagine the place that each one of us occupies in the universe. Here again, we find ourselves incapable of perceiving the absolute reality of our surrounding world, or our place in it. We therefore depend on our mind for the construction of reality – a reality that, “through a glass darkly,” looks real enough but is little more than a mental construct.

Our brain, through the five senses, takes in and must process a huge amount of data from its surroundings for an image to be formed. This is why those images may be neither complete nor accurate. They are simply interpretations, and not the true reality. Yet, the mind has a

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unique ability to construct its own reality out of limited information.

In fact, our brains have been designed by evolutionary processes to make the best sense of data inputs that are ambiguous, and that might be interpreted in many different ways. That is why we live in the shadows of imaginary constructions of reality, leading to a Pandora’s Box of misconceptions.

Most human beings hold a worldview of separateness in this physical reality. We believe that we are distinct and autonomous entities, totally separate from other fellow beings because this is how we perceive through our senses. However, in ancient times, especially in India, man’s views were essentially of wholeness. The most significant doctrine expressed in the Vedas and the Upanishads, the first philosophical explorations of Hinduism, is that “Reality is one or absolute, changeless, and eternal, the Brahman.” And the ordinary human world of many separate, discrete, and finite things, which our mind perceives through our senses, is merely an illusion.

You have power over your mind - not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.

– Marcus Aurelius Through the use of contemplative sciences, ancient sages like Buddha and Nagarjuna reached the conclusion that space, time, and all of seemingly objective reality are mere illusions created by our differentiating mind.

In the past, these revelations were strongly rejected in the West, but now modern scientists are approaching, and often reaching, the same conclusions.

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We live far from the true reality of the world.

Everyone’s mind has its own selective filter through which they perceive the world in their own unique way. This filtering apparatus is built into

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our minds, allowing us only a partial view, depending upon what we are most drawn to seeing. The selectivity of mind is determined by what one most wants and/or needs to become aware of. Researchers have established that the mind can receive and interpret but a fraction of the information from its surroundings. Instead, it uses partial information as coordinates by which it constructs a mental world. The brain uses this raw data to create a model of the world, and this is the mental world in which we all live. Most often, of course, this leads to an erroneous perception of reality. Therefore, each one of us lives in a world which is quite different from that of all others.

Our mind has the unbridled capacity to imagine, visualise, and perceive a “reality” based on the limited/scanty information that we gather from the generally unreliable outside world. We hardly make any attempt to verify it, yet we are sure of that “reality” and act accordingly. It is like defining reality by the tip of an iceberg, while ignoring all that lies beyond our purview. This means that we live in a largely imaginary and illusory state, far from truthful representation of the world around us.

This very ignorance of truth generates a host of problems and distressing situations that lead to suffering in life. Recognition and awareness of this limitation alone is sufficient to overcome its impact in our life.

No two individuals perceive reality in the same way. Having seen a movie, each watcher will take away his or her impression of its contents. Our mind perceives reality according to our past experiences and beliefs; therefore our expectations and desires are relative. Of the vast data inputs from the outside world, only a very small fraction of it is consciously processed by our minds. We select our reality based on a three-step process of deletion, distortion, and generalisation (Your

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Plato’s Allegory – In a world of ignorance, we must leave the cave/mind to embrace the true reality.

Quantum Mind in Action, posted by Rebel Brown). None of us will construct the same reality, even when we are experiencing exactly the same situation. Interpreting reality in our own conditioned ways, we are only partially aware that other people have their own construct of reality. It is of course this dynamic that leads to misunderstanding as we fail to understand their point of view.

Whenever mind recalls personal experiences, its self-made stories conveniently colour and embellish the past, so that our role as “hero” and “heroine” remains intact. Researchers who have conducted extensive research on the creation and nature of false memories have shown that our recollections are indeed reconstructions that are partly true and partly fictitious. Therefore, our memories are reconstructed “stories” built from episodes of true experiences but coloured by fictional additions, deletions, and modifications. In other words, even

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our dearest memories are not reliable, as we have distorted them to fit into a bigger and more personally flattering story. However, in many cases an inflated self-image crafted by distorted memories may result in greater confidence, which fuels success.

Plato’s Allegory of the Cave Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.

– Albert Einstein What is reality? This is a highly debatable and interesting subject, as for different persons there is different meaning in what they observe or perceive through their senses. Reality in everyday usage means “everything that exists.” According to Wikipedia, the term reality, in its widest sense, includes everything that is, whether it is observable, comprehensible, or self-contradictory by science, philosophy, or any other system of analysis.

Plato, the celebrated, honoured and revered philosopher of the Western world, explained his views on reality through his “Allegory of the Cave.” Imagine a cave, he said, in which there are three prisoners. The prisoners are tied to some rocks, their arms and legs are chained and their heads are tied so that they cannot look at anything but the stone wall in front of them. These prisoners have been here since birth, and have never seen the outside of the cave. Behind the prisoners is a fire, and between them is a raised walkway. People outside the cave walk along this walkway, carrying things on their head including animals,

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plants, wood, and stone. The prisoners cannot look at anything behind or to the side of themselves; they must look at the wall in front of them.

When people walk along the walkway, the prisoners can see shadows of the objects they are carrying cast onto the wall. Since they have never seen these actual objects before, they obviously believe that the shadows of the objects are “real.� Finally the day comes when one of the prisoners breaks his bindings and leaves the cave. He is of course shocked at the world he’s discovered outside the cave.

At first, he does not believe it can be real. But as he becomes used to his new surroundings, he realizes that his earlier view of reality was wrong. He then begins to understand and love his real world.

When this prisoner returns to the cave and tells his former prisonmates of his findings, no one believes him. Enraged, they threaten to kill him if he tries to set them free.

The Allegory of the Cave symbolically suggests the contemporary world of ignorance, and the chained people represent the ignorant people of this ignorant world. The raised wall symbolises the limitation of our thinking and the shadows symbolise the world of sensory perception, which Plato considers an illusion. In his opinion, the appearance is false and reality is beyond our senses.

Plato says that the manifest world is just a reflection of the real world. The shadows represent this reflection, and the reality is possible to know with spiritual discernment. The chains symbolise our limiting ties to this material world, preventing us from knowing reality.

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The world of light beyond the cave symbolically suggests the world of spiritual reality, which we realise by breaking the chains that we allow to bind us. Once free, our bedazzlement suggests the overwhelming beauty of reality. After knowing reality, ignorance vanishes. Hence, in the Allegory of the Cave, Plato has given the lie to our limited understanding of life. To conclude, we must leave the mind (the cave) to embrace the true reality (the sun outside the cave) of the world.

TO SUM UP )) We live in a largely imaginary and illusory state, far from truthful representation of the world around us. )) Our brains have evolved by evolutionary processes to make the best use of data inputs that are incomplete and ambiguous, and that is the reason why each one of us interprets reality in different ways. )) We never construct and interpret reality in a similar way, even when we are experiencing exactly the same situation. )) Each one of us perceives reality through a barrier/screen of conditioned thoughts, beliefs, and perceptions from their past experiences. )) We are hardly aware that other people have their own construct of reality. This happens because we all interpret reality in our own peculiar ways.

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CHAPTER 7

The Outer World – A reflection of our inner world

“W

e are what we think. All that we are arises from our thoughts. With our thoughts we make the world,” said the Lord Buddha around 2,500 years back. In a very real sense, we are an active participator in the creation of reality around us. We are nothing but vibrating energy. We exchange energy with the universe, and we are in sync with similar energies that we bring back into our world. If we surround ourselves with experiences of negative and angry thoughts, this surely will become our world. We create the world as we feel it to be. That is why our spiritual teachers say that the key to eliminate something from our external world is to eliminate it from our internal world of thought and feeling.

The world is like a mirror; if we are serene and happy, we see happiness all around us. If our mind is filled with negative thoughts and emotions, the same world will look gloomy, sad, and unfriendly. Likewise, if we are angry within, we will see our reality reflect this anger back at us through some person or circumstance. Most people try to fight the external reality without realising that they have to address their thoughts, inner feelings, and the conflicts arising within the mind.

Fighting the external world is like breaking the mirror; it will serve no purpose and will only reflect more negativity. The reason is simple and

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straight: The outer world is merely a reflection of our inner world.

We all perceive this world in our own way, depending on our state of mind. That is why our mind sees only a partial reality, determined by what we are most open to or most interested in, and/or needful of experiencing. The world around us has plenty of people and things that are full of beauty, joy, and happiness, but they are perceptible only if we are good at heart, and share love, affection, and compassion with others.

Otherwise, plenty of negativity – that appears to be in the outside world – does not allow our mind to be at peace. Therefore, when we look at hostility and negativity around us and allow that to influence our thinking and behaviour, we are unintentionally expanding the scope of negativity. It is hence necessary to first sort out our inner feelings and thought processes before blaming the outer world.

It is well said that there is no reality outside of our mind. Everything we perceive in the world has its roots in our inner world of thoughts, feelings, and beliefs. Tranquillity and serenity of mind will make the

The surrounding environment will look bright, colourful if inner world is serene and happy.

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world wonderful, with friendliness all around. On the contrary, if we are inwardly in turmoil then we are certain to see a tumultuous outer world. Nothing in the world creates our misery; it is our response, our own state of consciousness that creates the ugliness (The World Is Simply a Mirror, posted by Enoch Tan). Hence, the outer world is but a mirror reflecting one’s inner mind. Buddhist Zen masters say that the reality in the mind is displayed in our outer world. The ego that created the apparent separation makes us perceive the world as “out there.” But outside reality is the inside world, made visible.

When you’ve seen beyond yourself, then you may find, peace of mind is waiting there.

– George Harrison The world is a mirror reflecting who we really are. There is a constant loop of energy connecting us and the world around us. It is profoundly important that we become aware of what and why we are giving, as it will have a direct effect on what the universe is giving back to us. Infinite feedback is the principle that the universe is continually showing us how we are doing (Discover the Gift by Demian Lichtenstein and Shajen Joy Aziz). If we put negative energy into the outer world, we can expect even more negative energy back. In other words, all that negativity that we think is coming at us from the outside environment is actually coming from inside us. The negativity we are feeling is the negativity we are giving off. The reverse is equally true. That is why people who engage in philanthropic activities are far happier and more contented than those who do not; they are getting far more in return from the outer world.

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We all must have noticed that our internal fear, sorrow, frustration, and other negativity – whatever we have in our mind – is reflected in the outer world. The truth is that our mind becomes conditioned to a certain way of perceiving and reacting to this world depending upon our attitude, behaviour, and beliefs. Everything in the universe is resolved into our own inward experience. Yes, the world around us is a mirror indeed – it is a reflection of our own inner world. It is all a reflection of our state of mind. There is a famous saying generally attributed to Anaïs Nin (but originally found in the Talmud) that “We don’t see things as they are; we see them as we are”. The potential we see in others is possible for us as well, and the beauty we see in others is our own beauty.

The Secret, a best-selling self-help book written by Rhonda Byrne, is based on the law of attraction and claims that positive thinking can create life-changing results, such as increased happiness. Byrne explains that the universe responds to our intentions. In fact, the universe responds to everything in our mind. The outer world around us is a reflection of the world within us. We live as the ego, within which we feel as separate and independent entities in the world. For us, the inner world of our thoughts and feelings and the outer world of life events are separate realities which interact with each other. But the truth is, they form part of a single unified field of consciousness. Therefore, whatever happens inside us has its impact in the world around us, and vice versa.

Ancient spiritual teachings all agree: If we want to see changes in our life and the surrounding world, we need to begin from inside.

This means, if we change and reform ourselves internally, these

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changes will naturally be reflected back to us. Though it is difficult to conceptualise how such a shift would be possible, many have succeeded in demonstrating this principle. The outer world mirrors back to us our internal environment. If we are agitated, frustrated, and unhappy, the whole world looks hostile to us. Merely by shifting our mind-set, our experiences of the outer world will change for the better. Life can be far more peaceful and enjoyable by adopting this simple mantra.

The reality we perceive and experience in the physical world is actually a replica of what we experience inside our mind. External problems and obstructions are precisely the reflection of our internal state of mind. When we address our interior shortcomings and obstructions, outside reality unfolds accordingly, and we start feeling the world the way we feel inside. The universe has been designed that way: If we want happiness in our life and the surrounding world, we must welcome happiness inside. If we love others, we will see that love in our reality mirror, which is our perceived external world. Rather than changing the forces operating in the outside world, you can follow the simple mantra of observation without judgment.

We have seen people criticising the people around them or finding fault with the system. They exhibit grudges and resentment not only toward other people but even toward themselves. This hostile nature is a reflection of their internal world. They suffer most from the outer world. Undoubtedly, the outside world wherein we live is not a perfect one. It has many imperfections that we witness every day, yet we all accept them unconditionally. Rather than getting trapped in a vicious and futile circle of resistance, we have to accept the reality as it is presented to us. The outer world will become increasingly friendly and

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serene as our inner atmosphere does.

When we shape reality by setting an intention, the entire process of events appears in the inner world. Each event is connected to another until finally the full manifestation of the intention is realised. What we see in the outer world is only part of the process as it unfolds over time.

They are just part of the process of things turning out for our greatest good. Everything that is happening in the outside world is a limited part of the intention set by our mind. The remaining parts will continue to unfold at appropriate times. When we look from a perspective outside of time, we realise that there is so much more that has yet to fall into place. By knowing that the full reflection of the inner world happens over time, we can detach and surrender to the process (“Outer World Is Partial Reflection of the Inner World�, posted by Enoch Tan).

TO SUM UP )) The outer world mirrors back to us our internal state of mind. )) The key to eliminate something from our external world is to eliminate it from our mind. )) The potential we see in others is possible for us as well, and the beauty we see in others is our own beauty. )) It is profoundly important that we become aware of what and why we are giving, as it will have a direct effect on what the universe is giving back to us.

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)) Everything in the universe is resolved into our own inner experience. )) External problems and obstructions are precisely the reflection of our internal state of mind. )) If we love others, we will see that love in our reality mirror, which is our perceived external world. )) Everything that is happening in the outside world is a limited part of the intention set by our mind. The remaining parts will continue to unfold at appropriate times.

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CHAPTER 8

The Inner Voice – An inner guide and critic

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ost of us are familiar with the experience of silently talking to ourselves. Suppose you have an important meeting with your boss in a few hours, or will be appearing for an interview the next morning, and you’re simulating a conversation that seems likely to take place. You think about how you may reply to certain probable queries.

Maybe you did something terribly wrong, or forgot to do something very important, and then feel blameful while speaking to yourself. This is a phenomenon of what psychologists call the “inner voice,” and they have been studying the process of speaking to oneself for a long time.

For some, this voice speaks up occasionally. For others, the voice comes more frequently.

“Psychologists have a long history when it comes to studying the inner voice. Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky suggested back in the 1930s that our internal monologue was tied to our ability to speak aloud. And the technique of electromyography, which measures muscle movement, shows that our larynx is actually active during inner speech. But it’s more recent research that’s getting us closer to understanding where the internal monologue really comes from. Neuroimaging testing performed in the 1990s demonstrated that parts of Broca’s area - the region of the brain responsible for

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speech - is also active when our inner voice is speaking to us.

Inner voice, also known as internal monologue, is a verbal stream of consciousness – thinking in words. It also refers to the nearly constant inner talk one has with oneself at a conscious or semi-conscious level.

Much of what people consciously report “thinking about” may be thought of as an internal monologue, a conversation with oneself. We have known for about a century that inner speech is accompanied by tiny muscular movements in the larynx, detectable by a technique known as electromyography (Dr. Peter Moseley in The Guardian).

There is evidence that inner speech/voice and speaking out loud utilise similar brain mechanisms. Since it is a private act, it is difficult to do research on others.

Inner voice is completely natural and healthy. It is a mixture of our positive, negative, and neutral thoughts. This internal dialogue can influence our feelings and behaviour. If our internal voice is mainly negative, harsh, and unrealistic, it can further exacerbate our stress. In this silent self-talk, we are our own judge, jury, and executioner, with no right of appeal and no extenuating circumstances. Many times, it amounts to a kind of psychological torture (Stress and Internal Self-Talk

by Dr. Alice Domar). Most often, the quality of our inner voice has been influenced by our parents, friends, peers, groups, etc.

At times, we are arguing with ourselves on contentious issues, analysing them from different angles, evaluating our decisions. Our inner critic encourages us to see the world through a negative filter. The critical inner voice, a concept generated by psychologist Robert Firestone, is formed early in life during stressful and traumatic events. Attachment and early-life experiences have significant impact on our development

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and our adult relationships. Just as positive childhood experiences lead to confidence, ability, and optimism, negative experiences foster low self-esteem, self-destructive, and pessimism. The inner voice thus describes a dynamic operating within each of us that causes us to relive rather than live our life (HuffPost Healthy Living, “Your Critical Voice,” by Lisa Firestone).

The critical inner voice is usually comprised of a stream of destructive thoughts toward ourselves and others. As described by Steve Andreas in his book Transforming Negative Self-Talk, an internal voice may remind us of past failures, sorrows, or disappointments; it may torture us with criticism or verbal abuse, describe frightening or unpleasant futures, or disturb us in other ways. The nagging voices, or thoughts, that make up this internalised dialogue are at the root of much of our self-destructive and maladaptive.

To the mind that is still, the whole universe surrenders.

– Lao Tzu

Such self-destructive thought processes influence us to make decisions that are against our interests and to take actions that negatively impact our lives. Unfortunately, our critical inner voice is so well integrated into our thinking that it not only affects how we act, but also how we are treated by others. If we shut ourselves up and refuse to be social, people may perceive us as timid or unfriendly. These actions not only influence us, but help shape our relationships (Lisa Firestone).

Sometimes we notice that we have contradicting views about ourselves.

On the one hand, we have self-appreciation regarding those qualities of

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our personality and that we like or feel comfortable with.

These qualities reflect the better part of our personality, and a friendly, compassionate view of life and ourselves.

This positive part consists of our unique characteristics, such as physical abilities and attributes, temperament, and even positive traits that we generally inherit from our parents. These qualities are further enhanced by what we learn and experience during the course of our lifetime.

On the other hand, our inner voice also includes negative thoughts, beliefs, and attitudes that oppose our best interests and diminish our self-esteem. It encourages and strongly promotes self-defeating and self-destructive. This judgmental advisor also warns us about other people, facilitates cynical attitudes toward others, and is likely to paint a negative, pessimistic picture of the world. Although most of us are aware of the machinations of this inner voice, many of our negative thoughts exist on an unconscious level. At times, we may recognise what our critical inner voice is telling us, while on other occasions; we may be unclear about our negative thinking and simply accept it as being true.

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We are often unaware of the destructive impact that these thoughts are having on our emotions, actions, and the overall quality of our lives (www.psychalive.org). In order to challenge this internal enemy, we must first identify our critical inner voice. We have all the power to recognise and analyse our own critical inner voice – especially the waving red flags of destructive thoughts. Recognising this enemy helps us to trace the origin of bad choices, while comprehending the source of outburst and overreaction. We should also learn to discern when our voices are triggered, and resist the temptation to get on the train of these negative thoughts (Your Critical Voice by Lisa Firestone).

The challenge is to identify and gradually dilute and finally abolish this critical internal voice. Taking these actions will increase our sense of self, and weaken this internal enemy, our critical voice. The better we know ourselves, the better we are able to make conscious, informed decisions about our lives. We can reshape our self-perception and understand who we really are and what we really want in our lives.

TO SUM UP )) Inner voice, also known as internal monologue, is usually a mixture of positive, negative, and neutral thoughts but quite often comprised of a stream of destructive thoughts toward ourselves and others. )) Inner voice also refers to the nearly constant inner talk one has with oneself at a conscious or semi-conscious level. It also tells us contradictive views about ourselves.

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)) Our inner critic encourages us to see the world through a negative filter. )) We have all the power to recognise and analyse our own critical inner voice. We should first identify and then neutralise those thoughts through observation and awareness.

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CHAPTER 9

Empathy and Compassion – Understand each other’s pain and suffering

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he word empathy means the ability to feel the pain, distress, and suffering – as well as the elation, joy, and simple contentment – of others. It is to care about those emotional states, respecting the fact that others have their own distinct minds, perceptions, fantasies, and ways of thinking. Empathy is the basis of true compassion, since it makes us aware of the difficulties and compulsions that others face and struggle with. We can experience empathy at all levels – individual, family, and societal. The more empathy we have at the national level, the more understanding, trust, and care we can experience among the citizens.

Humans are by far the most empathetic species on the planet. The evolutionary process over the millennia has led to the development of brains capable of empathetic and compassionate relationship.

The quality and longevity of the life we lead depends on the seeds that lie deep within us. Many seeds we get from our parents through genes and their nurturing; other seeds we sow and grow ourselves as we age.

If we sow and water the seeds of love, compassion, and concern for others, we follow a spiritual path of internal peace and satisfaction.

Otherwise, seeds of hatred and anger will of course bear the fruits of pain and suffering.

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Nothing is more important than feeling and expressing love and compassion for others. It is far more rewarding than visiting a temple or mosque, or attending church services and reciting prayers. It is in our heart and mind that God resides, not elsewhere. No philosophy or pursuit is more important than the simple formula of compassion and empathy. The key to happiness and peace lies within our mind; we must use that key to open the door to love and compassion for “others.”

No matter who the others are, ultimately this is what humanity needs.

We all need to share our feelings, especially those of pain and suffering with others.

Empathy is the foundation of any meaningful relationship (Buddha’s Brain by Rick Hanson and Richard Mendius). When someone empathizes with us, it gives us the sense that our inner being truly

Most of us are hardwired to be compassionate and empathetic towards other during troubled times.

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exists for that person. Empathy reassures us that others understand and care about our inner feelings, emotions, and intentions.

Neurologically, we are all wired (through neural connections) for empathy. Empathy, the ability to perceive and share another person’s emotional state, has been deliberated by philosophers and psychologists for centuries. Now with powerful functional MRI imaging, we can identify different brain regions that get activated when a person is having empathetic feelings. Scientists have been able to map those regions related to positive emotions. Various recent studies have established that the anterior insular cortex of the brain is where the feeling of empathy originates. Research teams have also found that patients with damage restricted to the anterior insular cortex had deficits in explicit and implicit empathetic pain processing.

The term empathy conflates two separate but equally important human capabilities. The first is simply the insight that other beings have distinct minds, agendas, and points of view, and to imagine what these might be (THE WORLDPOST, “Empathy for the Rest of Us”

by Maia Szalavitz). Psychologists refer to this as cognitive empathy, or theory of mind. The second capability is known as emotional empathy, which refers to our tendency to feel moved in response to someone’s pain and distress – and to care about them. Thanks to this inherent sensitivity, societies throughout the world adhere to some variation of the Golden Rule.

A man is literally what he thinks, his character being the complete sum of all his thoughts – James Allen in ‘As A Man Thinketh’

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Emotional empathy, in other words, is the very foundation of morality.

The less trust and empathy there is among the citizens of a nation, the less efficiently its economy works, and the more it has to rely on regulations, policing, and other external measures of enforcement.

Recent studies suggest that over the long course of history, the scope of human empathy has increased, since violence and racism have receded. Hand-in-glove with this development is compassion -- the response to the suffering of others that expresses as a desire to help. It impels people to go out of their way to relieve the physical, mental, and/or emotional pain and suffering of others. The etymology of compassion is Latin, meaning co-suffering. More involved than simple empathy, compassion commonly gives rise to an active desire to alleviate another suffering.

Why do some people commit cruelty and evil towards others?

Evilness or cruelty is an inescapable part of human life. History if replete with examples of extreme cruelty, brutality, inhumanity and barbarousness exercised by many dictators, rulers, criminals, psychopaths and even by ordinary individuals under extraordinary circumstances. In recent times, we all have seen media reports highlighting ISIS brutalities being committed in certain parts of the world. Many have become monsters, capable of committing the worst crimes with no mercy. Why they do what they do is one of the most intractable mysteries in human existence. In recent years, however, considerable progress has been made by psychologists and brain scientists. Although it is early to say but

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exciting developments in the brain sciences have given us hope that we may one day understand why cruelty occurs.

As explained in this chapter, we all are hardwired to empathy.

Empathy is the ability to perceive and share another person’s emotional state. However, the extent of empathy differs from one individual to other. It can range from an extremely empathetic person to the one having almost no empathy for others. The individuals who exhibit cruelty often lack empathy. They can torture and inflict injuries to anyone without realizing that others are feeling pain, they do not know how one feels under pain. In the past decade, however, scientists have used powerful functional MRI imaging to identify several regions in the brain that are associated with empathy for pain.

One of the recent studies, however, firmly establishes that the anterior insular cortex and its neighbouring areas (known as empathy circuit) is where the feeling of empathy originates. When this part is damaged or gets injury due to accident or having some abnormality then those individuals may exhibit cruelty of varied degrees towards others. This study suggests that behavioural and cognitive therapies can be developed for deficits in the empathy circuit in such patients. Under the circumstances, an obvious question arises as to how can that person with damaged ACC or empathy circuit be held responsible for cruel?

This is what the neuroscientists and thinkers are deliberating on this vital issue of criminality, whether our criminal justice system should punish those people who commit cruelty against others but

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having certain damaged or abnormal brain region? Why can’t they be treated as victims instead of criminals? People with almost no empathy see and hear things differently because their brains work differently. Besides lack of empathy, violent impulses arising from the subconscious mind, over activated amygdala, the emotional centre, genetic framework, early upbringing by the parents are among the many factors that determine our complex system. In any case, the root cause of cruelty and evil exhibited by many of us lies in our mind and hopefully brain scientists will one day find preventive and curative measures to check if not completely eliminate cruelty/evil from the human psyche.

The Buddha shared a profound truth: “One who truly loves himself will never harm another.” Compassion can help people manage their own suffering, since it is a reminder that others are also in pain. Compassion is supported by recalling the feeling of being with someone who loves you, evoking heartfelt emotions such as gratitude, being empathetic, opening to the suffering of other beings, and wishing them well (Rick Hanson, 2009). In so doing, the physical base of compassion found in the anterior cingulate cortex and insula of the brain, is strengthened.

Through cultivating compassion, we can actually strengthen the circuitry in these regions of our brain.

Neuroscientists have also demonstrated that those who practice compassion are more likely to enjoy good health and inner happiness.

They can also manage their suffering in far better ways. Those who enjoy a strong and supportive circle of family members and/or close friends, wherein they share their joys and sorrows, enjoy a superior quality of health and satisfaction.

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Compassion is a naturally evolved and adaptive trait. Humans would not have advanced in the absence of empathy and compassion.

Research has shown that connecting with others in a meaningful way not only helps us enjoy better mental and physical health, but also speeds up recovery from diseases. Another study has established that a compassionate lifestyle leads to greater psychological well-being and may even lengthen our lifespans. Further, a brain-imaging study showed that the pleasure centers in the brain that are active when we experience pleasure are themselves empathetic: they are equally active when we observe someone giving money to charity as when we receive the money ourselves!

Mirror neurons are activated when a person observes the action of others and then tempted to imitate other.

Mirror Neurons Recent brain-imaging studies found a set of “mirror neurons” in humans that mirror the behavior of someone who is being observed/ watched. That is to say, when we watch someone doing

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something, the same pattern of brain activation that enables that person to do what he is doing is mirrored in our brain. It is as if we are doing these same things. Mirror neurons are activated or fired when a person observes the action of others. When someone watches another person who is, say, eating or playing some game, the mirror neurons of the observer will start firing as if he himself were eating or playing the game.

Such neuronal has been found to operate in various parts of the brain. Activation has been seen in the premotor and parietal cortex of the brain. This phenomenon was first discovered by a research team in Italy in the 1990s when studying the neuronal activity of macaque monkeys. Subsequently, many neuroscientists studied this particular behaviour of mirror neurons and established that these neurons play a significant role in learning processes, including imitation, the learning of games, and language acquisition.

Our brains automatically appear to mirror the actions of another person. When we do something, a similar kind of biochemical action is triggered in the mirror neurons of the other person’s brain.

In other words, when we act, the mirror neurons of the other person will fire in a similar way. . Likewise, emotions trigger a similar kind of neuronal firing in the brain of the other individual. Hence,, merely by watching others, we become emotionally entangled with them: we feel the other’s pain and suffering, happiness and joy, through the same neurological phenomenon.

People sometimes become so identified with the emotional states of others that even imaginary characters, as in the “four-hankie” movie

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and TV serials, serve as triggers. We feel other people’s emotions by unconsciously simulating them in our own brains. Though the phenomenon of empathy and compassion is universal, their extent differs from person to person. Not all are equally moved by other people’s actions and emotions.

Some are highly empathetic and compassionate, while others are indifferent or even cruel toward others. Many can watch gruesome acts committed by others with no sympathetic response. Many humans exhibit hardly any empathy at all toward “strangers” of other religions, cultures, or political affiliations. Though our brains are hardwired for empathy and have the ability to feel another’s emotions, there are those who, because of faulty early nurturing and conditioning, exhibit very little empathy and compassion, or may be lacking in it altogether.

There is a famous saying that “One death is a tragedy. One million is a statistic.” It is an unfortunate truth about empathy: Though we should feel more empathy when lives of more people are involved in some tragic event or during natural calamity like flood or earthquake compared to an incident where someone close or known to us suffers. This is what was reported in an article titled Empathy Is Actually a Choice published in New York Times on July 10, 2015.

Studies have repeatedly confirmed this. Not only does empathy seem to fail when it is needed most, but it also appears to play favorites. Our empathy is limited when it comes to people of different races, nationalities or creeds. These results suggest that empathy cannot be extended for everyone. We feel more pain when someone close to us suffers or is affected badly, otherwise we tend be generally indifferent.

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Compassion is not religious business, it is human business, it is not luxury, it is essential for our own peace and mental stability, it is essential for human survival.”

– Dalai Lama XIV Two decades ago, an American social psychologist Daniel Batson and his colleagues conducted a study that showed that if people expected their empathy to cost them significant money or time, they would avoid situations that they believed would trigger it. Some kinds of people seem generally less likely to feel empathy for others, for instance, powerful people. Study shows that people with a higher sense of power exhibit less empathy because they have less incentive to interact with others. They also documented that focusing on another’s feelings may evoke stronger empathic concern, while explicitly putting oneself into the shoes of the target (imagine self ) induces both empathic concern and personal distress. Yes, there are many situations in which empathy appears to be limited in its scope, but this is not a deficiency in the emotion itself. Researchers believe that empathy is only as limited as we choose it to be.

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TO SUM UP )) The evolutionary process over the millennia has led to the development of brains capable of empathetic and compassionate relationships with other fellow beings. )) When someone empathizes with us, it gives us the sense that our inner being truly exists for that person. )) Compassion is a naturally evolved and adaptive trait of our personality. We, as a whole, would not have evolved to this level in the absence of empathy and compassion. )) In totality, feelings of compassion and empathy have increased, since overall violence and inhumanity against others has decreased, though on many occasions we feel otherwise. )) Mirror neurons are activated or fired when a person observes the actions of others. )) When someone watches another person who is, say, eating or playing some game, the mirror neurons of the observer will start firing as if he himself were eating or playing the game.

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Part III

Inherent Limitations of the Mind

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hen we examine our cognitive processes, we realize that our mind and its thinking ability have certain inherent limitations, and that is why we are not able to perceive and interpret the world as it is. Whatever reality we experience comes only through the mind, and there is no other way to know the reality of this world. While perceiving and creating reality in our mind, its inherent limitations do not allow us to know the objective nature of reality. Not only is memory not up to recalling all past experiences, but there are also inherent weaknesses in the functioning of our mind. Simple awareness of such limitations in our cognitive ability can have a profound effect on the way we think and act.

We often put the blame on our imperfect senses for our imperfect judgments, errors, and decisions, along with the resultant problems we encounter. Through our sensory organs of sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste, we collect and transmit data to our brain for interpretation.

It is our brain that processes the data, “making sense� of it. Reality, so-called, is therefore created in our brain through our senses. If we examine the sensory organs and processes through which we create subjective reality, we find that our senses have a limited range in perception for receiving data from our surroundings. So, we cannot create a true image or reach an understanding of reality in our brain.

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As we have seen, the brain lacks the ability to take in the true reality of its surroundings. Each one of us interprets the same information, situations, and circumstances in different ways because of vast variation in genetic constitution, upbringing, past experiences, beliefs, etc.

Additionally, there are other inherent limitations of our mind which further distort the perception and interpretation of reality.

It is a widely known fact that our mind has an inherent negativity bias, and because of this limitation we are more inclined to register and hold on in memory to negative experiences and events. This bias makes us suffer in a variety of ways. It generally creates an unpleasant background of anxiety, and for some people this can be very intense.

The negativity bias fosters or intensifies other unpleasant emotions, such as anger, shame, guilt, and sorrow. The mind typically detects negative information faster than positive information. Take facial expressions, for example: fearful faces are perceived much more rapidly than happy or neutral faces.

Likewise, the mind has an inherent tendency to wander whenever we are not consciously attentive. According to researchers, people typically spend nearly half of their waking hours thinking about something other than what they are doing, and this mind-wandering usually makes them unhappy. So the ability to think about what is not happening is a cognitive achievement that comes at an emotional cost.

More recent research seems to suggest that there are different kinds of mind-wandering, some of which are actually beneficial. However, the fact remains that our ability to focus and concentrate are generally limited. And there are other limitations that are hardwired into our system that affect our mentation. These in turn lead to many problems that we encounter in life.

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Another very contentious issue pertains to free will, whether we have complete freedom to take decisions as per our choice or wish. Thinkers and philosophers have been pondering this for millennia. When we analyse the process and factors influencing our decision-making, we start to suspect that the free will we believe we’re exercising is illusionary in nature. There is apparently very little freedom available to us when we act. In shaping our choices, the role of unconscious mind/ neurological processes, structural or functional deficiencies in the brain, and hardwired mental conditioning based on past experiences all conspire to dominate our decision-making processes, and this, in turn, makes “free will” highly suspect. It is therefore clear that this seemingly impenetrable barrier filters our thoughts before a conscious decision and/or action may be made. Under the circumstances, we see that free will, which we are so passionately inclined to believe does exist, may in fact be, to a great extent, non-existent. This issue is deliberated in the last chapter of this part.

The last inherent limitation of mind discussed in this part is about irrationality and uncertainty that prevails in our decision making process. Quite often we take decisions or make choices which are not based on logic, rationality and reasons. If we analyze deeply we realize that not only our subconscious mind but also emotions, moods and feelings impact greatly on our decision making process. In the chapter on the subconscious mind, this aspect of decision making has been discussed in greater detail. Another explanation based on the uncertainty principle of quantum mechanics has been detailed in this chapter. On this reasoning, uncertainty and irrationality in our cognitive process has been explained ahead.

CHAPTER 10

Mind's Limited Capacity to Construct Real/Objective Reality of the World

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e all make mistakes, sometimes very big ones, along our life’s journey. We cannot escape this, because, first of all, we are imperfect humans and second, we sometimes make decisions based on wrong and/or insufficient information. Once we realise our mistake, we first try to justify ourselves, and then attempt to blame others. We may see ourselves as the victim of others, or of “circumstances beyond our control” that led to the mistake. In some cases, we repent, feel guilty, and punish ourselves. But this is no way to treat ourselves, because our mind has inherent limitations; it has limited capacity to see the world objectively and fairly.

In this materialistic world, we all generally have a rock-solid foundation of certain well-conceived notions for perceiving reality around us.

Firstly, what we perceive as solid – items like chair, table, and iron rod – are really distinct and separate from other things; secondly, whatever our mind perceives through our senses is real and not illusionary; thirdly, we as observers have no role in creating reality around us – meaning we believe that things/events will take place irrespective of whether we watch them or not (when a tree falls in a forest there will be sound, irrespective of our presence). Likewise, there are innumerable hidden assumptions which we take for granted that may or may not

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be true. And we are generally locked into these precepts without any verification of them. So let us take some of these notions about perception and try to determine the extent to which they are objective reflections of the true nature of reality.

Let us first consider the nature of objects which we perceive as solid, separate, and distinct from one another. We always assume space to be empty, and matter, solid. Despite obvious appearances, there is essentially nothing like matter whatsoever. Way back in 1910, the British scientist Ernest Rutherford discovered that atoms were not solid particles, as it was believed, and that they were actually almost completely empty. It has now been established that the mass of an atom represents only a thousandth of a trillionth of its volume! And that 99.9% of such mass resides in its nucleus, with the rest allocated in the energetic cloud of electrons. If an atom occupied the volume of a football stadium, its nucleus would be a grain of sand floating at the centre of the stadium.

This means that all that we perceive as solid, including ourselves, is essentially empty. Emptiness represents possibilities and, in a universe that is fundamentally empty, reality is fundamentally limitless.

This view of reality has been endorsed by the pioneers of quantum mechanics. According to this theory, beneath everything, from atoms and molecules to plants, animals, humans, planets, stars and galaxies, there is a unified energy field that interconnects everything in the universe.

In many situations, our mind does not think objectively and inspire rational actions. While we are awake, our brain is constantly receiving billions of bits of data through the senses from the outside world, but

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can process very little of that massive influx. Result – it constructs reality based on that incomplete information, which is why our subjective interpretation is at times highly distorted, fragmented, asymmetric, and misleading. Hard conditioning of the mind, occasioned by fixed ideas, beliefs, and emotional patterns, prevents us from reconstructing reality correctly.

To illustrate our limited capacity to perceive true reality, consider a normal human eye. It features an average of 100 million photoreceptor cells, including 5 million cone cells which are mainly responsible for colour perception. Of these cone cells, 65% are red-sensitive, 32% are green-sensitive, and 3% blue-sensitive. Our perception of colour results from the interaction between rod cells, cone cells, and the way our brain interprets their input. If we modify or remove some of these factors, as is the case with most of us, the rainbow will look differently to different people.

If you think you can do a thing or think you can’t do a thing, you’re right.

– Henry Ford

Another problem that we encounter in trying to describe reality based on our sensory input is that most of the reality surrounding us escapes our senses. For example, what we call “visible light” represents less than 0.01% of the electromagnetic spectrum, but just because we cannot see the other wavelengths of the spectrum does not mean they don’t exist.

As we know, some species can see infrared or ultraviolet wavelengths just as we see visible light. Similarly, this happens with sound: the range of frequencies we can hear is utterly insignificant compared with the full sonic spectrum. Of course, we have incorporated these invisible

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wavelengths and imperceptible frequencies into very useful new technologies, such as medical imaging and telecommunications, which have made them part of our immediate reality.

Given the forgoing, it would appear that the reality we perceive is largely illusionary and far from the ultimate reality. According to one study, our brain processes around 400 billion bits of information every second, while our awareness takes in only around 2,000 bits of information.

This means that conscious awareness is negligible compared to what the brain actually processes. Human senses are fallible. The reality we perceive is, of necessity, finely filtered by the brain to construct a useful view of the world. Normally, this filtering process is helpful, allowing us to sort through and single out important information from the torrents of data that rush in at every moment.

We generally assume that the world around us is an objective reality that exists independently for each one of us. Take any physical object – say, a rose – and regardless of whether I perceive it or someone else perceives it, the flower is the same thing. It has its own objective reality which is perceived in different ways by different individuals. My experience of the rose is subjective, but this flower has an essence that exists objectively. It means that if reality is truly subjective, everything that is, is our own individual reality. The reality of that tree is unique to me and to you, and no one else perceives it in exactly the same way.

As we have seen, objective or absolute reality is far beyond the capacities of human senses and intellect. From this perspective, it must first be recognized that human beings experience reality very differently from other species that have very different sense organs and brains. Then, amongst humans, perception is strongly influenced by psychological

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and cultural factors. At this personal level, every individual lives in their own reality to a greater or lesser degree. This variance in people’s subjective experience of reality is also the source of most human conflict. One person’s reality can be so different from another’s that they will want to kill each other (Perception and Reality by Bill Walz).

To expand our mental capabilities so that we may experience more and more of all that is, we need to train our mind. Toward this end – a clearer and more accurate experience of reality-as-it-is – we may turn to meditation, mindfulness, and simple awareness. This is, of course, a continuous process and each of us is somewhere on the continuum between what Buddhism calls “egoic delusion,” living almost entirely out of the projected conditioning of our ego, and awakened awareness.

Through our training and practice, we can move on this continuum closer and closer to objective or the absolute reality (Bill Walz).

While we are not capable of knowing or discovering all aspects of the objective world, we can still glimpse a greater reality through experimentation. That is the province of science. For instance, we cannot see, hear, or touch radio waves, but we can invent equipment that translates the waves into the sounds of words we can understand.

Ours are not stand-alone brains. We are part of a community of minds, a human world, viewed by many as spiritual that is remote in many respects from what can be observed in the mechanics of brain function. Even if that community did originate from brains, this was the collective work of trillions of brains over hundreds of thousands of years: individual, present-day brains are merely the entrance ticket to the drama of social life, not the drama itself (Raymond Tallis, author and former Professor of Geriatric Medicine at Manchester University).

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TO SUM UP )) To perceive a true reality of our outside world is far beyond the capacities of human senses and intellect. )) Each one of us perceives reality in our own peculiar way. )) According to one study, our brain processes around 400 billion bits of information every second, while our awareness takes in only around 2,000 bits of information. )) Our mind constructs reality based on that incomplete information that is why our subjective interpretation is at times highly distorted, fragmented, asymmetric, and misleading. )) Hard conditioning of the mind, accompanied by rigid ideas, beliefs, and emotional patterns, prevents us from reconstructing reality correctly.

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CHAPTER 11

Mind’s Negativity Bias – Mind has an inbuilt inclination towards negativity

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umans have evolved to be fearful. In prehistoric times, humans were living in frightful conditions, as they were extremely vulnerable to hungry predators and extreme weather conditions.

Therefore, the fear factor got deeply embedded within the human psyche. As a survival strategy, the mind became hyper vigilant and sensitive to any threat. With evolutionary adaptation, we have become hardwired to notice, register, and remember negative experiences more quickly and deeply than positive ones. Over millennia, the mind somehow could not adapt completely to newly civilized conditions and our reptilian brain is still conditioned to react automatically in threatening situations.

Don’t limit yourself. Many people limit themselves to what they think they can do.

You can go as far as your mind lets you. What you believe, remember, you can achieve.

– Mary Kay Ash The mind reacts sharply to any threat – real or imaginary – and to related negative stimuli, immediately identifying angry and fearsome faces in

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contrast to happy ones. Frightening and unpleasant stimuli trigger swifter and stronger responses than do positive ones. Our mind is more inclined toward unpleasant and negative emotions, fearful perceptions, and even unfortunate news. This inherent tendency of humans, a legacy continuing from the dawn of civilization, has been researched widely by neuroscientists in the recent past. Neuropsychologist Rick Hanson refers to this as “the brain’s negativity bias.” “The human nervous system,” he says, “scans for, reacts to, stores, and recalls negative information about oneself and one’s world. The brain is like Velcro for negative experiences and Teflon for positive ones.”

Mind is tilted toward unpleasant and negative emotions.

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The negativity bias is seen in every sphere of life, from the individual and family level right up to the national level. We are especially sensitive to negative thoughts and emotions because our capacity to weigh negative inputs is extremely high, whereas positive ones are less compelling.

One needn’t look far to notice that media coverage of crime, violence, and aggression occupies far greater and more prominent space than do positive developments.

The more an individual’s thought patterns trend negative and slip into rumination, the easier it becomes to return automatically to these thought patterns. This is not good for our health. According to a blog post on Psychology Today, “ruminating can damage the neural structures that regulate emotions, memory, and feelings. Even when our stress and worry is completely hypothetical and not based on any real or current situation, the amygdala and the thalamus (which helps communicate sensory and motor signals) are not able to differentiate this hypothetical stress from the kind that actually needs to be listened to.”

Cortisol is a steroid hormone that is produced by the adrenal glands. It is released in response to stress. This stress hormone is public-health enemy number one. Scientists have known for years that elevated cortisol levels interfere with learning and memory, lower immune function and bone density, and contribute to weight gain, high blood pressure, “bad” cholesterol, heart disease... the list goes on and on. Chronic stress and elevated cortisol levels also increase risk for depression, mental illness, and lower life expectancy (Christopher Bergland in Psychology Today). Cortisol is released in response to fear or stress as part of the fight-or-flight mechanism. Simply taking a few deep breaths triggers a signal within our nervous system to slow heart

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rate, lower blood pressure, and decrease cortisol.

Because of this inherent tendency toward negativity, the mind is kept busy thinking about negative events/moments, not only of our own experiences but also those of others. Under stress, the harder we try to distract ourselves from negative thoughts, or banish them, the more persistently they resurface in our minds. This is considered one of the worst features of mind. This disturbing tendency leads to almost all the lifestyle diseases, including heart ailments, diabetes, and cancer, via the intimate mind-body connection. Fear, expressed as insecurity and anxiety, is the by-product of mind’s basic inclination toward negative thoughts.

We are more prone to negative emotions due to evolutionary reasons.

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When negative thoughts arise in the mind, they are almost certain to attract related negative thoughts. And as we unconsciously attend to those thoughts, we end up strengthening them. We fuel those thoughts with our emotions. As we all know, negative thoughts act as magnets to attract a negative reality into our life. So we get trapped in a vicious circle. We all harbor enormous goodness inside of us. However, because of in-built sensitivity to the negative, this goodness is very often overshadowed by negative thoughts and experiences/memories and we generally do not forget such negative incidents.

In a way, what really separates contented couples from those in deep marital misery is a healthy balance between their positive and negative feelings and actions toward each other. Psychologist Dr. John Gottman, for instance, has found that a very specific ratio exists between the amount of positivity and negativity required to make married life satisfying to both partners. That magic ratio is five to one. As long as there is five times as much positive feeling and interaction between husband and wife as there is negative, the marriage was likely to be stable over time. It is the frequency of small positive experiences that tip the scales toward happiness. Since this evolutionary inclination toward negativity is deeply embedded in our psyche, it behooves us to make consistent and sustained efforts to minimize the effects of this tendency. To begin with, we must become increasingly aware of our own actions and specific emotions. A good starting point is simple self-awareness. If we are unaware of our own pattern of emotions, feelings, and reactions, how can we counter this bias toward unpleasant and defensive thoughts?

The only way to free ourselves of the dominance of negative thoughts

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is to start starving them by paying less and less attention to them. We should remember that no thought can survive for long if we do not give it our attention. Absent out attention, the frequency and intensity of negative thinking will naturally diminish, and gradually those thoughts will disappear from our awareness.

When we watch and observe those thoughts in a nonjudgmental way, this can bring about a vast change in the way we normally respond to negative reactions. The more we move our attention to what makes us happy and feel good, the greater our capacity to manage what has made us feel bad in the first place.

As we consciously attend to the actions and of others, if we can be free of the influence of unpleasant associations, certainly the flow of negative thoughts into our mind will be minimized. We should therefore consciously welcome experiences that will build positivity by overriding the negative thoughts stored in the mind; at the same time, through present-moment awareness, we can weaken the tendency to enjoy negativity. This will lead to a serene and calm mind.

TO SUM UP )) Our mind is more inclined toward unpleasant and negative emotions, fearful perceptions, and even unfortunate news. )) Over millennia, the mind somehow could not adapt to newly civilized conditions completely and our reptilian brain is still very active to react automatically in threatening situations.

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)) Frightening and unpleasant stimuli trigger swifter and stronger responses than do positive ones. )) Fear, expressed as insecurity and anxiety, is the by-product of mind’s basic inclination toward negative thoughts. )) If we are unaware of our own pattern of emotions, feelings, and reactions, then it becomes very difficult to counter this bias toward unpleasant and defensive thoughts. )) Under stress, the harder we try to distract ourselves from negative thoughts, or eliminate them, the more persistently they resurface in our minds.

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CHAPTER 12

Suppressing Negative and Unwanted Thoughts – The more we suppress negative and unwanted thoughts, the more forcefully they resurface

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e all must have noticed that on certain occasions when we are under stress or feeling sad, our thoughts become unruly. It is strange but true that the more we try to relax and dismiss unwanted thoughts, the more persistently those stressful thoughts will appear in our consciousness. On such occasions, our mind goes out of control.

This is one of mind’s most prominent weaknesses, and the source of much mental distress.

The mind is a thinking machine. We all are addicted to thinking; however, the degree of our addiction varies with all sorts of thoughts.

This problem becomes severe when mind is disobedient, ignoring our commands. When we try to suppress unwanted, mostly negative and traumatic thoughts, they come back with a vengeance, more forcefully and frequently. This is a psychological phenomenon, known as “ironic process” or the “white bear problem,” wherein deliberate attempts to suppress certain thoughts make them more likely to resurface. For instance, when someone is trying hard not to think of a white bear, the same bear is likely to appear more. Our minds, in such moments, are

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dead set against us. We want to do one thing – say, eat one thin slice of birthday cake – but the mind wants to do precisely the opposite – eat half the cake.

“The primary cause of unhappiness is never the situation, but your thoughts about it. Be aware of the thoughts you are thinking.”

– Eckhart Tolle, A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose Many people get trapped in obsessive or constantly anxious thoughts; they fail to recognise that their symptoms of anxiety are produced by their thoughts. They keep trying to stop these thoughts through different methods, but generally fail. Without acknowledging the real problem, they cannot suppress or ignore their troubling thoughts. They may also try to bring logical thinking to bear, expecting to neutralise such thoughts, or attempt to balance them with positive thoughts, but none of these methods work. Distressing thoughts – which seem to have a life of their own, a life they’re reluctant to surrender – will just keep on arising. Like anything we give our attention to, the feelings grow stronger the more we feed them with our interest.

This tendency of mind was identified and documented through thought suppression studies in experimental psychology. For the first time, social psychologist, Daniel Wegner studied ironic process theory, in detail, in 1987. Ironic mental processes have been shown in a variety of situations, where they are usually created or worsened by stress. In extreme cases, ironic mental processes result in intrusive thoughts about doing something immoral or out of character, which can be troubling to the individual (Wikipedia). It is always counterproductive when

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When we try to suppress negative thoughts, they come back more forcefully.

we try to suppress or avoid anxiety-producing or depressing thoughts.

Persistent negative thoughts, including those pertaining to past trauma or acute suffering, can lead to depression or other psychological disorders.

Daniel Wegner asked test subjects to verbalize their stream of consciousness for five minutes, while trying not to think of a white bear. If a white bear came to mind, he told them, they should ring a bell. Despite the clear instructions to avoid it, the participants thought of a white bear more than once per minute, on average. Wegner also attempted to explain why it is so hard to avoid unwanted thoughts.

He found evidence that when we try not to think of something, one part of our mind does avoid the forbidden thought, but another part

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“checks in” every so often to ensure that the thought is not coming up – therefore, ironically, bringing that thought to mind. The result is often a vicious vortex of negativity.

Studies have shown that suppression of negative thoughts is counterintuitive and makes the situation worse. Thoughts rebound, regardless of one’s attempts to divert attention from those disturbing thoughts. The same results were found when people do not suppress such thought deliberately. Thoughts with strong negative emotions are more vulnerable to the rebound effect. Actually, it is the emotional part of the thoughts that makes the suppression process more difficult.

Studies conducted by Wenzlaff and Wegner (2000) show that for those on a diet or trying to quit smoking, thought suppression may be

Many of us get trapped in obsessive or constantly anxious thoughts.

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counterproductive. Smokers will feel a stronger craving to smoke. Any attempt to push away thoughts of pain and trauma, or to eliminate obsessions, brings them back with a vengeance. The irony of thought suppression is that actively trying to manage our minds can do more harm than good.

The ironic rebound effect explains many recurring problems in modern society. Individuals who strive to inhibit or suppress their emotions when upset, for instance, are especially inclined to experience depression as well as anxiety disorders. These unpleasant emotions tend to recur, compromising wellbeing. Depression and anxiety, therefore, might partly reflect undue shame about harbouring “bad� thoughts or feelings, encouraging suppression all the more and thus increasing ironic rebound effects. These mood disorders correspond to a decline in self-respect.

Indeed, when individuals attempt to suppress their personal deficiencies or presumed flaws, their self-esteem deteriorates. Those who suppress these personal concerns before they go to bed at night are especially likely to experience serious difficulties. They do not fall asleep quickly, or sleep soundly through the night. Rather, their concerns and anxieties resurface during the night, manifest as dreams, and disturb sleep (Psyclopedia). Experts like social psychologist Daniel Wegner offer methods to get rid of negative thoughts under such circumstances.

Distraction or focused attention on something else can help in many cases, as aimless mind-wandering is associated with unhappiness; it’s better to concentrate on, say, a specific piece of music, a TV programme, or some interesting task or hobby. A litany of prayers for several loved ones may also do the trick.

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Unless we release the accumulated energy of those negative thoughts, their recurrence and intensity will not decline or vanish. Generally, people get impatient too soon after failed attempts to suppress their thoughts. One easy and effortless method to encourage relaxed awareness is to just sit back and fully allow whatever arises in the mind.

Watch and observe how thoughts and feelings come and go in those moments. Once we do this, opportunities to increase our awareness grow with detached observation. As we stay in this space of relaxed awareness, we will notice a natural process of “release” starting to occur.

The negative energy and its intensity will disappear, gradually and surely. One must understand that there are no shortcuts to fix these thoughts; the accumulated energy needs to be released consciously for it not to get recycled again. (“Overcoming Obsessive Thoughts,” posted on calmdownmind.com) In any event, stress should be minimized or avoided altogether, as it is almost certain to increase the problem at hand. Some have suggested other methods, such as postponing the thoughts until later, or accepting stressful circumstances that lead to such thoughts. There is in fact evidence that trying to accept pain is a better policy than rejecting it or trying to cope spontaneously (Masedo & Esteve, 2007). Mindfulness meditation also helps in improving any situation, as it promotes an attitude of compassion and non-judgment toward the undesirable thoughts.

Once we can accept negative thoughts with equanimity, their force is neutralised. Bertrand Russell, in The Conquest of Happiness, explained that “Every kind of fear grows worse by not being looked at. The proper course is to think about it with great concentration until it has become

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completely familiar. In the end familiarity will blunt its terrors; the whole subject will become boring, and our thoughts will turn away from it, not, as formerly, by an effort of will, but through mere lack of interest in the topic. When you find yourself inclined to brood on anything, the best plan is always to think about it even more than you naturally would until at last its morbid fascination is worn off.”

TO SUM UP )) When we try to suppress unwanted, mostly negative and traumatic thoughts, they come back with a vengeance, more forcefully and frequently. )) Many people get trapped in obsessive or constantly anxious thoughts; they fail to recognise that their symptoms of anxiety are produced by their thoughts )) Distressing thoughts – which seem to have a life of their own, a life they’re reluctant to surrender -- will just keep on arising. )) We need to release the accumulated energy of those negative thoughts so as to reduce their frequency, intensity and recurrence. )) Mindfulness meditation and acceptance can help us in handling such distressful situations. This promotes an attitude of compassion and non-judgmental toward the undesirable thoughts.

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CHAPTER 13

Mind’s Wandering – Mind wanders in all possible directions

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ur mind keeps wandering in all possible directions. Unless it is focused, attentive, or engrossed in some activity, it is moving randomly and incessantly. Mind-wandering, also known as daydreaming or task-unrelated thought, is the experience of thoughts not remaining on a single topic or activity for a long period of time, particularly when people are not engaged in an attention-demanding task (Wikipedia).

The mind mostly wanders when we are busy performing routine, monotonous, or repetitive tasks. Mind-wandering allows one part of the brain to focus on the task at hand, and another part of the brain to keep a more interesting goal in mind. Mind-wandering is analogous to multitasking. We shift our attention from one task to another task.

Mind-wandering seems to be the human brain’s default mode of operation. The mind reverts to wandering mode unless it is engaged in some interesting or absorbing activity. When we drive, read, listen to elevator music, or engage in a boring conversation, our mind invariably wanders. When this happens, multiple thoughts float through our working memory, which is short-term memory used for temporarily storing and manipulating memory in an active, readily available state.

The mind is actually focusing on open goals and unfulfilled intentions, which are generally numerous at any given point of time.

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According to Professor Jonathan Schooler of the University of California, Santa Barbara, our mind is wandering at least 30% of the time when we are going about our normal day-to-day tasks. In some cases – for example, when driving on uncongested roads – it might be as high as 70%. During our waking hours, our mind may be occupied with random thoughts, unrelated to what we are doing. This mindwandering invariably leads to dissatisfaction. We typically think that we have wasted or unproductively spent time in thoughts that were not related to the task at hand. However, a wandering mind, as recent studies have shown, is related to creativity. Apparently, the more the mind wanders, the greater the probability of generating new ideas. We should therefore change the way we see daydreaming. Quite often, this is not a waste of time but can open new vistas to creative ideas.

Mind-wandering allows focusing on the task at hand, and simultaneously thinking about more interesting things.

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Despite our best efforts, the mind will keep on drifting to unrelated and irrelevant subjects, rather than staying with the one on which we want to focus. We make heroic efforts to keep our mind on the task at hand. It should be noted, however, that a wandering mind may enable the person to expand their view, simultaneously considering related or upcoming tasks, or may even broaden/deepen their original goals. It is therefore important for us to keep a balance between attention to the task at hand and embracing the wandering of our minds. We must judiciously allocate the limited working capacity of conscious mind not only to the work at hand, but also to seemingly unrelated matters toward which it is tempted to wander. In any case, we pay attention to what we believe is most relevant and interesting to us.

A study conducted by graduate student Daniel Levinson and psychologists Drs. Richard Davidson and Jonathan Smallwood of the Max Planck Institute found that “a person’s working memory capacity relates to the tendency of their mind to wander during a routine assignment… We intentionally use tasks that will never use all of our attention and then we ask, ‘How do people use their idle resources?’”

It is true that people having higher working memory capacity are inclined to more wandering during simple tasks. When tasks are not very difficult, people who have additional working memory resources deploy them to think about things other than what they are doing.

The kind of planning people do in daily life – when they’re cycling to work, when they are in the shower – is probably supported by working memory, as their brains are trying to assign resources to the most pressing problems.

Another important feature of a wandering mind is that attention is

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disengaged from the current external environment, thus enabling focus on things that are unrelated to present moments. This is the process by which people engage in what is known as mental time-travel, wherein thoughts become focused on events that have already happened or are likely to occur in the future. Basically, we jump either to past events or fly to an imaginary world of the future. Preoccupation with past and future events is a basic characteristic of our mind’s nature. This is because it has an unlimited capacity to reconstruct or simulate events from the past or future.

Thinking is a wonderful tool if it’s applied.

Thinking, however, cannot become the master. Thinking is a very bad master. If you’re dominated by thinking then your life becomes very restricted.

– Eckhart Tolle

A wandering mind is in its natural state. Researchers have recorded people’s brain activity and observed mind-wandering. When test subjects reported that their mind was wandering, their brains showed activity in several cortical regions that are the same ones that are active when our brains are “at rest.” These areas are always operating in the background. So mind-wandering is a natural feature of how our brains work. Researchers at UC, Santa Barbara, have shown that people whose mind wanders a lot are more creative and better problem solvers. They are able to work on the task at hand, while simultaneously processing other information and making connections amongst ideas.

Specifically, the ability to come in and out of mind-wandering at will is

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very significant, and is the hallmark of the most creative people. (“Our Minds Wander at Least 30 percent of the Time,” an essay by Dr. Susan Weinschenk) Many philosophical and religious traditions teach us that happiness is found by living in the present moment. These traditions maintain that a wandering mind is an unhappy mind. Mind-wandering has also been associated with vehicular accidents. Unrelated, fragmented thoughts are common in people with low or depressed mood. Mind-wandering is also very common when a person is drunk or drugged.

In their study, Drs. Matthew A Killingsworth and Daniel Gilbert revealed that people are happier when engaged in focused thought than when they are engaged in wandering thought, regardless of the focus of their activity. They found in their study published in the journal Science that almost 50% of wandering thought seems to involve pleasant topics while a little more than 25% involves unpleasant topics. However, even a pleasant wandering thought that inserts itself into a given activity does not enhance an individual’s reported happiness. Unfortunately, unpleasant wandering thoughts do tend to decrease a person’s happiness when these thoughts inject themselves into an activity.

Studies have established that we tend to engage in more future- than past-related thoughts during mind-wandering. When the thoughts are unrelated to the task at hand, the mind then processes both taskrelevant and unrelated sensory information in a less detailed manner.

It is said that while daydreams offer a welcome mental escape from uninteresting tasks, they also have a positive, simultaneous effect on task performance.

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Over the last few years, neuroscientists like Professor Moshe Bar of Bar-IIan University have shown that unlike the localized neural activity associated with specific tasks, mind-wandering involves the activation of a gigantic default network involving many parts of the brain. “This cross-brain involvement may be involved in behavioural outcomes such as creativity and mood, and may also contribute to the ability to stay successfully on-task while the mind goes off on its merry mental way,” says Barr. This may be regarded as a positive aspect of mind-wandering, as surprisingly, this seeming waste of time thinking about unrelated areas has a welcome effect on our cognitive capacity.

Our gadgets and all the digital things we look at on them are designed to not let us engage in a single task. Interruptions as brief as few seconds are enough to cause disturbance and continuity while we are performing any task. Research shows that just having a mobile on the table is sufficiently distracting to reduce empathy and rapport between two people who are in conversation. To work efficiently, we need to do monotasking and not multitasking.

In our contemporary world, many of the distracters that pull us away from what we are working on are digital – Facebook, Twitter, email and the like. People are using dozens of apps actively throughout the day. People are often tempted to visit media sites. We must monitor our mind and consciously notice when it is slipping off on a wandering spree. We need to register “my mind has wandered off again” whenever we are consciously aware of it. This thought disengages the mind from where it has wandered and activates brain circuits that can help our attention get unstuck and return to the work at hand.

Mind-wandering itself can help strengthen our ability to focus, if

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leveraged properly. This can be achieved using meditation. In fact, mind-wandering is actually a central element of meditation based on the technique of focusing attention on, say, breathing. When we try to focus our attention on breathing, the mind will invariably wander away. This is natural. Then, after some moments, we notice that our attention is not on the breath, so we bring our attention back to breathing. We keep on repeating this exercise of bringing our attention back to breathing. With time, it becomes easier to drop our current train of thought and return our focus to the breath. The thoughts start to seem less “sticky� – they do not have such a hold on us (How to Focus a Wandering Mind, by Wendy Hasenkamp). In this way, through mind-wandering during meditation, we can learn the skill of watching our mind and controlling our attention.

TO SUM UP )) Unless the mind is focused, attentive, or engrossed in some interesting task, it keeps on wandering in all possible directions. )) Mind-wandering allows one part of the brain to focus on the task at hand, and another part of the brain to keep a more interesting goal in mind. )) Apparently, the more the mind wanders, the greater the probability of generating new ideas. Creative ideas may often come through wandering of mind.

Awakening the Thinking Mind

)) Mind-wandering has also been associated with vehicular accidents. Unrelated, fragmented thoughts are common in people with low or depressed mood. )) Mind-wandering itself can help strengthen our ability to focus, if leveraged properly. )) When we meditate, our mind wanders and during that time, we can learn the skill of watching our mind and controlling our attention.

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CHAPTER 14

Uncertainity and Irrationality in Decision Making – All possible thoughts are in potentiality

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n this age of reason and rationality, we sometimes do make irrational decisions without logic and common sense. Irrationality in thinking, talking, or acting can be witnessed very frequently in our world. It is more specifically described as an action taken absent adequate use of reason and logic. History is full of examples where people have taken irrational actions to the extreme, where logic and rationality are completely defied. According to Daniel Kahneman, the renowned psychologist, “If we think that we have reasons for what we believe, that is often a mistake. Our beliefs and our wishes and our hopes are not always anchored in reasons.”

Psychologists are not able to explain the uncertainty and irrationality in the decision-making process. Earlier models of human behaviour were based on classical probability, but often those explanations are not convincing enough as to why people make certain decisions. This can be illustrated with a simple example. When the order of questions is changed on a survey, people’s responses change, even though the questions asked are unrelated and do not depend on one another. That question order changes people’s answers does help explain irrationality in their decision. In a normal course of mentation, answers should be predictable and logical.

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We all know that decision making is a continuous brain process that we are generally unaware off, until we either take a wrong decision or make a wrong choice resulting in unpredictable consequences. Many parts of our brain take part in the decision making process. Studies have shown that emotions play an extremely important role when we take a decision through emotional input, which provides the brain with motivation and meaning that are essential for effective decision making. Studies have shown that people who have experienced damage to parts of their limbic system (responsible for emotional responses) are no longer capable of making decisions, as their rational mind hesitates cyclically over the possible rational reasons for each course of action, as reported by Angelina Chrysanthou in ‘Decisions are Complicated’ in I, SCIENCE. Therefore, quite often our decision making process becomes more complex, uncertain and irrational.

The mind is a superb instrument if used rightly. Used wrongly, however, it becomes very destructive. To put it more accurately... you usually don’t use it at all. It uses you.

– Eckhart Tolle

Memory is another key factor of decision making. Angelina Chrysanthou, further explains that the decisions we make are greatly influenced by our mood which works as ‘a retrieval cue’ whereby negative feelings make negative materials come to mind, which in turn have great impacts on the decisions we make. The same is true for positive feelings. The emotions felt in specific circumstances are recorded in the emotional memory, and can be triggered when a person

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faces a similar decision. In these situations the decision-maker is usually unaware of previous experiences in similar past situations influencing their current situation.

Besides emotions, moods and feelings, the subconscious mind plays an important role when we take decisions or make choices. Most of our decisions and actions depend on 95% of brain activity beyond our conscious awareness, which means that 95–99% of our life derives from the programming in our subconscious mind. Our subconscious controls what we do and who we are; now that really is something to think about. Therefore, our decision making sometimes become irrational, uncertain and illogical.

All possible thoughts are in potentiality and can surface in consciousness by collapse of wave function and leads to irrational decisions.

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Researchers have established that shaky and irrational thoughts are somehow linked to quantum mechanics – a theory suggesting that all subatomic particles are at potentiality, and by the act of observation, any one state is actualised/ collapsed. It means that all the options to choose from coexist in varying degrees of probability. This is known as superposition. When we zero in on our preferred option, the other options cease to exist for us.

Similarly, as we find for subatomic particles of the quantum world, all conceivable thoughts that can potentially appear in the mind are merely waves of possibility, and when the wave of any thought is collapsed by consciousness, that particular thought then appears in the mind (actuality). The quantum superposition occurs every time we are faced with a decision. At first, all options exist in our mind, with each having a different likelihood of being chosen. As soon as we make a decision, though, the superposition collapses and other options cease to exist.

Our consciousness is, at its root, an ever-moving maverick, jumping from one perception, feeling, and thought to another. We can never hold it still or focus it on a single point for long. Like the subatomic quantum world, the more we try to hold our consciousness on a fixed point, the greater the uncertainty we feel. When we try to focus and narrow our consciousness to a single point, it is all the more likely to suddenly jump with a great rush of energy to some seemingly unrelated aspect of our life. Though unaware, we all experience this process throughout the day. We try to focus our mind on some problem only to suddenly experience a shift to some other domain, wherein another image or emotional current intrudes and then vanishes again.

Zheng Joyce Wang, Associate Professor of Communication at Ohio

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State University, conducted extensive studies of what she called quantum cognition. Wang explains that “whenever something comes up that is not consistent with classical theories, we often label it ‘irrational.’

But from the perspective of quantum cognition, some findings aren’t irrational anymore. They’re consistent with quantum theory and with how people really behave.” Quantum cognition is what happens when humans have to deal with ambiguity mentally. Sometimes we are not certain about how we feel, or are ambiguous about which option to choose, or we have to make decisions based on limited information.

Wang’s findings further suggest that thinking in a quantum-like way enables humans to make important decisions in the face of uncertainty, and to tackle complex questions despite our limited mental resources (“Can Quantum Physics Explain Irrational Decisions?” by Leslie D’Monte).

Thoughts, Mind and the Uncertainty Principle of the Quantum World Our brain houses an extremely intricate and compact network of nerve cells called neurons. There are an estimated 100 billion neurons, the building blocks of the brain, each having around 10,000 to 100,000 synaptic connections to other neurons through dendrites. These neurons communicate with one another via electrochemical signals. The combination of electrical activity of the brain by way of interaction among billions of neurons is called a brainwave pattern because of its cyclic, wave-like nature. These brainwaves are simply the superposition of many electrical states that are being created in our nervous system.

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Like everything else, thoughts are nothing but energy. When we are in the waking state, billions of electrochemical impulses are created which generate thoughts in the mind. The measurable electrical disturbances in the brain are our actual thoughts, racing through the mind. Therefore, thoughts are vibrational energy fields and are governed by the rules of quantum mechanics. The particle-wave duality, the uncertainty principle, and of course, entanglement, all the characteristic features of quantum mechanics, are applicable to the thinking process (The Point of Power by Peter Baksa).

The uncertainty principle, introduced by German physicist Werner Heisenberg in 1927, states that the position and the velocity of subatomic particles cannot be measured exactly, at the same time, even in theory. The more accurately we know one of these two values, the less accurately we know the other. It is therefore impossible to have a particle that has a well-defined position and velocity simultaneously. In everyday life, we can successfully measure the position of a car or any other vehicle at a definite time and then measure its direction and speed in the next few moments. That is because the uncertainties in position and velocity are so small that we could not detect them. The uncertainty principle is actually a fundamental constraint on the ability to make precise statements about the behaviour of a quantum system.

Quantum uncertainty is one of the most famous discoveries ever made in physics. As discussed in a previous paragraph, there is fuzziness in nature, a fundamental limit to what we can know about the behaviour of quantum particles and therefore, the

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quantum world. At that level, what we can do the best is calculate probabilities for where things are and how they will behave. Unlike Sir Isaac Newton’s mechanistic world, where everything follows clear-cut laws on how to move and prediction is easy if we know the starting conditions, the uncertainty principle enshrines fuzziness into quantum theory.

Now, when we apply quantum theory to the careful observation of our thoughts, we see that when we think about the content of a thought (its position), we simultaneously introduce unpredictable and uncontrollable changes to where it is going (its motion). On the other hand, if we think about where it is going, we lose the sharpness of its content. Similarly, the uncertainty principle shows that if we observe the position of an object, we change its motion.

When we observe its motion, we lose the sharpness of its position.

TO SUM UP )) Like everything else, thoughts are nothing but energy.

When we are in the waking state, billions of electrochemical impulses are created which generate thoughts in the mind. )) Besides emotions, moods and feelings, the subconscious mind plays an important role when we take decisions or make choices in our routine life.

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)) Observe the mind carefully. When we try to focus and narrow our consciousness to a single point, it is all the more likely to suddenly jump with a great rush of energy to some seemingly unrelated aspect of our life. )) All conceivable thoughts that can potentially appear in the mind are merely waves of possibility, and when the wave of any thought is collapsed by consciousness, that particular thought then appears in the mind. )) Through quantum mechanics, we can explain as to how we all can at times take irrational and illogical decisions.

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CHAPTER 15

The Illusionary Freewill – Mind does not enjoy complete freedom in exercising the choices that are available

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e create our own world continuously by making choices and decisions in our life. Since most of us strongly believe that we exercise full freedom in making our choices, we are sure of free will.

It is also commonly assumed that we have conscious control over our thoughts, enabling us to make free choices as we desire. The assumptions that first, each one of us is free to behave and act in our own desired way, and second, that we are the conscious author of our thoughts and actions, lead us to strongly believe in the freedom of will. However, if we analyse these assumptions critically, we find inconsistencies. Free will, evidently, is not completely free.

There is a famous saying, though contentious, “Free will comes with a rider”; we pay a price to enjoy free will. It is only through our free will that we exercise evilness, committing cruel acts over others. Good people suffer at merciless hands controlled by cruel minds. History bears ample testimony to the fact that millions have been killed due to man’s inhumane nature. The other alternative is man having no free will, and that is simply inconceivable. Free will is a necessary condition for man’s survival and realisation. Mankind has been searching for a convincing answer to this perennial question for millennia. Though we can further justify free will by saying that for man to evolve to higher

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planes of consciousness, it is only through pain and suffering, we are empathetic and compassionate toward our fellow beings.

We may understand this issue more clearly if we take as an example Charles Joseph Whitman, an engineering student at the University of Texas, who killed 16 people in the early morning hours of August 1, 1966. After murdering his wife and mother in their homes, he then brought a number of guns, including rifles, a shotgun, and handguns, to the campus of the University of Texas at Austin where, over an approximate 90 to 95-minute period, he killed 14 people and wounded 32 others in a mass shooting in and around the University’s tower. Whitman was shot and killed by an Austin police officer.

There is no such thing as perpetual tranquillity of mind while we live here; because life itself is but motion, and can never be without desire, nor without fear, no more than without sense. – Thomas Hobbes

Later on, it was found that Whitman had a brain tumour which pressed against the amygdala, the brain region associated with fear and aggression that can trigger violent. In a way, he had little to no control over his violent behaviour because of the brain tumour. So then how can he be held responsible for mass killings? This case and the issue of free will has been widely deliberated within the criminal justice system.

Each one of us is born and brought up in our own particular and unique way. We had no role in choosing our genetic constitution. Later on, the environment in which we are nurtured determines the expression

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of our genome. Our bodies may harbour harmful genes for serious illnesses like cancer, but they may lie dormant throughout our lifespan.

Such genes can be triggered anytime, depending upon environmental factors. In addition, emotional and social nurturing during our early years as well as learning and interaction with parents, teachers, and friends have profound impact on our mental and emotional growth.

Mental conditioning of thoughts, emotions, , attitudes, and responses starts at an early age, greatly affecting our subsequent development and actions. This mental conditioning greatly affects our ability to act freely throughout our life.

We all have an autopilot, the unconscious mind, running its habitual programmes of thoughts and beliefs. Even when we make seemingly conscious and well-thought-out decisions, unconscious processes play a significant role in determining their logic and desirability, along with our associated behaviour. Over millennia, to ensure survival of mankind, various specialised processing areas have been developed in our brain. These regions work incessantly behind the scenes of our conscious experiences.

We are totally unaware of unconscious neurological processes, which are responsible for our conscious thoughts and intentions. Where is the freedom when our unconscious processes are generating thoughts, intentions, and desires? We appear to have no freedom to choose the thoughts that determine our choices. Under these circumstances, not only do we exercise very little (if any, at all) of the so-called free will – about which we are generally so confident – but we are also largely incapable of accurately explaining and justifying our actions.

Recent years have seen much new research on the correlation between

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We always have multiple options for taking a decision but do we exercise ‘free will’ freely?

brain activity and the decision-making process. Brain scans have revealed the existence of hidden thoughts without the person’s awareness of them. Additionally, brain scans have suggested that all decisions are affected by emotions, even when the person thinks they are strictly rational. Studies show that free will plays no role, and our experiences are determined solely by the brain’s reactions to its circumstances. This means that the brain must function in a purely stimulus-response mode, where a stimulus can come either from an event that is perceived by the senses, or from one that arises spontaneously in the mind, like a thought, feeling, or emotion ( A Course in Consciousness by Stanley Sobottka).

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Laboratory experiments have also shown that before we become aware of making a decision, our brains have already laid the groundwork for it. In a recent book, Subliminal: How Your Unconscious Mind Rules Your Behaviour, physicist Leonard Mlodinow reviews a wide range of psychological experiments that demonstrate the dominant role the unconscious plays in our behaviour. This recognition challenges fundamental assumptions about free will and the associated religious teachings about sin and redemption, as well as our judicial concepts of responsibility and punishment. “If our brains are making decisions for us subconsciously, how can we be responsible for our actions?” argues Victor Stenger, a well-known American physicist. “How can our legal system punish criminals or God punish sinners who are not in full control of their decision-making processes?”

We must consider that not only our past learning and personal experiences, but also our genetic blueprint, to a great extent, influences our decision-making process. The decisions, hence that we make on the basis of thoughts and emotions, and the results of those decisions do not altogether correspond with our strong belief in freedom of choice.

In other words, the concept of free will becomes doubtful. More so, when we think we have complete or reasonable control over our life, but things just do not turn out as we wish.

Most of us feel that we are the master of our own thoughts, and actions.

However, when we notice how thoughts arise, we realise that we have little control over what comes into our mind. We are not aware of those unconscious neurological processes that are responsible for the generation of thoughts in our conscious mind. The emergence and convergence of thoughts, intentions, and, subsequently, the choices

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that we make is basically a mysterious process. Thoughts arise out of the void in an unexplainable manner. If that is so, then where is the free will which we supposedly exercise all the time?

The neurobiologist Martin Heisenberg has explained that due to random processes in our brain, much of our can be considered truly “self-generated”. Similarly, neuroscientist and author Sam Harris, in his Free Will, arrived at the conclusion that “thoughts and intentions simply arise in the mind. What else could they do? The truth about us is even stranger than we may suppose: the illusion of free will is itself an illusion.” He further argued that in addition to having no control over the genes we got from our parents, neither did we choose the environment in which we were nurtured. This all contributed to unconscious neurological conditions that are responsible for our thoughts, and beliefs. We feel we are the author of our conscious decisions, but these decisions are greatly influenced by our lifetime experiences, which differ significantly from one individual to another.

Benjamin Libet, a scientist who has done pioneering work in the field of human consciousness, has demonstrated that a thought occurs in the brain nearly half a second before it is consciously chosen (or acknowledged). This is considered a revolutionary discovery and has been verified by subsequent researchers. If it is true, does this phenomenon support the belief, as spiritual leaders have been saying right along, that free will is an illusion? It seems that our unconscious mental processes have already taken steps to initiate an action before conscious mind is aware of any desire to perform it.

Though most of us feel that we are completely free when we consider options and make choices, the reality is that many unconscious

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neurological factors influence that process of decision-making. The assumptions that first, we are the conscious author of our thoughts and actions, and second, that we live in a world of cause and effect, do not hold good in the wake of the circumstances listed above. Our decisions are made on the basis of thoughts that are generated at the appropriate time. First, we have no control over the generation of those thoughts and second, the thoughts are greatly influenced by many factors, such as our genetic endowment, life experience, conditioning of thoughts, behaviour and beliefs, and the unconscious mind. Therefore, the free will about which we are so sure and confident, is largely illusionary in nature.

Benjamin Libet Experiment Benjamin Libet, a physiology researcher, conducted a series of experiments in 1983 in which he measured the time it took for a volunteer to become consciously aware of the decision to move a finger. Libet created a dot on the screen of an oscilloscope, a type of electronic test instrument. The volunteer was asked to note the position of the moving dot when he/she was aware of the conscious decision to move a finger or wrist. Then Libet found that although conscious awareness of the decision preceded the volunteer’s finger motion by only 200 milliseconds, the rise in the readiness potential (a measure of activity) was clearly visible at about 500 milliseconds (0.5 second) before the flex of the wrist. The volunteer showed unconscious activity to flex about 350 milliseconds before reporting conscious awareness of the decision to flex.

Libet found that the unconscious brain activity leading up to

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the conscious decision by the volunteer to flick his wrist began approximately half a second before the volunteer consciously felt that he had decided to move. Libet’s findings suggest that decisions made by a volunteer are first being made on a subconscious level and only afterwards being translated into a “conscious decision,” and that the volunteer’s belief that it occurred at the behest of his will was due only to his retrospective perspective on the event. This also suggests that it is impossible to respond volitionally in fewer than 500 milliseconds to any external stimuli since our experience is always delayed by that much.

Other studies try to predict activity before overt action occurs. Taken together, these various findings show that at least some actions – like moving a finger – are initiated unconsciously at first, and enter consciousness afterward.

Libet’s experiments point to a general concept that any neurological or sensory process always happens before our awareness of the thought, feeling, or sensation that expresses it. In these experiments, the lag of awareness was between 350 and 500 milliseconds, but the exact time is not as important as the simple fact that there exists a time lag; our subjective experience of an event must always come after the objective occurrence of the event. The brain requires about 500 milliseconds to process an event before we can become aware of it; it is impossible for us to be aware of any instant in which the brain ceases to function, such as the instant we fall asleep or the instant we die (Stanley Sobottka).

Recently, an article entitled ‘What Neuroscience Says about Free Will’, written by Adam Bear appeared on April 28, 2016 in Scientific

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American magazine. The author argues that though we are convinced that free will exists, but new research suggests it might be nothing more than a trick the brain plays on itself. The new study says that the brain rewrites history when it makes its choices, changing our memories so that we believe we wanted to do something before it happened. In other words, the brain just convinces itself that it made a free choice from the available options after the decision is made. So free will may be an illusion created by our brain.

The idea that human beings trick themselves into believing in free will was laid out in a paper by psychologists Dan Wegner and Thalia Wheatley nearly 20 years ago. They proposed that the free will of wanting to do something was real, but there may be no connection between the feeling and actually doing it. The author Adam Bear further explains in the article that ‘the illusion may only apply to a small set of our choices that are made quickly and without too much thought.

Or it may be pervasive and ubiquitous – governing all aspects of our behaviour, from our most minute to our most important decisions.

Most likely, the truth lies somewhere in between these extremes’.

TO SUM UP )) Even when we make seemingly conscious and well-thoughtout decisions, the unconscious mind plays a significant role in determining their logic and desirability, along with our behaviour.

Awakening the Thinking Mind

)) When we notice how thoughts arise, we realise that we have little control over what comes into our mind. We are not aware of those unconscious neurological processes that are responsible for the generation of thoughts in our conscious mind. )) The emergence and convergence of thoughts, intentions, and, subsequently, the choices that we make is basically a mysterious process. )) Thoughts arise out of the void in an unexplainable manner.

If that is so, then where is the free will which we supposedly exercise all the time? )) Though most of us feel that we are completely free when we consider options and make choices, the reality is that many unconscious neurological factors influence that process of decision-making.

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Part IV

Acquired Traits/Nature of Mind that Obstruct Personal Growth

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ach one of us gets subjected to environmental conditioning.

There are no exceptions. It is an integral part of our life. However, the extent of conditioning differs from one individual to another.

We therefore lead conditioned lives. For the first time, this aspect of human behaviour has been studied in great detail by psychologist John B. Watson. Elaborating on the law of conditioning, he first reminds us that that everyone is bound to live a conditioned life. It is everyone’s fate, and no one can escape from it. Essentially, it involves learning how to make sure we are able to do the “right” things at the right times in order to get our preferred result, no matter what the circumstances are.

Most of us develop our own style of responding to various challenges that we come across in life. This is because we develop and are true to a fixed set of strong beliefs, attitudes, and responses. To one degree or another, we all have a set pattern of responding to situations. Of course, no two individuals react in an identical fashion. In any given situation, different people will react differently due to their unique mental programming, based on lifetime experiences. Since we go on repeating these conditioned responses, they become stronger and more predictable over time. Strong neural pathways are forged over the years in our unconscious mind.

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Many of us get trapped and start living in a prison of our own making, the prison of our mind. Most of us inculcate beliefs that are negative and self-limiting in nature and those very beliefs in a way imprison us. The prison does not allow us to enjoy our life to the fullest and it limits our mental and spiritual growth. Many of our actions, emotions and behaviour arising from those beliefs get conditioned in our life.

To escape from this prison is not an easy task because at every stage we resist change and departure from our habitual and conditioned way.

We need to challenge and replace those self-defeating beliefs.

The hindrance that most of us face on our spiritual journey is the accumulated layers of ignorance which skew and distort our perception and understanding of ourselves and the reality around us. The more hardened our accumulated beliefs, ideas, and judgments, the denser and darker our mind becomes, and the more difficult is the process of stripping away that conditioning. Yet we can take heart in William Blake’s clear-sighted observation: “If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is, infinite.” This cleansing process necessarily delays, but is prerequisite to, our awakening. Most conditioned beliefs are generated directly or indirectly by fear. We are generally afraid of challenging those deeply imbedded beliefs. We need courage and a deeper openness to the true nature of reality to clear that accumulated debris of conditioned beliefs and behaviour.

In a way, our mind is an information processing system. It processes the information it receives, rather than merely responding to stimuli. This perspective equates the mind to a computer, which is responsible for analysing information from the environment. According to the standard information-processing model for mental development, the mind’s

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machinery includes attention mechanisms for bringing information in, working memory for actively manipulating information, and longterm memory for passively holding information so that it can be used in the future. Though the information processing system is extremely efficient but apart from certain inherent limitations, as we age some errors and faults get incorporated in our thinking process. These errors or the faults in our processing system can be categorised into cognitive biases and this aspect is discussed in greater detail in a separate chapter.

Another feature of the mind that hinders our mental and spiritual growth is the burden of our past unpleasant and traumatic incidents that take place in our life including those in close relationships. Most of us are weighed down by the past and present burden of negative and unpleasant memories, which we generally call emotional baggage. One of the hallmarks of emotional baggage is that it is riddled with triggers.

A trigger is something that reminds us of the past, thereby bringing the old unpleasant feelings, memories, and reactions to the surface.

Rather than making attempts to unburden the baggage, we keep on accumulating and strengthening its negative energy. Our reactive behaviour pattern is mostly repetitive, and never fails to reinforce its negativity. In stressful relationships, for instance, we very often suffer the bursting of emotional baggage that makes the relationship even more fragile. This aspect of the mind’s feature has been touched upon in a separate chapter.

CHAPTER 16

The Mental Conditioning –

The mind becomes conditioned through repetitive thinking and actions

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very day during waking hours we perform repetitive tasks.

Hundreds of times a day, we engage in behaviours that require little or no focused concentration on our parts. At one time, they required our attention to learn, but after we memorised them and became skilled at the actions, we had other things to think about.

These tasks are easy, common, natural, familiar and routine, they truly are second nature to us. All of these are examples of our hardwired neural networks in action (Evolve Your Brain by Joe Dispenza). As we keep on repeating the task, our neural network in the brain become stronger and stronger. This is how we become conditioned to carry out tasks in our daily life.

Conditioning is an integral shaper of our life. Each one of us is subject to conditioning in virtually every aspect of life because we all are brought up in a unique and particular environment. Conditioning starts at a very early age – some believe from birth. Systematic patterns of thought, programmed into us by our parents and teachers, get deeply embedded into our subconscious mind. These thoughts and values are ever after “on call” to guide us in decision-making. And as these patterns resurface, we continue to reinforce our thoughts, beliefs, behaviours, and responses.

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The basic facts about classical conditioning were discovered by Ivan Pavlov through his famous experiments with dogs. From his observations he predicted that a stimulus could become associated with food and cause salivation on its own, if a particular stimulus in the dog’s surroundings was present when the dog was given food. Pavlov noticed that the dogs in the experiment began to salivate in the presence of the technician who normally fed them, rather than simply salivating in the presence of food.

We all become conditioned to see the world as we wish to see it. We live in our own constructed reality. We are greatly influenced by our parents, teachers, elders, and friends since early childhood. As we grow, our programmed beliefs become deeply embedded in our thinking patterns. This leads to habitual energies based upon the conditioning of thoughts. The result is a biased mind that fails to appreciate the true nature of reality.

The conditioned mind is indeed the source of most of our behaviour toward ourselves, others, and to every situation in life. It determines our interpretation and perception of reality. In a very real way, we spend our days in a “mind-made prison,” captives of our small and circumscribed outlook. This is of course a great cause of suffering and the primary obstacle to our growth. We constantly mistake our interpretation of the world, which is purely subjective, for the truth. We fail to understand or respect the fact that like us, others too have their own set of beliefs, which they take to be true. We keep on labelling things as true or false, and generally do not confront ourselves once the belief is deeply ingrained.

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Mind is consciousness which has put on limitations. You are originally unlimited and perfect. Later you take on limitations and become the mind. – Ramana Maharshi

Our mind, in a strictly functional way, is like a computer. The design and memory of a computer are analogous to the conditioning of the brain.

Just as a computer does only what its design and programming permit it to do, so too does the brain do only what its genetic makeup and conditioning permit it to do. In comparison, the brain is conditioned

A prisoner in our conditioned mind

Most of us lead our life routinely in a “mind-made prison�.

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continuously through all of its stimulus-response interactions, including not only local interactions with the environment but also non-local interactions. Actually, this conditioning takes place not only in the brain, but in every other organ of the body that possesses memory, such as muscular structures (Stanley Sobottka).

When a movement is repeated over time, a long-term muscle memory is created for that task, eventually allowing it to be performed without conscious effort. This process decreases the need for attention and creates maximum efficiency within the motor and memory systems.

Examples of muscle memory are found in many everyday activities that become automatic and improve with practice, such as riding a bicycle, typing on a keyboard, playing a musical instrument, or martial arts.

It is our internal programming that automates our behaviour and thinking processes. We can even anticipate how people are going to react in certain specific situations based on their past responses. All have been programmed to decide and act in their own conditioned ways. On many occasions, we hardly use free will at all, especially while responding to familiar people or situations.

Like an alcoholic, one becomes addicted to his or her conditioned thought patterns and behaviours. Some of our conditioning, therefore, inhibits personal development. Though most of the time we are not aware of our conditioning, there are moments of illumination when we recognise the limits it imposes, and how that affects our development.

We can say that the mind is on autopilot and reacts in a conditioned way which we sometimes later regret. We act automatically on those occasions. These conditioned responses prevent us from living our life to the fullest.

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Our conditioning pervades our lives. For example, most of us follow religious beliefs, acquired during early childhood from our parents.

There may be many reasons – such as fear of the present moment, fear of parental displeasure or abandonment, and fear of death – supporting and reinforcing those beliefs. Another very common expression of conditioning is road rage, the display of extreme anger while driving.

Because in-depth conditioning has become a part of our mind over the course of our upbringing, a particular situation or person can immediately trigger it. We automatically put on the mask appropriate to the particular situation, suited specifically to the expectations of the situation or person. These are fixed mental patterns, which are strong prompters of our behaviour.

We perpetuate our problems by continuously thinking about them.

Why do we keep on reiterating the same old stories of unpleasant or sad experiences? By doing so, we enter into a vicious cycle as neural connections (networks) are reinforced and strengthened each time we recall those experiences. In turn, we are increasingly inclined to recall those incidents again and again. Negative thoughts need only a small window in our minds to enter and corrupt our positive attitude. The more we allow them, the more vulnerable we become, and the more interest we take in them, the more we will call them up. In this way, we become puppets of the mind’s game. This becomes the way of life. We simply cannot find any solution in the outside world. And the more we try to suppress such energies, the more often they will pop up to the surface.

We make many purposeful choices while journeying through life, especially when we believe that our goals are attainable. Otherwise,

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we tend to wander aimlessly and waste energy and time by pursuing the mundane. Instead, we should focus on what we need for our growth, and channel our energies in that direction. For this, we need to overcome the accumulated conditioning of rusty ideas, thoughts, emotions, and beliefs. Aware of limiting beliefs, we become open to new possibilities and start attracting fresh opportunities. Once free to evolve and grow, we can collectively transform the world.

TO SUM UP )) Mental conditioning is a behavioural process whereby a response becomes more frequent or more predictable in a given environment as a result of repetition and reinforcement. )) All have been programmed to decide and act in their own conditioned ways. On many occasions, we hardly use our “free will”, especially while responding to familiar people or situations. )) We spend our days routinely in a “mind-made prison,” captives of our small and circumscribed outlook. This is a great cause of dissatisfaction, and the primary obstacle to our growth. )) Aware of limiting beliefs, we become open to new possibilities and start attracting fresh opportunities. Once free to evolve and grow, we can collectively transform the world.

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CHAPTER 17

The Emotional Burden – The heavier the emotional baggage, the slower is one’s mental and spiritual growth

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e all have a past and we have all been hurt emotionally in one way or another. It is an unavoidable part of the human condition. When we suffer the pain of betrayal, or even the annoyance of simple selfishness, especially in close intimate relationships, or when we experience any traumatic incident, quite often the wounds are deeply engraved in our mind and heart. They may, of course, be healed over time, but all too often we carry those wounds along with us. Whether we drag around this increasingly heavy emotional burden or toss it into the nearest incinerator, the choice is always ours to make.

Unfortunately, many of us choose the busboy option. As a result, we suffer, and make plenty of others suffer too.

Given a choice, no one wants to go through the strain and pain of tagged emotional baggage, but unfortunately it is a common phenomenon in our relationships. Our past experiences and relationships have a profound impact on how we think, feel, and behave in our present relationships and interactions. As Buddha taught, we are each given ten thousand joys and ten thousand sorrows, the challenge being not to get mired in either the joy or the pain, and keeping our hearts soft and open instead of closed and constricted. If we hold on to the hurts and wounds of the past, emotional burden or baggage is inevitable – the

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deadweight of the old experiences (How to Release the Past and Return to Love, by Deepak Chopra).

“Thoughts are circular, they don’t take you anywhere. They don’t have feet-they can’t gain any ground. They can trap you if you don’t eventually stand up and make a move.”

– Katie Kacvinsky, Awaken

Emotional baggage is also detrimental to our normal growth. This baggage is tagged with all of our worst traumas and emotional moments. In adult relationships, emotional baggage comes to the fore in oppressive ways. First, there are the often negative expectations derived from previous relationships, a kind of bondage to the past that can distort our new and potentially more positive relationships.

The second type of memories contributing to emotional baggage is negativities from the current relationship being frequently brought up for discussion. The result is that minor problems in the present become overloaded by negative currents from earlier times, problems that cannot be resolved or set aside for good (Wikipedia).

The burden of emotional baggage weighs heavily, never letting up.

Invariably, this impediment slows down our mental and spiritual growth, and is especially disruptive when obstructionist and over reactive tendencies go unchecked. Our personality, which is conditioned by the past, becomes our prison, the stumbling block to our personal growth. The thinking and behaviour patterns of such baggage carriers is repetitive and generally automatic. For those who remain totally entangled in old and habitual patterns, the future is usually a replica of

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the past, says author Eckhart Tolle.

Learning from past lessons and experiences is a fundamental pillar of our overall development. However, many people internalise negative experiences and harbour inhibitions and repressed fears in their psyche which hold them back from fully participating in new relationships. Like the ten-times-divorced starlet, they tend to advance old expectations and attract repeat dynamics. Any trivial incident reminiscent of painful past experiences is likely to trigger an automatic and inappropriate response. Unless they can drop some of their baggage and disengage from their programming by becoming aware of it, it is extremely difficult for “baggage carriers� to nurture new relationships.

Past relationships have profound effects on present relationships.

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Though superficial changes are always possible, hard conditioning of thoughts and behaviour seriously hinders growth. The bitterness of feelings carried forward needs to be neutralized before one can be receptive toward others. Unless open to new ideas, beliefs, and behavioural patterns, a person will, most likely, not grow spiritually, despite the fact that tremendous opportunities are always available for everyone.

We often come across people who cling to various emotional issues from their past and generally respond in a highly conditioned way. A quick baggage check usually turns up twisted beliefs and great festering anger.

The self that is under siege is often the product of pain and rejection in the developmental years, resulting in subsequent relationship failures.

Detrimental societal forces may also have played a role, or existential challenges that affect all people. To become one’s own person, one must differentiate and separate oneself from these negative influences, both internal and external. (This is very well explained in The Self Under Siege, by Robert Firestone, Joyce, Catlett, and Lisa Firestone.

Once we can identify our emotional triggers, we can choose our response to them. What should we do when we feel distrustful, suspicious, neglected, pressured, controlled, or mistreated? Past baggage often results in emotional reactivity, which is an overreaction to current circumstances. When we understand how we react to things that trigger our bitter past, we can channel our energies positively, choosing our reaction to them.

Hard work on ourselves may lie ahead. We may need to change negative personality traits in ourselves. Having worked on this, we should then use our mind to counter the thoughts and feelings that are not reality

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today. The easy way to control or mitigate such accumulated energy from past experiences is to practice mindfulness, and be present in the moment whenever negative energy is activated. This is how we can surely and gradually unload that emotional baggage, carried by so many of us throughout our lives.

TO SUM UP )) No one wants to go through the strain and pain of carrying emotional baggage, but unfortunately it is a common phenomenon in our relationships. )) Freeing ourselves from this emotional burden is crucial because dwelling in the past prevents us from being present and enjoying the lovely moments at hand. )) Our past experiences and relationships have a profound impact on how we think, feel, and behave in our present relationships and interactions. )) Unless they can drop some of their baggage and disengage from their programming by becoming aware of it, it is extremely difficult for “baggage carriers” to nurture new relationships. )) When we understand how we react to things that trigger our bitter past, we can channel our energies positively, choosing our reaction to them.

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CHAPTER 18

Cognitive Bias – Inherent thinking errors that mind makes in the processing of information

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he more we learn about the mind, the stronger is the realisation that our thinking is inherently imperfect, and that is why our decision-making is often flawed. Firstly, mind is usually in a big rush to make decisions and leap to conclusions based on imperfect and incomplete information. Secondly, our cognitive processes are far from perfect, despite the beauty and the wonder of the brain. Indeed, this mysterious organ is “fully loaded”, with roughly 100 billion neurons, each with 10,000 to 100,000 dendrites/branches that form synaptic connections with other neurons, generating the computational power of trillions of operations per second.

Ideally, we are rational thinkers and make decisions and behave in a manner that maximises advantage and minimises risks and losses of any kind. However, this generally is not the case. There are many factors that influence our decision-making process. Our cognition, which means the mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses, has many limitations. One such limitation of human thinking is known as the cognitive bias. It is a fundamental error in thinking that occurs when we process and interpret information in the world around us. It leads

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to poor decisions and bad judgments.

Cognitive bias can be described as the tendency to make decisions and take actions based on limited availability and/or processing of information, or on self-interest, overconfidence, or attachment to past experiences (The Power of Prime by Jim Taylor). A cognitive bias refers to a systematic pattern of deviation from logic or rationality in judgment, whereby inferences about other people and situations may be drawn in an illogical fashion (Wikipedia).

“There is nothing to practise. To know yourself, be yourself. To be yourself, stop imagining yourself to be this or that. Just be. Let your true nature emerge. Don’t disturb your mind with seeking”.

– Nisargadatta Maharaj

Broadly speaking, there are two types of biases. First, we have information biases, which include the shortcuts to information-processing that produce fast and efficient – though not necessarily accurate – decisions based on inadequate information. We often attempt to simplify information-processing and, as a result, our thinking becomes biased.

The second kind of bias is that of the ego, and is motivated by emotions such as fear, anger, or worry. Social influences such as peer pressure, the desire for acceptance, and doubt that other people can be wrong spark other emotions that bypass reason and become biases. Such biases invariably lead to distorted perception, inaccurate judgment, illogical interpretation, or what is usually called “irrationality”.

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Cognitive biases may also be described as the inherent thinking errors that humans make in processing information. These thinking errors prevent us from accurately understanding the reality around us, even when confronted with all the necessary data and evidence to form an accurate view. Many conflicts between science and religion are due to cognitive biases preventing people from coming to the same conclusion using the same evidence (RationalWiki). Are these biases useless or irrational? There is some controversy as to whether they can result in useful attitudes or behaviour. For example, when getting to know someone, we often ask leading questions which seem biased in the direction of confirming our assumptions about the other person.

This kind of confirmation bias has been regarded by some researchers as a positive social skill, fostering human connection.

Indeed, not all biases are bad. Psychologists have found that many of our biases serve an adaptive purpose so that we can take quick, decisive action based on the available information, especially when in a hurry or

We mostly have a tendency to overestimate the probability of good results coming in future.

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a dangerous and threatening situation. These biases are rooted deep in our psyche. Over the past six decades of research on human judgment and decision-making, a continually evolving assortment of cognitive biases has been identified. A list of many widely recognised cognitive biases, which we can easily identify – and perhaps see at work within ourselves – is offered below.

• Bandwagon Effect – the tendency to do (or believe) things because many other people do (or believe) the same. This bias is related to groupthink, crowd psychology, herd behaviour, and manias.

• Choice-supportive Bias – the tendency to remember one’s choices as better than they actually were.

• Confirmation Bias – the tendency to search for or interpret information in a way that confirms one’s preconceptions.

• Déformation Professionnelle – the tendency to look at things according to the conventions of one’s own profession, forgetting any broader point of view.

• Endowment Effect/Loss Aversion – the fact that people often demand much more to give up an object than they would be willing to pay to acquire it.

• Framing – drawing different conclusions from the same information, depending on how that information is presented.

• Illusion of Control – the tendency for human beings to believe they can control or at least influence outcomes that they clearly cannot.

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• Information Bias – the tendency to seek information even when it cannot affect action.

• Neglect of Probability – the tendency to completely disregard probability when making a decision under uncertainty.

• Mere Exposure Effect – the tendency of people to express undue liking for things merely because they are familiar with them.

• Outcome Bias – the tendency to judge a decision by its eventual outcome instead of based on the quality of the decision at the time it was made.

• Post-purchase Rationalisation – the tendency to persuade oneself through rational argument that a purchase was a good value.

• Status Quo Bias – the tendency for people to like things to stay relatively the same (see also Endowment Effect/Loss Aversion).

• Frequency Illusion – the phenomenon in which people who just learn or notice something start seeing it everywhere. Also known as the Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon.

• Gambler›s Fallacy – the tendency to assume that individual random events are influenced by previous random events. For example, «I›ve flipped heads with this coin five times consecutively, so the chance of tails coming out on the sixth flip is much greater than heads.»

• Observer-Expectancy Effect – when a researcher expects a given result and therefore unconsciously manipulates an experiment or misinterprets data in order to find it.

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• Overconfidence Effect – the tendency to overestimate one’s own abilities.

• Positive Outcome Bias – a tendency in prediction to overestimate the probability of good things happening.

• Recency Effect – the tendency to weigh recent events more than earlier events.

• False Consensus Effect – the tendency for people to overestimate the degree to which others agree with them.

• Herd Instinct – a common tendency to adopt the opinions and follow the behaviours of the majority to feel safer and to avoid conflict.

• Illusion of Asymmetric Insight – people perceive their knowledge of their peers as surpassing their peers’ knowledge of them.

• Illusion of Transparency – people overestimate others’ ability to know them, and they also overestimate their ability to know others.

• Projection Bias – the tendency to unconsciously assume that others share the same or similar thoughts, beliefs, values, or positions.

• Self-Serving Bias – the tendency to attribute successes to meritorious internal characteristics while blaming failures on outside forces. It may also manifest as a tendency for people to evaluate ambiguous information in a way beneficial to their interests.

• Modesty Bias – the tendency to blame failures on oneself while

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attributing successes to external and situational factors. This bias is the opposite of the self-serving bias.

• Self-Fulfilling Prophecy – the tendency to engage in behaviours that elicit results which will (consciously or subconsciously) confirm our beliefs.

• Beneffectance – perceiving oneself as responsible for desirable outcomes but not responsible for undesirable ones. (Term coined

by Anthony Greenwald in 1980) • Egocentric Bias – recalling the past in a self-serving manner – e.g., remembering one’s exam grades as being better than they were, or remembering a caught fish as being bigger than it was.

• Hindsight Bias – filtering memory of past events through present knowledge, so that those events look more predictable than they actually were; also known as the ‘I-knew-it-all-along effect.’

It is a fact that most of us are highly susceptible to cognitive biases.

Among them, confirmation bias is one of the most common. While we like to imagine that our beliefs are rational, logical, and objective, the truth is that our ideas are often based on paying attention to the information that supports our ideas and ignoring the information that challenges our existing beliefs. A confirmation bias involves favouring information that confirms previously existing beliefs or biases. For example, imagine that a person holds a belief that left-handed people are more creative than right-handed people. Whenever this person encounters a person who is both left-handed and creative, they place greater importance on this “evidence” supporting their already existing belief. Confirmation biases impact how people gather information,

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but they also influence how people interpret and recall information (psychology.about.com).

These biases affect us all, across all sections of society. Despite taking necessary precautions and care, our judgments and decisions are often riddled with errors and influenced by a wide variety of biases, such as those listed above. The human brain is undoubtedly powerful, but certainly subject to the limitations of subjectivity. Once we commit mistakes or fail, we regret and fall prey to a vicious circle of negative thinking, leading to aggravation of those problems. The best way to avoid these biases is to practice mindfulness awareness. When we are aware of common cognitive biases, we can start noticing and observing them while making decisions. Mindfulness practice can empower us to clarify the decision-making process.

TO SUM UP )) The more we learn about mind, the stronger is the realisation that our thinking is inherently defective and imperfect, and that is why our decision-making is often flawed )) Cognitive bias is a fundamental error in thinking that occurs when we process and interpret information in the world around us. It quite often leads to poor decisions and bad judgments. )) Many of our biases serve an adaptive purpose so that we can take quick and decisive action based on the available

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information. Especially when we are in a hurry or a threatening situation, this helps. )) One of the most common biases is the confirmation bias. It is the tendency to search for or interpret information in a way that confirms one’s preconceptions.

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Part V

The Mind’s Inherent Power to Fulfill Dreams and Ambitions The new science of epigenetics (study in the field of genetics) has shown that our genes are in fact controlled and manipulated by how our minds perceive and interpret our environment. Earlier we were of the view that it is our genetic framework/constitution which dictate our traits – that our genes form who and what we are. However, new scientific findings unambiguously established that we can change most things about the way we are, including our physical health, by changing how we interpret events and situations that happen to us. Our mental framework greatly influences our physical wellbeing and lately science has shown that our thoughts have far more direct impact on our life than it was earlier believed.

Our thoughts are vibrations of varied frequencies, the energetic blueprints to that which happens and forms around us. Our focus and intention have the power to shape the world by “collapsing the waves” of what we have in mind into material reality. Spiritual traditions have long maintained that “You reap what you sow”, “As within, so without”, “Ask, and you shall receive”, and so on. Perennial wisdom has now been validated by scientific studies. Even quantum mechanics has proved that these sayings are not without any basis. More and more thinkers, philosophers, and researchers are expressing their views along

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similar lines. These ancient truths provide the foundation of the New Age Spirituality.

The New Age Spirituality or Movement applies to a range of spiritual or religious beliefs and practices that developed in Western nations during the 1970s. In this movement “man” is central and viewed as co-creator of the reality he creates for himself. This teaches that man’s basic nature is good and divine. It is supposed to bring in peace and enlightenment and reunite man with Supreme Power or the God. The New Age movement is not seen as a religion but a new way to think and understand reality. It is very attractive to the common man who has become disillusioned with organized religion and Western rationalism.

New age spirituality has transformed the traditional views governing our life vis-a-vis the reality we create around us. In last two decades, new age spirituality has incorporated quite a few ideas from quantum physics. It is widely believed that the discoveries made by quantum physicists over the last few decades have made profound changes in the way we think about the universe and our life. There has been a complete transformation in the understanding of the quantum world and its profound implications on our life, especially the role of consciousness in creating reality of the physical world. We are not only the creator but also the ones who experience in the participatory world. The extent to which we can create, change and experience our reality depends solely upon us.

In this part of the book, two important aspects of mind has been discussed, first, its vast ability to create reality as we desire with the power of “law of attraction” and second, brain’s capability to mould itself as we learn through new experiences. The brain has a tremendous power

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to create new neural pathways through connections as we experience something new. Otherwise with repetition, those pathways get strengthened. Neurologists call this brain plasticity or neuroplasticity, which refers to physical changes in the brain via modification in neural pathways and synaptic connections. Both these aspects have been explained in the next 2 chapters.

CHAPTER 19

The Law of Attraction – We are the architect of our own life

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n the words of Napoleon Hill, “Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, the mind can achieve.” We all have a set pattern of thoughts, and that very pattern affects everything that happens in our life. It is well said that “Once you focus on your aim and simultaneously begin to take the necessary steps in its direction, the world will begin to unfold before you.”

The Law of Attraction, the main tenet of the New Age Movement, is scientifically recognized all over the world. It presents a holistic world view, emphasizing that mind, body, and spirit are dynamically interrelated. The central theme is: What you focus on, you attract.

What happens in life is occasioned by what we think. The principle behind quantum physics is beautifully summed up by Albert Einstein: “All matter is energy.” Since everything in the physical world is interconnected by invisible energy fields, our intentions and focused thought patterns shape the reality around us. Therefore, when we think about something, energy is created, not only in our bodies but also in our personal space, whereupon that reality begins – usually gradually – to unfold.

The law of attraction is a dynamic principle that is based on the natural

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law of “like attracts like”. Each of us is an energy field, vibrating at our own signature frequencies. Thoughts, words, and emotions hold their own unique vibration. Those having similar frequencies draw together to form a creative field. When the energy of a particular creative field has accumulated to a critical point, it manifests on the visible plane in one way or another. Thoughts and words are a concentrated form of energy, and a powerful means of creation (HUFFPOST RELIGON, “Guiding Our Inner Evolution,” by Masami Saionji).

The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven.

– John Milton, Paradise Lost As we think and feel, a corresponding frequency is created and sent out into the universe which attracts back to us events and circumstances of that same frequency. For example, if we entertain positive thoughts and feel good, we attract back circumstances that cause us to feel better and better. We can experience radiant health and more happiness simply by changing our thought patterns and feelings. The reverse is equally true when it comes to negative thoughts and unwanted circumstances.

Using our vast inherent power to direct the law of attraction, virtually any dream can be fulfilled.

When we stop thinking about what we don’t like and start focusing on what we do want to experience and achieve, our lives begin to unfold as we desire and wish. Lifetime experiences reflect what we believe about our world, ourselves, our capabilities, and our limits. Instead of working against our desires and intentions, we should think and act harmoniously with them. Gautama Buddha has rightly said, “All that

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Nothing is unachievable in life, with focussed mind.

we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything.

What we think, we become.” Clairvoyant prophet Edgar Cayce put it more succinctly: “Mind is the builder.” Scientifically speaking, the universe and the world we experience are made of ever-changing fields of energy, which interact with one another to create the world we perceive.

Anything that comes into our life has been attracted to us by our dominant thoughts and feelings. And it takes shape by virtue of focused attention and the creative or destructive imaginings/images we hold in our mind. In other words, we quite literally have the ability to mould and shape events, circumstances, and relationships in our life, based on how we choose to think, believe, and feel! Recent research in quantum mechanics shows that we humans are much more than simply the “observers” in this physical world, and we can directly affect

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the waves and particles of the universe. In this way, we are powerful creators rather than just passive observers.

Quantum physics is the science that explores and explains how everything in this world comes into existence, beginning at the subatomic level. We are actually the ones who are responsible for orchestrating everything that is happening in our life. However, due to lack of understanding of these underlying “mechanics,” we fail to appreciate their power and very often blame circumstances, vague outside forces, or simply “bad luck” when things go wrong. On the contrary, we are always in a position to influence the reality surrounding us. Therefore, a revolutionary interpretation of our relationship to the world holds that we are active participants as well as contributors to everything that we see. Spiritual traditions of antiquity have long held this view.

Gregg Braden, an author of New Age literature, has argued that human emotions affect DNA, and that collective prayer may effect physical healing. He further explains that despite the role played by our DNA, the success of our relationships and our peace of mind are based on what we believe, and the way we think of ourselves.”

Do we co-create the illnesses/diseases we suffer? Most of us think an illness is due to a foreign invader, like bacteria and viruses, coupled with a weak immune system. Technically this may be right, but in reality we participate actively in creating those illnesses. It is estimated that close to 90% of illnesses are due to lifestyle, the choices we make in life. With the awareness that mind shapes our body and biology, we can recognise our ability to change our minds, and thus create a healthy body. We are co-creating participants, not victims to suffer from random, roving

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bugs and mysterious imbalances. When we can see ourselves as active contributors to all that ails us, we start experiencing results that seem to be miraculous.

The law of attraction works perfectly, and to whatever degree that body, mind, and spirit are aligned with it. Ideally, we should achieve all of the goals that we set for ourselves in life. Every single day we must visualise what we want to achieve. We should use affirmations and emotionalise the achievement of our goals so that our thoughts, feelings, and expectations are congruent with the frequency of abundance. We should develop a blueprint, a plan with strategies and tactics for how we are going to get from where we are now to where we want to be.

Now the law of attraction will start operating in our life. The universe will do most of the work, but it wants us to do the footwork, so to speak.

It may sound strange that the universe responds to our beliefs. Strange, that is, until we realize that in this participatory reality, we are creating our experiences through our beliefs. It is this difference in our thinking that makes us intentional creators rather than by-default sufferers.

While practicing to attract what we want to achieve, we should use positive language because it helps us to manifest what we want. We should not think or speak about what we do not want in life. When we give emotional thought or expression to what is not desired, we generally attract the same. We must keep this simple mantra in mind.

We should all think big, and dream of only good things in life. There is no dearth of opportunities in our life’s journey. All that is required is focused and consistent attention, with our mind set steadily on what we desire.

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When we understand that all we are seeing around us is a reflection of what we think, we start witnessing a sea change, not only at the individual level but also in the collective human consciousness. We can manifest a better reality for ourselves and others simply by elevating our consciousness with positive thoughts of a higher frequency and vibration. Acceptance and adoption of this emerging worldview – whose essence is the unerring law of attraction – is bringing humanity to a much higher level.

The reason why attempts at using the law of attraction often seem to fail is because we do not understand the difference between setting goals, which is an imaginative and rational process, and achieving goals, which is mostly a habitual and emotional process. When we have a desire for a specific achievement or outcome, we are in a certain vibration as we emotionalise that desire. But we need to sustain that strong vibration; otherwise it will dissipate and lose its strength.

While our conscious mind is the chooser, our subconscious mind is the implementer. And the reason that so many of us never achieve the positive results that we wish to attract is because despite our surface positivity, we have unconscious beliefs, fears, habits and possibly values that are not in line with each other (Why the Law of Attraction Doesn’t Work for Most People by John Assaraf ).

The other important reason why conscious use of the law of attraction may not seem to work is most people’s inability to focus or concentrate consistently on something. The mental focus – most potent when it is “laser-like” – is lacking under normal circumstances. Divided attention commonly occurs in everyday life when we are performing multiple tasks at a time. It is rare for someone to be engaged in just one task.

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The underperforming student practice visualization of steps at home.

We lack focused attention because our average attention span is only 6-10 seconds per minute. That is why it is so difficult to concentrate on anything, regardless of how attractive it may be to us.

Most people assume that they don’t have enough time to attend to anything other than their own immediate needs. They become frustrated and give up when manifestation is long in coming. This is simply because they have not learned to utilize the law of attraction to work for them and provide the results that they want.

Creative Visualization Most of us stay in our comfort zone and, whether we’re aware of it or not, we tend to resist change, which could encroach on that comfort zone. Precisely for this reason, we often miss opportunities that are

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staring us right in the face. We limit ourselves by our belief patterns and static expectations, seldom looking beyond the routine and familiar of mundane experience. If we are open-minded and risk a peek beyond our limited sphere of thinking, endless opportunities can be tapped – opportunities that in the normal course of life go unnoticed. A powerful technique for attracting them to us is the practice of creative visualization. This is a technique uses the imagination’s vivid mental pictures to make our dreams and goals come true. Whether consciously or unconsciously, all successful people use this power in one way or another to attract the success they want in their personal or professional life.

Take as an example a gymnastics coach who asks his underperforming student, who’s learning a complex sequence of flips, to practice visualization at home. As she rehearses the entire sequence of movements in her mind, the student does not move a muscle.

Rather, as she repeats those complex movements in her mind, she is creating neural pathways in her brain. Once she does this mental exercise along with physical practice, she remarkably improves her performance. We create and then strengthen our neural pathways by electrical impulses between every connection when we practice visualization.

We all know that everything, including thought, is energy. We are therefore all connected. The thoughts we experience continuously influence the reality around us. Through creative visualization, we can attract what we desire through the power of mind. By visualizing a certain event, situation, or object – without the interference of

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conflicting thoughts or feelings – we attract it into our life. It is a process that is similar to daydreaming. For some people, this might look like magic, but there is no magic involved, only the natural process of the power of thoughts and natural mental laws (From Imagination to Reality, by Remez Sasson). Successful people use this technique naturally in their everyday affairs, generally unaware that they are harnessing this power to attract happiness and success. Visualizing their goals as already accomplished, and feeling as they would feel were it so, they attract good things into their life. Likewise, all who are heavily burdened, and whose desires are mainly frustrated, use it by default when they complain, rail against “fate,” feel “unlucky,” and expect the worst.

Shakti Gawain, a New Age and personal development author, has sold over 10 million copies of her seminal book titled Creative Visualisation: Use the Power of Your Imagination to Create What You Want in Your Life. Gawain clearly demonstrates how the art of creative visualisation combines mental imagery and affirmation to produce positive changes. This approach is being successfully used in the fields of education, business, athletics, and the creative arts.

A variety of creative visualisation techniques are available from a number of sources. Some of the recommended techniques have as high as a 90% success rate; however, one has to completely accept that through our power of mind, unclouded by negativity and fear, we can achieve what we desire.

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TO SUM UP )) Since everything in the physical world is interconnected by invisible energy fields, our intentions and focused thought patterns shape the reality around us )) As we think and feel, a corresponding frequency is created and sent out into the universe which attracts back to us events and circumstances of that same frequency. )) Using our vast inherent power to direct the law of attraction, virtually any dream can be fulfilled. )) When we stop thinking about what we don’t like and start focusing on what we do want to experience and achieve, our lives begin to unfold as we desire and wish. )) A revolutionary interpretation of our relationship to the world holds that we are active participants as well as contributors to everything that we see. )) When we have a desire for a specific achievement or outcome, we are in a certain vibration as we emotionalise that desire.

But we need to sustain that strong vibration; otherwise it will dissipate and lose its strength. )) We lack focused attention because our average attention span is only 6-10 seconds per minute. That is why it is so difficult to concentrate on anything, regardless of how attractive it may be to us.

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CHAPTER 20

Neuroplasicity – Our vast capacity to mould the mind

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lthough we come into this world with a genetically predetermined body, we have enormous potential to structurally and functionally change our brain. This is a trailblazing discovery made by neuroscientists in recent times. The fact is, we are all amazingly empowered to change ourselves. Mind has hitherto unimagined potential to be upgraded and reengineered to realise new behaviour patterns, belief systems, and better control of time. We actually have the capacity to remould and rebuild certain regions of our brain. Neurologists call this “brain plasticity” or “neuroplasticity”, which refers to changes in the brain via modification in neural pathways and synapses.

We literally become what we think and do. The ongoing remodelling of brain structure and function through neuroplasticity continues throughout life. It can be affected by life experiences, genes, biological agents, and by our behaviour, as well as by our thought patterns.

For centuries, neuroscientific dogma held that the brain is immutable, unchangeable, and static, and that therefore whatever genes we inherited from our parents would pretty much control our destiny. It was simply a fact of life. However, new research in the field of neuroscience has shown this core belief to be untrue, and revealed that the brain is in

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fact a dynamic organ that changes almost constantly. Indeed, we are, as known by the sages of yore, the architect of our own life. Whatever we desire we can achieve by awakening ourselves through the inherent power to modify the structure of our brain. Since we tend to stay in our comfort zone and resist changes in our life, we generally neglect to exercise the power of plasticity of the mind.

What we think determines what happens to us, so if we want to change our lives, we need to stretch our minds.

– Wayne Dyer, speaker and bestselling author We all change during the course of our life. Our behaviour and thought patterns evolve (or may, sadly, devolve) with the passage of time. Modern research has demonstrated that the brain continues to create new neural pathways and alter existing ones in order to adapt to new experiences, learn new information, and create new memories. In brief, brain plasticity (also referred to as cortical remapping) refers to the brain›s ability to change and adapt as a result of experience.

Our mind, therefore, has infinite capacity to learn and bring about permanent changes in our brain throughout our life. As a result, our brains are constantly being shaped by our experiences.

The brain is a “use it or lose it” organ. When we stop using a foreign language, we start losing it. When we stop playing guitar or piano or any game, then we gradually lose those skills as well due to changes in the brain. Age does not matter. What matters is what we do and the intention we have for doing it. All the mental functions of the brain work this way. Finding words, using our memory, paying attention,

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solving complex problems, doing math – we humans have lots of cognitive functions, and if we use them they get stronger. To access the power of neuroplasticity to enhance the mental functions of our brain, persistence is essential. In order to persist in spite of errors, we must believe that the persistence will pay off and the skill will get easier and stronger (Psychology Today, “Cognition: How to Improve Your Brain,”

by Charlotte Tomaino, Ph.D.).

As we experience, learn, and adapt to changes in our life, our brain also changes, both structurally as well as functionally. With each new thought, we begin to create a new path. With every repetition

Our brain has an inherent ability to reorganize itself by forming new neural connections and pathways when we learn something new.

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of a thought or emotion, we reinforce a neural pathway. These small changes, frequently enough repeated, lead to changes in how our brains work. Neuroplasticity is the “muscle building” part of the brain; the things we do often we become stronger and better at, and what we do not use fades away. That is the physical basis of why making a thought or action over and over again increases its power. Over time, it becomes automatic; a part of us.

Interestingly, exercise and physical activity in general have a major effect on “neurotrophic factors” – chemicals that stimulate the growth and recovery of brain cells. Studies of neuroplasticity have begun to have a huge impact on treatment of depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, substance abuse, and all the other major conditions treated by psychiatrists. Researchers are enthusiastically conducting studies, trying to find ways to interrupt “negative neuroplasticity” that occurs in many psychiatric disorders, and to find ways to “induce positive neuroplasticity” in treatment of these disorders. In some studies the goal is to increase activity of particular areas of the brain, such as the anterior cingulate (a key decision-making area), or the prefrontal cortex (a location of planning), or to decrease the activity of other areas, like the brain’s fear centre, the amygdala (Psychology Today, “Neuroplasticity and Depression,” by David Hellerstein, M.D.).

It is the brain’s inherent ability to reorganize itself by forming new neural connections throughout life. Neuroplasticity enables the neurons in the brain to compensate for injury and disease and to adjust their activities in response to new situations or to changes in their environment. Brain reorganisation takes place by mechanisms such as “axonal sprouting” in which undamaged axons grow new nerve endings to reconnect

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neurons whose links were injured or severed. Newly grown nerve endings of undamaged axons can also reach out to connect with other undamaged nerve cells, forming new neural pathways. For example, if one hemisphere of the brain is damaged, the intact hemisphere may take over some of its functions. The brain compensates for damage by reorganising and forming new connections between intact neurons. In order to reconnect, the neurons need to be stimulated through activity.

Whenever we think, act, or react, various brain areas get excited and “light up” due to neural firing. Each and every thought we experience changes the structure and function of our brain at the micro level by altering the neural connections. As we’ve seen, even imagination can produce structural changes in neural pathways. In one experiment, researchers found that simply imagining doing a physical exercise increases muscle strength, because the neurons responsible for the activation of movement are still being used and strengthened.

Our brain’s plasticity is also controlled by our diet and lifestyle choices, including exercise. Contrary to what we have been told in the past, our brain is not “programmed” to shrink as we age, and to eventually fail.

One’s diet, physical exercise, general emotional state, sleep patterns, and level of stress – all of these factors influence the brain from one moment to the next. Any given gene is not in a static “on” or “off” position. We may have a gene that never gets expressed, simply because we never supplied the required environment to turn it on. Researchers have demonstrated that there are factors under our control that can switch genes on and off. We can think of those neurological changes as our brain›s way of tuning itself to meet our needs.

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Can we cure chronic pain without medication?

The answer lies with neuroplasticity.

We all know that chronic pain has grown into such a large and costly societal problem but unfortunately medical science is not taking the full advantage of alternate therapies that have been available with us since the ancient times. This is despite the fact that most of pain relieving drugs, if used for a long time, have serious effects on our body. It is vital that we identify effective nonpharmacological treatment options for millions of people suffering daily from chronic pain. The results from latest research affirm that non-drug/non-opioid therapies, such as meditation, can help manage chronic pain. It is now a known fact that the nerve cells in the brain have the vast ability to change their functions and structure based on both external and internal factors. Through neuroplasticity, these changes can ultimately shape the way a person thinks and feels. This brain response can turn out to be positive or negative for the individual in a manner that we can compare to exercising a muscle. Rigorous exercise can improve the strength, endurance, and performance of a muscle or it can cause injury and breakdown that leads to atrophy.

Mindfulness is basically the mental habit of purposely paying attention in the present moment without judgment. Due to the proven effects of neuroplasticity, the physical process of mental metamorphosis due to repeated behaviour, the more a patient practices, the stronger their mind becomes and the less pain they

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actually perceive (Growing Focus on Mindfulness for Treating Chronic Pain by Sean Fargo).

Chronic pain, on the other hand, is the outcome of physical, emotional, cognitive, genetic and environmental factors that come together with the end result that leaves us hurting in some way, day after day. When we suffer from such pain, the neural plastic properties of the brain can lead to many maladaptive changes in the brain. True healing requires re-wiring these adverse changes into something more positive and less taxing to the brain.

Focusing the mind through meditation alters the brain’s structure and function, leading to increased activity in the prefrontal cortex and quieting the amygdala, the emotional centre of our brain.

Changing thinking patterns in the brain associated with chronic pain ultimately leads to behavioural and experiential changes that can help restore well-being and fulfilment with life (A Radical Shift to Better Pain Relief by Peter Abaci). Neuroplasticity research has opened the eyes of medical community to a whole new world of mechanisms underlying pain and given us a greater appreciation of the complex interaction between the mind and body. It has provided important keys that hold promise and hope for the future. The studies also shed new light on how the brain processes pain and could lead to better treatments for chronic pain.

Neurologist David Perlmutter, an author and physician, explains: “We interact with our genome every moment of our lives,” Dr. Perlmutter says, “and we can do so very, very positively. Keeping your blood sugar low is very positive in terms of allowing the genes to express

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reduced inflammation, which increases the production of life-giving antioxidants. So that’s rule number one: You can change your genetic destiny. Rule number two: You can change your genetic destiny to grow new brain cells, specifically in the hippocampus...Your brain’s memory centre regenerates. You are constantly growing new brain cells into your 50s, 60s, 80s, and 90s – throughout your lifetime – through a process called neurogenesis. That said, these two ideas come together because you can turn on your genes through lifestyle choices that enhance neurogenesis and that enhance regrowth of cells and expansion of your brain’s memory centre. This was proven by the researchers recently.

They demonstrated that there are factors under our control that can make that happen.”

Under the right circumstances, the power of neuroplasticity can help adults to grow their brain. Although certain brain parts tend to decline with age, we can take steps to tap into plasticity and reinvigorate those parts. This can be done by way of meditation, focused attention, determination, and maintaining overall brain health. Professor Tony Hannan at the Florey Institute in Melbourne agrees. “Discoveries in the field of neuroplasticity have implications for how each of us may protect our brain from the relentless weathering of ageing and disease. It is known that lifestyle factors that are good for the body, such as regular physical exercise and a healthy diet are also beneficial for the brain. And those who keep their brains stimulated with regular complex mental activities may also help delay the onset of common brain diseases, such as Alzheimer’s and dementia.”

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TO SUM UP )) Each and every thought we experience changes the structure and function of our brain at the micro level by altering the neural connections. )) Whatever we desire we can achieve by awakening ourselves through the inherent power to modify the structure of our brain. In this way, we are the architect of our own life. )) Our mind, therefore, has infinite capacity to learn and bring about permanent changes in our brain throughout our life. As a result, our brains are constantly being shaped by our experiences. )) As we’ve seen, even imagination can produce structural changes in neural pathways in our brain )) It has been established that simply by imagining doing a physical exercise, we can increases our muscle strength.

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Part VI

Mastering Our Own Mind

“O

ur life is the creation of our mind,” according to Buddhist scriptures. If we want to create everlasting peace and happiness, we need to look at the mind, where the solution lies.

Buddhist philosophy developed an entire science of training the unruly mind to help anyone overcome its constant fluctuations so that they might realise inner peace and happiness. We need to understand the workings of the mind and to cultivate ways of opening up to enjoyment in life. We underestimate the importance of caring for the mind, usually seeing it as something beyond our control. So we “do what we can”, chasing after material comforts and wealth to ensure security and peace in life. But we seldom look inside the mind to free it of disturbing and unpleasant thoughts, which preclude the happiness we seek.

It is commonly recognised that happiness does not come from having material things, but from freeing ourselves of the mental stress, distress, and suffering that have become part and parcel of our life. We need to free ourselves from the chains of ignorance and fear. We are fundamentally dependent on one another and our environment. Our physical body as well as our relationships with others and our response to the vicissitudes of life undergo continuous change. However, most of us assign permanence and autonomy to the egoic sense of self, and

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this leads to conflict, the root of all kinds of suffering.

In the coming chapters, readers will find effortless techniques to clarify and brighten that mental landscape. Imparting awareness and deep understanding of how the mind works, these techniques can have tremendous effects on our life. Their mental health benefits are virtually endless and can transform our life in all aspects. Training in mindfulness, awareness, deconditioning, and acceptance goes a long way toward expanding our ability to experience more of everything in life. Using more of our mental ability in a non-judgmental manner, we are better able to perceive the reality of the world. This is, of course, a continuous process as we move from what Buddhism calls “egoic delusion” – living almost entirely out of the projected conditioning of our ego – to awakened awareness, experiencing life-as-it-is. Through regular practice, we can move closer and closer to absolute reality.

CHAPTER 21

Accept Life as It Is

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ife is a kaleidoscope of experiences. Many of us enjoy life to the fullest, while others suffer in one way or another. When we tend to push away or avoid feelings of pain, suffering, and distress, we also diminish our ability to feel good. As most of us have experienced, avoidance of emotions can lead to anxiety and depression. Avoidance may also lead to destructive behaviour of many kinds. While such behaviour may help distract us from pain in the short run, it obviously makes the situation worse in the long run – eight delightful cocktails tonight is equal to eight un-delightful hours of hangover tomorrow.

No one is immune to trying times, as when we meet with betrayal, the loss of a loved one, and other miseries. Despite our best efforts, we simply cannot duck the hardballs in life. And if we resist suffering, the situation invariably intensifies, leading to more suffering. Finding and applying a solution to the problem would of course be the first option. When there is no immediate solution, but we can change our perception of it, that is the other option. If we can neither solve the problem nor change our perception of it, then we should accept the situation as it is presented to us. It helps to remember the adage, “What we resist, persists.”

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No matter what our plan or aim, our life may change its course unexpectedly and sweep us into uncharted waters. John Lennon very rightly said, “Life is what happens to you while you are busy making other plans.” Beauty, however, lies in our ability to be receptive and flexible in adapting to new situations. We should accept challenges wholeheartedly and learn from these experiences when our plans fall through. No experience of mistakes and failures is without a hidden lesson. We must accept responsibility unconditionally for any outcome/result of our actions. Receptivity and acceptance of changing circumstances is a key to success and its associated happiness.

What the human mind can conceive and believe it can accomplish.

– David Sarnoff

Acceptance means we can turn our resistant, angry ruminations into accepting thoughts like, “Though I will not enjoy it, my duty in this instance is unavoidable”; or “I cannot change the fact that Bob is more famous than I am, so I must accept second billing on the marquee.”

Take a very simple example of, say, expecting to be late for an important engagement due to a traffic jam. The choices before us are clear: Either we accept the situation as it is, or we start cursing the careless fellow whose accident has held us up … or the bore who kept us on the phone when we should have been getting ready to leave the house … or the inconsiderately early hour of the dinner party – “Only fools eat at six o’clock!” At the negative pole, there’s almost no end to the angry/fearful – and always blaming – fantasies that can be spun. But by simply accepting the situation and doing our best to accommodate, physical stress and mental pain are largely avoided.

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Suffering is universal; no one is free from pain and the sufferings we experience in life. We suffer more when we take the expressions of life personally, and resist them. But when we realize that suffering is impersonal, and accept the circumstances and incidents as they are presented to us, everything changes. Acceptance has a great healing effect. When we are convinced that we, in reality, have no control over our actions and thoughts, and that the outcomes of decisions motivated by thoughts and emotions are based on our conditioning, we feel relief. If “we” think “we” have the free will and “we” think “we” should have taken a different course of action, it is inevitable that “we” will suffer. A solution to suffering is: Investigate the “me.” If “we” do so, “we” might not be able to find it. No “me,” no suffering (Stanley Sobottka, A Course in Consciousness).

From Man’s Spiritual Journey by the author

We must accept responsibility unconditionally for any result of our action otherwise suffering is inevitable.

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The mere realisation that “Whatever has happened, has happened, and things could not have happened in any other way” can have a profound effect on our life. We often resist, thinking “I could have/should have done this or that,” or “I was stupid to have done that.” When we don’t accept, suffering starts. When we are convinced that we have made our decisions to the best of our abilities, and that their outcomes are not in our hands, then life becomes far easier and more pleasant.

Sometimes people believe that their non-acceptance will change a situation, perhaps scare it away. They may feel that accepting painful situations or emotions is being passive, or giving in. That is not the case. It is just allowing reality to be as it is. Other times people turn away from their pain, hoping to avoid it. There are ever so many life situations which are painful and are not in our control. Life’s journey is like a rollercoaster ride, we often witness ups and downs in our life.

Life is like that for all of us. Our minds are constantly in a state of dissatisfaction, no matter how well we are, even if we live in perfect conditions. We can never reach to a stage of ultimate happiness. It is an inherent feature of mind.

We feel helpless as we watch our parents suffering painful illnesses, or the infirmities of age. We cannot avoid that pain, but suffering is the part we can control (Psychology Today, “Radical Acceptance” by Karyn Hall, Ph. D.). When we practice acceptance, we may still be distressed or frustrated in such situations, but we do not add the pain of nonacceptance to those emotions and make matters worse. Practicing acceptance in painful situations also helps us to prepare for acceptance in more difficult circumstances.

We should always remember that while we are, energetically, the

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architect of our life, we cannot exert complete control over it – or ourselves. Everyone, for instance, makes mistakes and comes to irrational conclusions. There are countless variables and circumstances beyond our control, from the environment to the world economy, which influence our decisions and their outcomes. When we are wrong and therefore suffer, it is far better to accept and take responsibility for our role in the outcome than to blame others, or berate ourselves. The sooner we learn to accept this and live accordingly, the sooner we can reduce unnecessary suffering in our lives.

Psychological suffering, which is associated with most mental disorders, can be witnessed all around us. It may also be seen that the efficacy of conventional and unconventional therapies, including medication, is usually only partial. Now there is a greater realisation among psychiatrists and psychologists that accepting the symptoms and associated thoughts, feelings, and sensations as they arise from such disorders is a far more effective remedy. Based on the principle of acceptance rather than resistance, acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) is widely used in addressing the suffering of many mental conditions.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) ACT is a mindfulness-based behavioural therapy which has proven extremely beneficial and effective in addressing a wide range of clinical conditions, such as depression, chronic stress, severe pain, anxiety, drug abuse, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Primarily, the aim of ACT is to enjoy a meaningful life while accepting and

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embracing the pain that inevitably accompanies these conditions.

When we observe and review our private experiences with openness and receptivity, even the most painful thoughts, feelings, sensations, and memories can become less threatening and more bearable.

In this way, acceptance helps us to transform our attachment to painful thoughts and feelings in a way that greatly reduces their impact and influence over our life (Embracing Your Demons: An Overview of ACT by Russell Harris). ACT is based on the idea that, generally, trying to rid ourselves of pain and distress only increases it, and turns it mostly into something more painful and traumatic. The alternative is to accept it -- but that does not mean giving up, being defeated, or agreeing with suffering.

Acceptance is a willingness to accept that these experiences have happened, and may continue to happen. We learn to make space for painful feelings, thoughts, and sensations – allowing them to be there without struggling against them. Simply observing oneself having feelings and recognising and accepting that feelings are a natural response to circumstances is freeing. Clients have feelings about feelings (e.g., they might be ashamed of being anxious, angry, or sad). ACT says that fighting emotions makes them worse.

“If you can’t accept the feeling for now, you will be stuck with it, but if you can, you can change your world so you will not have that feeling later.” (Hayes & Wilson, 1994) In ACT, there is no attempt to reduce, change, avoid, suppress, or control the thoughts, feelings, and sensations associated with mental disturbance. Sufferers are asked not to resist those

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experiences, and to instead open up and make room for them; they should be allowed to come and go without a struggle. The patient learns to reduce the impact and influence of unwanted thoughts and feelings through the effective use of mindfulness.

ACT interventions focus on two main processes. First, we should embrace or accept the unwanted experiences – unpleasant and painful thoughts, feelings, sensations, and urges, which are not under our control. We should neither struggle with the painful symptoms nor give them undue attention. Second, we must bring awareness to here-and-now experience, with openness, interest, and receptivity. The aim is simply to let our thoughts come and go, and allow our feelings to be there, with attention focused on the present moment. While doing so, it is no longer about getting rid of bad feelings or getting over old trauma. Instead, it is about creating a rich and meaningful life. This is how ACT results in abatement in symptoms without ever aiming for it.

TO SUM UP )) By simply accepting the situation and doing our best to accommodate to it, physical stress and mental pain can largely be avoided. )) No experience of mistakes and failures is without a hidden lesson. We must accept responsibility unconditionally for any outcome/result of our actions.

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)) The mere realisation that “Whatever happened has to have happened, and things could not have happened in any other way� can have a profound effect on our life. )) When we are convinced that we considering what we knew at the time, have made our decisions in the best possible way, and moreover that their outcomes are not in our hands, then life becomes far easier and more pleasant. )) By accepting the symptoms and associated thoughts, feelings, and sensations as they arise from mental illnesses and disorders proves to be a far more effective remedy.

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CHAPTER 22

To Bring Awareness to Life means Being Alive

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e are all busy people. Even when we are resting and relaxing, our mind works overtime. It calls for our attention all the time.

It crowds out our enjoyment of the moments at hand. Precisely for this reason, and sadly too, we miss the “present” and waste precious minutes and hours dwelling on things that happened in past, or may be about to happen. Tragically, this is not the way we should live.

We continue to miss out on what could have been among the most enjoyable moments of our day-to-day life.

Awareness is the ability to perceive, to feel, and to be optimally conscious of events, objects, thoughts, emotions, and sensory input. At some levels of awareness, sensory data may be confirmed by an observer without necessarily being accompanied by understanding. Awareness also includes the ability to recognise oneself as a discrete individual, separate from the environment and other individuals. We become conscious of ourselves through the development of self-awareness – awareness of our own body and mental state.

By the time children reach 18 months, they start recognising their own reflection in the mirror. Then by 24 months, they start observing and relating their own actions to the actions of other people and the

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surrounding environment. At around school age, a child’s awareness of personal memory transitions into a sense of his or her own personal self. At this stage, a child begins to develop interests along with likes and dislikes. This transition enables the awareness of one’s own past, present, and future to grow as conscious experiences are remembered more often. As children’s self-awareness increases, they tend to become their own person. By adolescence, a coherent and integrated selfperception normally emerges. This continues to advance and direct self-awareness throughout the adult life. (Wikipedia)

People have wanted to look inside the human mind, the human brain, for thousands of years.

– Christopher deCharms

Awareness is the basis for a life of harmony with the world. Awareness is the ability to see the world as it is, without judgment of its value or meaning, and without any kind of attachment. The problem starts when we judge or assign value, or attach to any event, person, or situation; we then react in a way that binds us. In an ideal world, perception would be a seamless and straightforward process – but we complicate it. Most of the time, we react unconsciously, without sufficient awareness of the situation that we face. Our response or reaction is likely to arise from our preconceived notions or beliefs. But if we can witness with detached awareness, we can experience all that happens very clearly.

Witness awareness is a learned experience; it is where the simplicity of life is realized. We are in harmony with the world, content and free of conflict.

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There is one physical world here on earth but with billions of different internal worlds (minds). We are all in our own private theatres, witnessing entirely different shows, yet we behave as if we are in the same audience, watching the very same event we call life (Why Our Thoughts Are Not Real posted by Rev. Nancy Colier). Thoughts just appear in the mind; we don’t choose them.

We have no idea, how these thoughts appear, when we are not conscious of ongoing thought process. We only know when they appear in our awareness. Thoughts become real when we give them our attention; otherwise they are nothing and nowhere. Hence, through awareness, we can choose thoughts by paying attention.

From Man’s Spiritual Journey by the author If we observe ourselves carefully, we can feel the silence that is within us. That silence is our awareness. We can all experience it whenever we just pay attention. Awareness means we are in touch with our real self. We can stay fully present in those moments of awareness. We can observe and feel what is going on around us. We can be with those to whom we are talking and sharing our thoughts and time. We can enjoy meals when we are engaged in eating. Likewise, every moment of awareness can be enjoyed if we put our awareness, in a non-judgmental way, into the acts we perform. No thoughts, emotions, or feelings can disturb and hurt us if we are present and aware in the moments at hand.

We ourselves choose the feelings we experience and determine the way we act and/or respond. The choice is ours alone. Some respond with equanimity; others react with habitual agitation whenever someone appears to misbehave or speak rudely or unreasonably. When we are

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inattentive and on auto-pilot, our conditioned and addictive responses rule and we behave unconsciously. Conversely, awareness and attention lead to conscious actions, and we respond constructively to challenging situations. In this way, we write our own story line, with “I” as the virtuous and victorious hero or heroine. In a nutshell, we design, weave, and then wear the fabric of our own designer reality, If we wish to transform ourselves, the first thing we must do is change the way we think, feel, and behave. If we keep on thinking in default mode, unaware of what is happening not only inside the mind but in our immediate environment, we simply cannot live to the fullest. The mind is totally identified with its thoughts, emotions, and feelings. We fail to distinguish the difference between “me” and “my mind”. Once negative thoughts come into our mind, their intensity increases if we attempt to suppress them.

True transformation of mind begins with the act of becoming fully awake in the moment. By paying attention to our thoughts, feelings, and behaviours, we become aware of our inner world and its workings.

The simple act of actually observing ourselves allows us to see, in that moment, who we really are and what needs to change, or be dropped.

In such wakefulness, we can better align with our deeper spiritual ideals and become the harmonious person we want to be.

Bringing awareness to life means being alive. Awareness opens the floodgates to the serenity and enjoyment that are inherent in life. The key point is to bring awareness and intentionality to the moments in our lives. Be aware when the mind is automatically judging an event, or a person, or an object. Judgment is but a thought that arises within awareness. The mind on its own judges things as important

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or unimportant, good or bad, pleasant or unpleasant, and so on. In this way, our experiences are automatically coloured the moment we perceive them, so awareness is about being aware of that and taking a neutral and open view.

To solve any problem, we must first identify and become intimately familiar with it. This is equally true for all sorts of mental problems or disorders. Unfortunately, in most cases, when people look at their problems, clear awareness of their dynamics eludes them. Though it is quite likely that family members and close friends have some idea of what ails them, they themselves generally do not. Whenever people struggle because they have closed off awareness to some aspect of their experience, they need to face that part of themselves to find relief.

Of course, this poses a problem, since this awareness is what they are defending against – because it is just too scary or painful. So, what they need to do is find a way to feel relatively safe while also experiencing threatening thoughts or feelings (Psychology Today, “Self-awareness is Vital to Self-Improvement,” by Leslie Becker-Phelps, Ph.D.).

The outside world is illusory and quite often deceptive, its “rules” very often unpredictable and arbitrary. To understand the true reality of this world, we must go inward. An inward journey is necessary for true realization of who we really are. Going inward simply means taking the path of introspection and selfcontemplation. The only person we have the power to change is ourselves. Through the inward journey, we can learn about the direction we are taking, and why. So the greatest gift we can give to ourselves is the opening to and flowering of self-awareness. By doing so, we get to observe the mind and its thoughts coming

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in and out of our awareness. Self-observation will eventually free us from the entrenched conditioning that so often impedes our progress.

From Man’s Spiritual Journey by the author Staying in the present moment, Eckhart Tolle says, is the way to eliminate the suffering of identifying with the mind. In his latest book, A New Earth, Tolle continues his theme of present moment awareness, and he also explores how an awakened consciousness aligns us with our life purpose. We have both an inner and an outer purpose, according to Tolle. Our outer purpose changes with circumstances and necessarily involves time, whereas our inner purpose remains always the same: It is to be absolutely present in whatever we do and so let our actions be guided and empowered by awareness, the awakened consciousness, rather than controlled by the egoic mind. We fulfil our destiny and realize our purpose when we awaken to who we are: conscious Presence (“Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose”, by Kathy Juline).

We need to train our mind because it has a tendency to divert our attention away from the present moment. Whenever we are tensing up and worrying, we must remember to breathe. Take a deep breath, and let the thoughts go. We should realize that we are not our thoughts; we have power to control them. Habitual ways of thinking and other unconscious forces may be struggling to control us. But we are ultimately in control. In the present moment there is no thought, there is no unconscious force. There are many techniques such as meditation, which primarily aims at going inward and feeling the subtle movements of breathing, that bring the mind back to the ongoing moments

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(Psychology Today, “Overcoming Unnecessary Suffering” by William Berry).

The more we practice mindful awareness, the more we learn what it is and feel its benefits. It’s the ability to focus on exactly what is happening at the moment, even something trivial where our attention does not normally go to. Although multitasking and mind-wandering may seem productive, as per the latest research, we nevertheless feel distressed when we “waste” time. How often do you find yourself searching for phone or glasses because you failed to stay attentive?

The more we can focus on present moments, the more connected we will be to our inner self. When we focus intently on our daily activity, being mindful of everything we do, we are living in the presence of the inner self. We experience far more focus and clarity when we practice awareness.

The practice of mindfulness involves being aware, moment to moment, of one’s subjective conscious experience from a first-person perspective. When we practice mindfulness, we become aware of our stream of consciousness. The skill of being present or aware can be gradually developed using meditational practices that are described in detail in the latter part of this book. Large population-based research studies have found that the construct of mindfulness is strongly correlated with well-being and perceived health. Studies have also shown that rumination and worry contribute to mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety, and that awareness-based interventions are effective in the reduction of both rumination and worry.

Many of us have become aware that suffering is primarily due to the belief that we are separate from others. When we understand that

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suffering is the direct result of a belief in separation, with its spin-off scale of superiority-inferiority, there is a strong incentive to stay aware of it. Thus, becoming aware of the connection between a specific event of suffering and the identification from which it arises is a valuable, even necessary, awareness practice and is the first step to becoming dis-identified and free. (A Course in Consciousness, by Stanley Sobottka) We can distinguish between three levels of identification. The first is identification with the mind-body organism without any sense of personal identity. This identification is necessary for us to function and survive, and causes no suffering because there is no entity to suffer. In fact, it is the state of being awakened.

The second level of identification has to do with the “I” concept, which produces an illusory entity with a sense of personal doership.

The third level involves identification with various thoughts, images, and emotions, resulting in a sense of ownership of them, so that they become “my” thoughts, “my” self-images, “my” emotions, and “my” suffering. Stanley Sobottka further explains that dis-identification at the third level means becoming aware of all the thoughts, images, feelings, emotions, and sensations that cause us suffering, and accepting them rather than resisting them. This is the key to the beginning of the end of suffering.

According to Sri Ramana Maharishi, an Indian sage whose writings are very popular in western world too, “all beings desire happiness always, happiness without a tinge of sorrow. At the same time everybody loves himself best. The cause for love is only happiness. So, that happiness must lie in one. Further that happiness is daily experienced by everyone in sleep, when there is no mind. To attain that natural happiness one

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must know oneself. For that, Self-Enquiry, ‘Who am I?’ is the chief means”. Self-Enquiry is an awareness of the awareness itself.

Ramana Maharishi talks of the path of enquiry which is essential to understand the nature of mind. For all thoughts the source is the ‘I’ thought. The mind will merge only by Self-enquiry ‘Who am I?’ The thought ‘Who am l?’ will destroy all other thoughts and finally kill itself also. If other thoughts arise, without trying to complete them, one must enquire to whom did this thought arise. What does it matter how many thoughts arise? As each thought arises one must be watchful and ask to whom is this thought occurring. The answer will be ‘to me’.

Ramana further explains that if you enquire ‘Who am I?’ the mind will return to its source (or where it issued from). The thought which arose will also submerge. In this way, the “I”-thought will disappear and only “I-I” or self-awareness remains. This results in an “effortless awareness of being”, and by staying with it this “I-I” gradually destroys the vasanas “which cause the ‘I’-thought to rise, and finally the ‘I’thought never rises again, which is Self-realization or liberation.

TO SUM UP )) We are, most of the time, so engrossed in our thinking that we forget it is the mind that does the thinking. We completely identify ourselves with the mind. )) If we keep on thinking in default mode, unaware of what is happening not only inside the mind but in our immediate environment, we simply cannot live to the fullest.

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)) Bringing awareness to life means being alive. )) If we observe ourselves carefully, we can feel the silence that is within us. That silence is our awareness. We can all experience it whenever we just pay attention. )) The practice of mindfulness involves being aware, moment to moment, of one’s subjective conscious experience from a first-person perspective.

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CHAPTER 23

Deconditioning of the Mind – Remove fixed and rigid habits and beliefs

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ost of us act like automatons, responding with routine and stereotypical responses to other individuals and circumstances.

In everyday life, one is hard-pressed to spot any spontaneous responses and reactions: “I’m fine, thank you, and you? Have a nice day!” Since early childhood, we have been conditioned and trained to act in fixed and habitual ways to given circumstances. Most people exhibit hardly any freedom or originality at all, whether in thought, word, or deed.

There is a great need to expose and challenge fixed and rigid habits, beliefs, and other conditioning, so that we are receptive and adaptable to new experiences and situations.

We are what our thoughts have made us; so take care about what you think. Words are secondary. Thoughts live; they travel far.

– Swami Vivekananda We need to remember that environmental conditioning can be reversed at any stage of life. And those who discover their authentic, unconditioned self are free to meet all challenges. We can learn how to break free of deep-seated habits that cause obstruction in our mental

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and spiritual development. In so doing, we can foster radical changes in the way we think, act, and behave. We come to realise a state of being in which we can remain peaceful and happy, whatever the circumstances.

There is no doubt that as awareness grows, the less habitual and programmed we become. The deconditioned mind responds to situations in far more creative and appropriate ways than does the conditioned mind, which responds according to its programming and resultant habits. Fortunately, we have vast flexibility and plasticity of mind. Every moment in life presents a situation in flux, and therefore if one is truly spontaneous, he or she will respond according to the new situation. When we are not aware and present in the moment, we follow the dictates of our conditioned mind.

Deconditioning is simply rediscovering our true nature. Conditioning is a phenomenon of thinking, so it can be changed by counterthinking. Counter-thinking is well within the capacity of the mind.

Deconditioning is the only way to intellectual and emotional development. It is obvious that education is a necessary element for personality development. At the same time, one must try to decondition one’s mind; otherwise, one cannot receive the fruits of education (The Times of India, “Decondition Your Mind,” by Maulana Wahiduddin Khan). Once we start deconditioning our thoughts, beliefs, and behaviour, we can see an altogether new personality emerging, one with far greater potential to grow mentally and spiritually.

There is no need to suppress conditioned thoughts or even emotions and responses associated with conditioning. When simply observed, conditioned mental patterns lose energy, and gradually become weaker and weaker. This is how deconditioning begins – merely by awareness

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Just like kicking an old habit, we can deconditioned our rigid thoughts and beliefs through close observation and awareness.

and observation of the mind. However, be aware that it is not possible to release negative conditioning in a short period of time. This is because the mind has established neural pathways that subconsciously run the conditioned responses on autopilot. These strong pathways have been built and reinforced over the years. When we suffer a persistent negative belief or some other troubling behaviour, and we identify its dysfunction, we are in a position to let it go.

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For those who remain totally entangled in old and habitual patterns of thought, behaviour, reaction, and desire, the future is usually a replica of the past, says Eckhart Tolle. Though superficial changes are possible, real transformation is rare in such people.

This very hard conditioning of thought and behaviour seriously hinders growth in the vast majority of population. In such people, thinking and behaviour pattern is repetitive and tend to occur subconsciously. Essentially, habits are developed through frequent repetition and reinforcement. Unless such conditioning is dissolved and people become aware and ready to avail themselves of the opportunities surrounding them, real transformation is unlikely.

Through awareness and receptivity, we can successfully address this self-limiting thinking and behaviour.

From Man’s Spiritual Journey by the author Before we undertake deconditioning of the mind, we must understand that the thoughts that constantly arise are not under our control. They just arise on their own. Now, we should observe those thoughts and their organisation, ever aware that thoughts are impersonal – “I am not my mind.” Many of us suffer from an addictive attachment to our thoughts. But once we no longer identify exclusively with the mind, it becomes easier for us to go deeper inward, right to the source of thinking. Observing the mind from this vantage point, we may then attempt to separate the emotions from the thoughts. That is the most difficult part, when the thoughts are rendered emotionless and nonjudgmental.

The speed with which we let go of a negative belief depends entirely

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on how willing we are to dissociate from it. If we are convinced that it is not serving us and are totally determined to let go of a negative conditioning, no specific action is required to decondition that response or belief. Gradually, the fear, insecurity, and any other associated emotions will fade away simply by virtue of awareness and observation of the conditioning pattern. In this way, deeply entrenched conditioning loses its power/energy, and vanishes.

TO SUM UP )) Since early childhood, we have been conditioned and trained to act in fixed and habitual ways to given circumstances. )) As awareness grows, the less habitual and programmed we become. )) When simply observed, conditioned mental patterns lose energy, and gradually become weaker and weaker. This is how deconditioning begins – merely by awareness and observation of the mind. )) Many of us suffer from an addictive attachment to our thoughts. But once we no longer identify exclusively with the mind, it becomes easier for us to go deeper inward, right to the source of thinking.

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CHAPTER 24

Science of Transforming the Mind – Meditation

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here has been increasing concern that all over the world, a growing percentage of the population is suffering from mental illness. Finding life meaningless and unbearably miserable, many go to the tragic extreme of “ending it all”. Not only do people suffer from chronic ills like depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and dementia; they also experience debilitating loneliness, disconnected from the world and the community around them. Whether by adverse nature, inadequate nurture, or a combination of the two, all of these sufferers got badly trapped in their thinking mind. And all too often, their conditions are aggravated when they go for treatment. Prescribed medications may be ineffective, or the relief short-lived.

We are all, most of the time, so engrossed in thinking that we forget it’s the mind that does the thinking. This is better described as compulsive thinking, as we simply don’t know we are thinking. We are totally identified with our mind. We are awash in incessant streams of thought, which are mostly repetitive and useless, predominantly negative, and, above all, “not real”. We are neither alert nor attentive, and we, therefore, miss the moments at hand. Past has gone, future is a fantasy or foreboding, and the present we lose to “unconscious”

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thinking. Only when we are attentive and alert do we live in the present moment. When we watch the mind closely, we observe that there is an undifferentiated stream of consciousness just below the level of thinking. It’s a realm of “no thought”, where there is no past and no future, just eternal peace.

Our minds influence the key activity of the brain, which then influences everything; perception, cognition, thoughts and feelings, personal relationships; they’re all a projection of you.

– Deepak Chopra

Our state of mind is changing all the time. This is because, according to one study, we have about 40 to 60,000 thoughts and about 1,000 feelings each day. Arising and proceeding from mind, thoughts affect our feelings, which is how mood and mental states are determined.

Unpleasant thoughts spark negative emotions and feelings in us. When we try to prevent unwanted thoughts from entering our mind, those very thoughts of resistance only make the situation worse. We are then badly caught in a vicious cycle. Unless we know how to manage these killjoy intruders, even to pass a single moment in their company can be very difficult. Time simply stops on those occasions.

We will not find a single person on Earth who has been happy and contented all the time. Every one of us carries some sorrows and woes, is afraid of something, dependently attached to someone, and has lost a loved one. Life is like that. We are all vulnerable as our flickering

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mental state changes all the time. Many of us are more sensitive to other people’s actions and behaviour, and to situations that are not at all our concern, than we are to our own. This sensitivity makes our mind more agitated and restless. We often get trapped in overthinking, especially negative thinking, which is obviously bad for our mental and physical health.

Positive and pleasant thoughts are like healthy and nutritious food to us, but any other kinds of thoughts are often injurious. Our mental diet should ideally consist of thoughts that give us peace and happiness.

Such thoughts are also generated from healthy relationships, whether at home or in the office. However, when relationships with friends and relatives lack balance and include discord, the result is a contaminated and gloomy mind. This leads to worries, sadness, and anxiety that could have been avoided. In such situations, our mind, which is already burdened with overthinking, gets entangled in psychological suffering.

Neuroscientists have found that human beings experience their own moment-to-moment reality. A study conducted by Dr. Norman Farb and his colleagues at the University of Toronto has discovered that people have two distinct ways of interacting with the world, using two different networks. First is the default mode, when we are primarily thinking about ourselves and are lost in planning, daydreaming, and ruminating. We keep working on our stories and developing our characters as if we were writing a book. When this default network is active, we think about our own history and about the future, including all the people we know. Thus occupied, we create and manipulate massive storehouses of data to suit our fancy.

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We do come across purposeful choices while journeying through life, but only if we believe that the goal is attainable. Otherwise, we tend to wander aimlessly and waste energy and time by pursuing routine things in life. Instead, we should decide and focus what we need in life and then start channelling energy in that direction.

For this, one needs to overcome the hard conditioning of ideas, thoughts, emotions, and beliefs, which have been built up over the years and are difficult to change. Hence, we should first know ourselves as clearly and deeply as possible, and be open to personal evolution and transformation. When we transform ourselves, we transform the world.

From Man’s Spiritual Journey by the author When the mind is in default mode – also known as autopilot – we may be actively engaged in several activities but unaware of any of them. We simply don’t pay much attention to what’s going on around and within us. Lack of mindfulness makes us likely to react in ways that are mostly habitual and somewhat mechanical. This state is extremely common.

Most of the time finds us mainly focused on our own affairs, and busy in internal dialogues. Other times may find us “zoning out”, honestly replying, “Oh, not much!” in response to an equally mindless, “What’s happening?” This state may be observed in any long checkout line – unless those waiting happen to be imaginative or empathic peoplewatchers.

It is widely believed that we spend most of our waking hours in default mode, especially when not paying much attention to any specific task. The rest of our time is given to what neuroscientists call

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“direct experience”. These are the times when we are present in the moment, and not thinking about our own constructed stories. We are experiencing information that’s impinging on our senses in real time.

Sitting amidst the crowd of a railway station, for instance, waiting for our train’s arrival, we naturally attend to our surroundings. Attention fixes on the swirl of activity all around us, as well as its overall feeling.

The Art of Meditation Peace of mind, serenity, and calmness are descriptions of a disposition free from the effects of stress. In some cultures, inner peace is considered a state of consciousness or enlightenment that may be cultivated by various forms of training, such as prayer, meditation, tai chi or yoga, for example. Many spiritual practices refer to this peace as an experience of knowing oneself. Finding inner peace is often associated with traditions such as Hinduism and Buddhism.

Meditation is a lifelong process. Give it a try. As you get deeper and more disciplined into the process, you’ll get deeper and more disciplined in your mind and life.

– Brendon Burchard To navigate happily and successfully through life, our mind must abide in calmness and serenity; otherwise, life feels hostile and frightening.

In addition to the much beleaguered brain, all other organs especially the heart, lungs, and digestive system are periodically subjected to great stress. Cellular and physiological systems are often disturbed. Without inner peace, we cannot maintain our mental and physical health for

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very long. We are bound to suffer mentally if we withhold loving attention from our mind. Rest and relaxation are tonic to the mind.

Fortunately, through time-tested techniques of meditation, we can achieve complete peace of mind and of all other organs and systems.

Observe the mind...carefully. Thoughts are coming and going. Along with them, associated emotions and feelings arise. And all the while, “I” stands alone, the mute spectator. Internal chatter continues unabated in the brain. Asserting its seeming authority, ego works incessantly.

That “little of me” and “my” ego interpret and evaluate each and every thought. But it is never wholly impartial or fair interpretation. When we deeply meditate, however, reflection on thoughts ceases. Mind becomes...quiet...at peace...no emotions...no feelings.

Modern science has established that meditation has a very profound basis in quantum physics. Fred Alan Wolf in The Yoga of Time Travel explains that conscious life consists of patterns of focused and unfocused activities, and that these patterns give rise to the ego or body-mind, which evolutionarily arose as a mechanism for survival. Through meditation we learn how and when to focus and unfocus our mind.

When we focus or unfocus, we gain or lose control over our body and our environment and learn how and to what extent we can manipulate them. By “unfocusing” in the act of meditation, we can surrender or dissolve our ego by keeping mind/consciousness unaware of our own mind-body throughout this period.

From Man’s Spiritual Journey by the author When we meditate, we can experience the world directly, as it actually is. This state, in turn, frees us of regret from the past and anxiety for

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the future, while also weakening conditioned habits of thought and behaviour. We respond appropriately to people and events as they are.

All of our senses come alive when we live in the present. Meditation is not difficult, but the problem is that many are not convinced that the simple exercise of “doing nothing” for a minimum of, say, 20 minutes daily can have such profound effects on their physical and mental health.

Meditation is simply to bring attention and awareness to the present moment. Awareness then increases, commensurate with frequency and depth of the practice. When we meditate regularly, we develop the capacity to perceive things in a non-judgmental way. Meditation expands one’s field of awareness. We all suffer from negative thoughts or obsessive thinking at one time or another. Mind goes to the same thoughts, futilely, over and over again. If we can look at those thoughts dispassionately, their energy and intensity subsides sharply and quickly.

Meditation is the only non-drug remedy that can dispel disharmony in an effective way. Through meditation, our observing capacity increases and then we can watch and observe our own thinking process as thoughts arise, some of them repeatedly. Merely by doing so, we can witness improvement in those disturbing moments.

Mindfulness is a state of active, open attention on the present. When we are mindful, we observe our thoughts and feelings from a distance, without judging them good or bad. Instead of letting life pass us by, mindfulness means living in the moment and awakening to experience.

The practice of mindfulness involves being aware moment to moment of one’s subjective conscious experience from a first-person perspective.

When practicing mindfulness, one becomes aware of one’s “stream of

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consciousness.” The skill of mindfulness can be gradually developed using meditational practices that are described in detail in the Buddhist tradition. Mindfulness is an essential element of Buddhist practice, including Vipassana meditation.

Meditation – How it can potentially transform our physical and mental health For thousands of years, ancient traditions have encouraged a variety of meditation techniques to calm the mind and relax the physical body.

Science is finally catching up to what spiritual gurus have known for centuries. Though meditation is extremely simple to perform, its effects are tremendous. Meditation can make us happier, healthier, smarter, more productive, and more socially well adjusted. Meditation helps slow everything down as we observe from a distance. It teaches us to be present, and to have discipline over our thoughts. Learning to meditate also helps us to relax our body.

Meditation is the art of finding peace and happiness within ourselves by using simple methods of calming and stabilising our minds. Most of the time we are carried along by the force of emotions, habits and conditioning and end up feeling tired and stressed by everyday life.

Practicing meditation can change this type of stressed life. Meditation can help bring about a natural sense of peace and well-being that can extend to every aspect of our lives. People who meditate regularly tend to handle the ups and downs of daily life with more clarity and ease and relate to others with more compassion and warmth.

Once we start to practice meditation, we tend to become increasingly aware of what is going on around us all the time. This is called meta-

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Meditation can make changes inside our heads, to make us calm.

awareness, to be aware of awareness. When we are highly stressed or emotionally disturbed, we are able to regain equilibrium much faster if we do meditation. In other words, we recover faster from virtually any disturbance. When we suffer from anxiety, stress, negative or depressing thoughts, the amygdala, our brain’s integrative emotional centre, is especially active. When we practice meditation, the amygdala, in those moments, resumes normal function much faster. Meditation is especially valued for its role in cultivating many positive aspects, such as compassion and loving-kindness. People become far more affectionate, kind, and empathetic in their relationships.

Trying to suppress or forget some unwanted/ negative thoughts, all of us have noticed that these very thoughts “pop up� again and again.

Our unwelcome guests seem to be there for the duration, drawn by and feasting on the negative energy we feed them. And of course, the more

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vigorously we defend against or try to banish them, the more insistent they become. This is a maddening process. So what can we do?

You are today where your thoughts have brought you; you will be tomorrow where your thoughts take you.

– James Allen

Research has shown that meditation increases activity in areas of the brain that help to form positive emotions, while decreasing activity in areas that contribute to negative emotions; it even calms the part of the brain that experiences anger. Meditation also contributes to happiness by decreasing anxiety, reducing depression, enhancing positive emotions, and decreasing stress. Studies also show that meditation makes us healthier by enhancing the functioning of the immune system. According to one study, meditation reduces the overall risk of heart attack and stroke.

Mindfulness meditation is the practice that increases attention on the present moment, a focus that goes a long way toward managing the emotional stress we face in daily life. A new study conducted by researchers’ shows that mindfulness meditation can even affect our genes. Specifically, this meditation can limit the expression of genes associated with inflammation, and therefore many chronic inflammatory conditions can be effectively dealt with through this practice (Jacqueline Howard in the Huffington Post).

Other research has shown that meditation affects the brain’s gray matter over the long term, conserving and protecting it against age-

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related degeneration. Older people in the study who had regularly meditated had retained more gray matter where cognition “happens” (Study by Dr. Eileen Luders and Dr. Florian Kurth). Therefore, we can, by practicing mindfulness meditation, slow down the aging process.

According to one estimate, a person of 30 years of age and who does regular meditation for next 5 years, his biological age will be 23 years as against the biological age of 36 years for a person who does not do meditation during this period. Such difference of biological age can be observed in real life situations.

Numerous studies and investigations have been carried out in the recent past on the effects of mindfulness meditation, especially on emotional and physical outcomes. Physically, mindfulness meditation has been shown to reduce cortisol and blood pressure and to boost the immune system. Cognitively, mindfulness has been shown to decrease rumination and boost attention. Emotionally, mindfulness reduces reactivity and improves resilience. While many of these studies are preliminary, they nonetheless begin to paint a powerful picture of the overall health benefits of mindfulness (Huffington Post, “Mindfulness Meditation and the Brain” by Angela Wilson).

Research from the National Centre for Complementary and Alternative Medicine also supports the notion that meditation acts as a kind of “mental exercise” that can help regulate our attention and emotions, while improving well-being. It has been found that meditation prompts changes in the emotion-processing amygdala. The new research suggests that these beneficial brain changes persist even after the meditation sessions are over, resulting in enduring changes in mental function.

Researchers and lay persons alike agree that meditation fosters greater

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creativity, clarity of mind, self-confidence, and a sense of balance and inner calm.

Perhaps the most exciting of all, subjective reports suggest that mindfulness meditation changes the way we experience ourselves in the world. To manage negative experiences, emotions, and thoughts, it is the most natural and easy remedy. It can play a major role in dealing with depression, anxiety, and many other mental woes. Even allopathic doctors now recommend meditation to supplement medicines in the management of various diseases, ranging from psychological to disorders caused by lifestyle.

No person, no place, and no thing has any power over us, for ‘we’ are the only thinkers in our mind. When we create peace and harmony and balance in our minds, we will find it in our lives.

– Louise L. Hay

According to a new study conducted in November 2015, mindfulness meditation exhibited even stronger physical pain reductions than morphine. Dr. Fadel Zeidan, Assistant Professor of Neurobiology and Anatomy at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, has studied mindfulness for 15 years and has observed improved health outcomes as a result. He says, “We’re now at the stage, at least in my lab, where we have enough evidence that meditation reduces pain, and it does it in a really unique fashion, different from any other technique we have seen.” Likewise, astonishing results are pouring in from the scientific

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community that corroborate the positive effects on physical health and well-being among those who practice mindfulness meditation.

Brain Waves and Meditation An awakening mind means an awakening brain. Throughout history, many great teachers and practitioners have cultivated remarkable brain states. For example, when experienced Tibetan lamas go into deep meditation, they produce powerful and pervasive brainwaves. We all know that the brain is an electrochemical organ using electromagnetic energy to function. Electrical activity taking place in the brain is displayed in the form of brainwaves. Briefly, there are four categories of brainwaves. They range from the highamplitude, low-frequency delta to the low- amplitude, highfrequency beta. Men, women, and children of all ages experience the same characteristic brainwaves. They are reportedly consistent across all cultures and countries.

In brief, characteristic features of the five different brainwaves are: gamma waves, at 40 to 100 cycles per second, which are involved in intense concentration and complex processing, as when learning new material; beta waves, with frequencies ranging from 13 to 30 cycles per second and experienced during waking states such as logical thinking and conversation. When a person speaks or argues, he or she is in a high beta wave state, as are those who are listening attentively; alpha waves, having a range of 7 to 13 cycles per second and experienced during states of peaceful wakefulness and relaxed activity, such as meditation; theta waves, ranging from

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4 to 7 cycles per second and predominantly present during light sleep daydreaming, creative pastimes, meditation, paranormal phenomena, out-of-body experiences, etc. Lastly, the lowestfrequency waves are delta waves, at 1.5 (or fewer) to 4 cycles per second, which are experienced during deep dreamless sleep.

All of us have an enormous capacity to control our brainwaves and therefore our state of mind. By increasing or slowing down our brainwaves, we can easily alter our thinking, feeling, and behaviour. By learning some measure of control over these different states, we can improve our overall sense of well-being, including both physical and mental health. During our waking and sleeping states, the brain moves through all four stages. At any given time, the range in brainwaves determines how deeply we have entered into that particular state. By learning techniques of brainwave alteration, we can consciously enter into a particular state and control our thought processes.

The latest research now shows that when we meditate, the balance of brainwave activity in our brain shifts – there is less gamma and beta (i.e., the thinking and stress-related brainwaves) and more alpha, theta, and delta (the relaxation and meditation brainwaves).

As this shift occurs, the low-frequency brainwaves accompany the happiness and contentment so often experienced by meditators.

Through the presence of calm brainwaves found in meditation, we can experience a feeling of intense happiness. At first, this feeling may last for just a few minutes or hours after meditation, but gradually over time, happiness and equanimity become our normal state of mind.

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Scientists investigating the effect of the meditative state on monks’ brains have found that areas of the brain previously active became quiet, while passive areas were stimulated. Using the fMRI technique, Dr. Andrew Newberg and his team studied a group of Tibetan Buddhist monks as they meditated for approximately one hour. After meditation, the brain regions were imaged and the meditative state compared with the normal waking state. The scans provided remarkable clues about what goes on in the brain during meditation. “There was an increase in activity in the front part of the brain, the area that is activated when anyone focuses attention on a particular task,” Dr. Newberg explained.

In addition, a notable decrease in activity in the back part of the brain, or parietal lobe, recognised as the area responsible for orientation, reinforced the general suggestion that meditation leads to a lack of spatial awareness. Dr. Newberg explained: “During meditation, people have a loss of the sense of self and frequently experience a sense of no space and time, and that was exactly what we saw.” The complex interaction between different areas of the brain also resembles the pattern of activity that occurs during socalled spiritual or mystical experiences. It’s therefore clear that, with practice, we can alter the amplitude and frequency of our brainwaves and, in turn, our state of mind to a great extent.

Types of Meditation Meditation is integral to many traditions and includes just as many techniques. Transcendental Meditation™, Vipassana Meditation, Taoist Meditation, Zen Meditation (Zazen), Chakra Meditation,

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and Kundalini Meditation are some of the more popular kinds of meditation. However, the basic technique common to all is the practice of intentionally focusing on the present moment, accepting and nonjudgmentally paying attention to the sensations, thoughts, and emotions that arise during the meditation period.

Broadly speaking, we can categorise meditation techniques into two groups. The first category is that of focused-attention meditation, and the other one is open-monitoring meditation. In focused attention, we focus our attention on a single thing – it can be the breath, a mantra, a visualization, a sensation in the body, etc. Examples are Chakra Meditation, Kundalini Meditation, Pranayama, Transcendental Meditation, Sound Meditation, Buddhist Meditation, etc. In the second category, open monitoring, instead of focusing, we watch and observe everything that’s happening around us, such as thoughts, sounds, sensations, feelings, etc., without reacting. This is the way of Vipassana Meditation, Taoist Meditation, and other mindfulness meditations.

The Practice of Meditation One can even meditate while walking, sitting, or lying on the ground, but the most recommended posture is sitting quietly in peaceful surroundings. Sit on a cushion on the floor, or on a chair, with straight and unsupported back. Pay close attention to the movement of the breath. Breathing in, be aware that you are breathing in, and how it feels. Breathing out, be aware that you are breathing out. Feel the coolness of air going in, and the warmth of the air coming out from the nostrils. Continue this simple process for the length of

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your meditation practice, constantly redirecting the attention to the breath. Alternatively, you can move on to paying attention to whatever bodily sensations, thoughts, and feelings may arise. The idea is not to do anything intentionally, and to experience the present moment.

Throughout, a mantra is repeated in the mind without uttering a sound, while other thoughts keep on coming and going.

While we meditate, we are of course distracted by surrounding sounds, physical sensations, and the irrepressible arising of thoughts. Whenever that happens, gently recognise that you have been distracted, and bring the attention back to the breathing, or to the objective witnessing of those thoughts or sensations. Just observe whatever is happening in a non-judgmental manner while observing and watching the breathing.

Experience the inherently enjoyable practice of observing, without reacting or responding, to thoughts and sensations.

In the same way, we can practice mindfulness in our daily activities – for instance, while eating, walking, and talking. In mindfulness meditation, the idea is to pay attention to whatever is going on in the present moment, simply to be aware of what is happening. If we are speaking, we must pay attention to the words we speak, and attentively listen to what the other person is saying. If we are walking, we should be aware of surrounding sights and sounds, our body movements, such as feet touching the ground, and the flow of the breath.

Vipassana Meditation Vipassana (Insight Meditation), as practiced in the Theravada tradition of Buddhism, is a straightforward method of purifying the mind through the understanding of the Four Noble Truths as taught by the

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Buddha. It is the understanding of the transitory, impersonal, and unsatisfying nature of phenomena. Vipassana, which means to see things as they really are, is one of India’s most ancient techniques of meditation. It was taught in India more than 2500 years ago as the remedy for universal ills. Vipassana also means “to look within with closed eyes.”

Although all the famous saints had spoken of Vipassana, only the Buddha offered a practical technique for accessing it via the breath.

In today’s world, Vipassana is taught by many renowned teachers all over the world. I learned Vipassana, as taught by S.N.Goenka in the tradition of Sayagyi U Ba Khin. Although courses of up to 90 days are offered, one must initially start with a residential program of at least ten days. For the first three and half days, the meditator concentrates on his or her breath (anapanasati).

Breath has long been used as a conduit to inner knowing because breath is the only thing that comes with our existence and stays until our death. Meditators watch the breath moving freely through their nostrils – just as it is. If it is deep, one perceives that it is deep; if it is shallow, one notices that also. If it is warm or cold, that too is seen. Nothing needs to be added to or subtracted from it. While in the process of knowing in this way, the meditator gradually starts to experience many emotions; all kinds of feelings are roused in his mind (in the form of memories from the past and projections into the future). All of these feelings, while seemingly new, are actually deeply rooted, and were there right along. The meditator is taken by surprise, however, as he had never seen within himself like this before. Focusing only on being with his breath, and watching as the emotions come

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and go, the meditator develops an understanding that everything is changing – be it for the seeming good or the seeming bad. While seen on a gross level, understanding nevertheless does come.

People who read a lot of books about spiritual practice often believe themselves to be already in possession of this understanding. But they are mistaken, because true understanding bypasses the intellectual and comes only on an experiential level (watching their thoughts coming and going, on the wings of the breath). In the next phase of Vipassana, the focus now changes to sensations, simple bodily sensations. After practicing the mindfulness of breathing for three and a half days, the mind is now calm enough to look deep inside it. The meditator gets a glimpse of his or her mind and how it behaves, why it reacts, etc.

As explained by Buddha, when anything impinges on the senses of a being (be it smell, taste, a sight, a sound, etc.), we react unconsciously to these sensations. Their subjective goodness or badness is immediately noted, though subject to further analysis. If we find the sensations good, we will thereafter crave their repetition. Similarly, if we experience them as bad, we recoil and establish an aversion to them. So that is why Vipassana focuses on sensations, and the understanding that they are happening on an experiential level. All this is explained in Tripitaka under “science of mind.� Meditators must be aware of their sensations, no matter how gross or subtle they are. It is understood that the sensations are simply arising and passing away.

Next, when the meditator attends to the various bodily sensations and yet is able to maintain equanimity, then for the very first time he or she has actually started the work of eradicating lifelong defilements.

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Within just ten days, the meditator has a much clearer view of him or herself, although very few changes will be noticeable to others. Rather, they’ll be known to the meditator on an experiential level. Should the meditator continue this practice of maintaining equanimity, he’ll gradually notice that many of his life’s challenges become much more pleasant and easy to handle.

After consistent practise one sees life with altogether different perception. The Vipassana meditator gradually understands that the problem lies within oneself and its solution too. The Mind becomes so calm that working efficiency increases. The meditator notices that now his mind can differentiate between himself and his mind, he clearly watches his mind activities, mainly the thoughts which are so vague and random. His mind thinks of many things at one single moment and he understands that a being has 52 minds with different science linked to each mind, but that stage comes after very deep meditation.

If we talk on gross level, then at least a meditator understands about his mind churning all the time in the past or future, it never stays in the present. In the moments when the mind stays in present it feels itself at peace.

Two major things that a Vipassana meditator understands are, firstly, that everything is changing and secondly, that anything which arises is bound to vanish (be it life situations, emotions, feelings or human being itself ). Life and death exist simultaneously be it for fractions of seconds or for years. The only measurement for knowing how well a meditator has practised Vipassana is COMPASSION. How much compassion one has generated in himself measures how well he is practising. One who generates compassion distributes this unconditional love and

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harmony to others. The way he feels peace in his life, may others also live their life peacefully with love and harmony.

A peaceful mind enjoys a happy life. Even in his bad times, a meditator feels peace because he understands well that this will also change, nothing is permanent, everything is changing, and so will I and so will the situations of life. One who practises daily, gradually understands that many defilements cloud our mind but if a meditator remains equanimous then the strength of defilements starts decreasing. If a person used to stay in anger for 5 hrs then now he’ll be out of it in 4 hrs then 3 hrs n gradually a day will come that when a moment arises in which earlier he used to get angry, now he realises that the reason for his worry is meaningless and will stay equanimous n thus will lead a peaceful life. Many meditators report that they have come out of their anxiety, depression, anger, regrets, jealously, and many negative aspects which were proving a hindrance to a peaceful life.

Transcendental Meditation (TM) TM is one of the most important and worldwide popular meditation technique introduced way back in 1958 by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (1917-2008). The technique, practiced for twenty minutes twice a day while sitting with one’s eyes closed, does not involve any kind of concentration or contemplation. According to the official website of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi more than six million people of all ages, educational backgrounds, cultures and religions have learned this TM technique. The site further claims that the benefits of the TM programme have been verified by over 600 scientific studies at more than 200 independent research institutions in 35 countries.

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Compared to some other popular ones, this meditation technique is far more effective and simple in taking our mind into its most silent, peaceful and restful state. The technique is very simple as one has to chant continuously a mantra or a word that is pleasing to the mind in order to achieve a restful state. One can chant a mantra given by the guru or just repeating silently the words pleasing to one’s mind, both the ways work. As we all know that our mind is always in an active state with unlimited and uninterrupted thoughts coming in each and every second. The mind also requires relaxation. TM gives our mind an inward direction. It helps us to turn the attention within, and once it is done the mind starts to settle down. In this way the mind goes into a complete restful state and total silence or quietness is achieved, thus getting deep relaxation.

Many studies have found a positive correlation between the TM technique and possible health-related physiological states, including reduction of high blood pressure, decreased insomnia, reduction of high cholesterol, decreased cigarette smoking, decreased alcohol use, and decreased anxiety.

How to stop overthinking, the root cause of all our mental problems?

When we think too much, instead of actually doing things, we overthink. When we keep on thinking and repeating the same set of thoughts, we are overthinking. It is just a wastage of time and energy and puts us on a vicious circle thinking and thinking over and again. When we are constantly thinking, worrying and analysing, we are not present in the moment. We move away

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from the moment and instead put in a place of suffering. It is the overthinking mind that makes us feel anxious and worried about the future. Psychologists have found that over-thinking can be detrimental to our performance, and may lead to anxiety and depression. Most of our pain comes from how we churn the negativity over and over gain in our minds, until it envelops our very being.

A recent U.K. study of more than 30,000 people showed that focusing on negative events (particularly through rumination and self-blame) can be the biggest predictor of some of today’s most common mental health problems. Much of the time, when we are overthinking, we are engaging in a destructive thought process that leads to unfavourable outcomes and in severe case, results can be painful. When a negative thought arises in our mind, it has the capacity to attract more negative thoughts. When we think about negative, fearful and destructive thoughts, we are basically creating negative energy which again gets stored as memory in the brain cells/neurons – thus keeping the cycle going.

We therefore need to allow for the time to release the negative energy and for that we should allow fully what arise in the mind.

It is a simple but very effective exercise of ‘relaxed awareness’. We are required to watch the mind and watch the feelings in a nonjudgemental way, in a sense of detached/distant observation. Just sitting, being relaxed and allowing what arises to arise. The negative energy will start disappearing from those thoughts. As we stay in this space of relaxed awareness, intensity and frequency of negative

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and distressing thought will start reducing and one can feels the difference in a short span of time.

Practicing mindfulness meditation can be a very effective technique to control overthinking. Psychologist Dr Donna Rockwell refers to the mind as often jumping around “like a monkey or a wild horse”. She describes mindfulness as a way of coming to know your own mind. “When you are sitting in meditation, it is like you are watching a movie of all your thoughts, said Dr Rockwell. “Over time, what happens s that you just come to know that movie so well, and it can no longer take you off your spot…They say thoughts are like passing clouds and if we can come to observe them that way they do not have control over us. Mindfulness meditation has been elaborately explained in another chapter.

Taoist Meditation To practice Taoism one must follow the Tao which is a force that flows through all life. The word Tao means road or way. Laozi or Lao Tzu was a philosopher of ancient China and is a central figure in Taoism (also spelled “Daoism”). Along with Confucianism and Buddhism, Taoism (pronounced Daoism) is one of the three great religions of China. According to Chinese tradition, Laozi lived in the 6th century BC. When he was eighty years old he set out for the western border of China, toward what is now Tibet, saddened and disillusioned that men were unwilling to follow the path to natural goodness (sourceWikipedia). At the border (Hank Pass), a guard asked Lao Tzu to record his teachings before he left. He then composed for the first and last time in 5,000 characters the Tao Te Ching (The Way and Its Power).

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As the popularity of Taoism grew, Lao Tzu became a deity of the Taoist religion. Currently worldwide there are about 20 million followers of Taoism.

Tao basically means surrender – surrender to nature. We have nowhere to go, nowhere to reach, no goal, no ideal, nothing to be achieved – we should surrender all. In this very surrendering moment, all will happen to us. Tao is also called the watercourse way. The Tao philosophy is one of letting go. We are not supposed to swim, but to flow with the river, to allow the river to take you wherever it is going, because every river ultimately reaches the ocean. Not to worry or be tense as we will reach the ocean. Therefore, in reality no goal is needed because the journey is the goal.

Osho in Tao – its history and teachings says that it was courageous of Lao Tzu, 25 centuries ago, to tell people that there is no goal and we are not going anywhere. We are just going to be here, so make the time as beautiful, as loving, as joyous as possible. The Way is beautiful; the Way is full of flowers. And the Way becomes more and more beautiful as our consciousness becomes higher.

Taoist meditation refers to the traditional meditative practices associated with the Chinese philosophy and religion of Taoism, including concentration, mindfulness, contemplation, and visualization.

Techniques of Taoist meditation are historically interrelated with Buddhist meditation. Taoist meditation techniques focus on breathing.

A focus on correct breathing is a central part of Taoist meditation techniques. Meditation can be spiritual, but it is also physical. The aim of meditation, Taoist meditation included, is to calm the mind and body as much as possible.

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Taoists emphasise emptiness and stillness, especially in meditation.

Once the mind is emptied of inconsequential thoughts, the body relaxes and can work at its optimal strength. Taoists also believe meditation strengthens the chi and improves our general well-being. The two main guidelines in Taoist meditation are jing (meaning quiet, stillness or calm) and ding (meaning concentration and focus). Stillness turns our attention inward and concentrates our attention on your breath to create a totally un-distracted state of mind.

Zen Meditation (Zazen) Many centuries after Buddhism began in India, it spread through the trade routes into China where it was reshaped by contact with Confucianism, Taoism and folk religion in Chinese culture. Many schools of Chinese Buddhism were then formed over time. In the 6th century, the Intuitive School called Chán, derived from the Buddhist meditation called dhyana was introduced. From China, in the 8th century, chán spread to Japan where by the 12th century, it evolved into Zen, the Japanese pronunciation for chán. No scripture or any reliable documents could be found on this art of meditation. It is passed on from master to disciple through training. It eventually became the most successful school of Buddhism in China, Korea, Japan and Vietnam.

By the mid-1980s, the Zen traditions of all these countries had spread to America and other western nations.

Zazen means “seated zen” or “seated meditation”, in Japanese. It is generally practiced seated on the floor over a mat and cushion, with crossed legs. Traditionally it was earlier done in lotus or half lotus position but now, one can sits with back straight. Focus all our attention

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on the movement of the breath going in and out through the nostrils.

One can count silently in mind. Alternatively, one can sit silently and be present while meditating. Watch and be aware what’s going on in the mind without any effort. It’s effortless presence meditation.

It’s usually practiced in a group in Zen Buddhist centres (Sangha). In some cases, meditation is accompanied by certain rituals, chanting and group readings of the Buddhist teachings.

Mindfulness Meditation This type of meditation is an adaptation from traditional Buddhist meditation practices, especially Vipassana, but also having strong influence from other lineages such as Vietnamese Zen Buddhism from Thich Nhat Hanh. Mindfulness is a common western translation for the Buddhist term sati. Anapanasati, mindfulness of breathing is part of the Buddhist practice of Vipassana or insight meditation and other meditational practices, such as zazen (Types of Meditation by Glovanni). Mindfulness meditation is the practice of intentionally focusing on the present moment, accepting and non-judgmentally paying attention to the sensations, thoughts and emotions that arise from moment to moment. One can either pay attention to the breath, by feeling the air that goes inside and come outside through nostrils or move on to the attention to the sensations, thoughts and feelings that arise. There are many variations to this technique.

OM Meditation – Mantra Meditation In Hindu traditions like in Buddhist, Jainism, Sikhism and Taoism traditions recitation of mantra is extremely important. Many people

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call mantra meditation as “Om meditation” but like Om, large numbers of mantras are used in different traditions. In Hindu, mantras are called ‘japa’ and have significance in mythology and rituals. When we visit a temple, this word is commonly heard. Like in other meditation techniques, here also the meditator sits on the ground with straight back and with closed eyes, while the mantra is repeatedly recited.

Mantra is a sacred utterance, numinous sound, or a syllable, word, phonemes, or group of words believed by some to have psychological and spiritual power in Sanskrit. A mantra may or may not have any literal meaning; the spiritual value of a mantra comes when it is audible, visible, or present in thought (Wikipedia). The earliest mantras were composed in Vedic times by Hindus in India, and those are at least 3,000 years old. Mantras are now found in various schools of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism. Similar hymns, chants, compositions and concepts are found in Zoroastrianism, Taoism, Christianity and elsewhere. The use, structure, function, importance and types of mantras vary according to the school and philosophy of Hinduism and of Buddhism. Mantras serve a central role in the tantric school of Hinduism.

As we repeat the mantras, it creates a mental vibration that allows the mind to experience deeper levels of awareness. As we meditate, the mantra becomes increasingly abstract and indistinct, until we are finally led into the field of pure consciousness from which the vibration arose (Giovanni). Repetition of the mantra helps us disconnect from the thoughts filling in our mind so that we may slip into the gap between thoughts. The mantra is a tool to support our meditation practice. In Hindu religion, the sound of Om is the Brahma sound. The tradition

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is that the sound Om has the innate power to create the world. The story goes that the cosmos, the world, the universe was created by this sound. According to the Vedas, the oldest Hindu texts, that worldcreating word is Om. In Indian Vedic traditions, this sound is the ultimate reality or God (Thich Nhat Hanh in Silence).

Yoga Meditations There are many types of meditation techniques under the broad category of yoga meditation. Yoga is a physical, mental, and spiritual practice or discipline which originated in India. There is a broad variety of schools, practices and goals in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. The best-known are Hatha yoga and Rāja yoga. The origin of yoga goes back to pre-Vedic Indian traditions, but most likely developed around the 6th and 5th centuries BCE, in ancient India. The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali date from the first half of the 1st millennium CE, but only gained prominence in the West in the 20th century. Yoga gurus from India also introduced yoga to the west, following the success of Swami Vivekananda in the late 19th and early 20th century. In the 1980s, yoga became popular as a system of physical exercise across the world.

Yoga in Indian traditions, however, is more than physical exercise; it has a meditative and spiritual significance. Classical yoga divides the practice into rules of conduct (yamas and niyamas), physical postures (asanas), breathing exercises (pranayama), and contemplative practices of meditation such as dhyana, samadhi and dhyarana (Giovanni). Some of the popular practices of yoga prevalent in India and in many parts of the world are briefly explained below:

Chakra Meditation: The meditator focus on one of the seven

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chakras (crown chakra, third eye chakra, throat chakra, heart chakra, solar plexus chakra, sacral chakra, and root chakra) of the body by doing some visualisations and chanting a specific mantra for each chakra. These chakras are the centres of energy and are associated with respective organs and physiological systems of our body. The health of a chakra is governed by our beliefs about ourselves in the particular area of life that the chakra is related to. In fact, the entirety of the body is a reflection of our beliefs, thoughts and emotions. It is the physical manifestation of our inner beliefs about who we are.

According to Buddhist/Hindu teaching all of the chakras should contribute to a human’s well-being. Our instincts would join forces with our feelings and thinking. Some of our chakras are usually not open all the way (meaning, they operate just like when we were born), but some are over-active, or even near closed. If the chakras are not balanced, peace with the self cannot be achieved. Chakras are vast, yet confined pools of energy in our bodies which govern our psychological qualities. Out of seven chakra, four are in our upper body, which govern our mental properties, and three in the lower body, which govern our instinctual properties. By focussing attention on these chakras we activate and vitalise them which, in turn, improves our internal systems and overall wellbeing.

Kundalini Meditation: Kundalini, in yogic theory, is a primal energy, or shakti, located at the base of the spine. Different spiritual traditions teach methods of “awakening” of kundalini for the purpose of reaching spiritual enlightenment. Kundalini is described as lying “coiled” at the base of the spine, represented as either a goddess or sleeping serpent waiting to be awakened. This awakening involves the

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Kundalini physically moving up the central channel to reach within the Sahasrara Chakra at the top of the head.

Many systems of yoga focus on the awakening of Kundalini through meditation, pranayama breathing, asana and chanting of mantras. In physical terms, one commonly reports the Kundalini experience to be a feeling of electric current running along the spine.

The main emphasis is a difficult regime of breathing techniques meant to increase the store of “prana” in the body. The well-known physical postures are only meant to be an aid to maintain peak physical fitness, so as to support the real work of the breathing practices. All of this has, according to tradition, to be accompanied by prolonged and unbroken meditation practice (for which the main text is the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali).

Pranayama: Pranayama, most commonly known as deep breathing exercises, is a compound word with Pran and Ayama. Pran means breathing or respiration and Ayama means extension or expansion.

Thus, pranayama means extension of breath or life period. During pranayama, the attention of mind is focused on the breathing process. According to the yoga masters/gurus, acquiring the skill of controlling and regulating the inhalation, exhalation and retention of breath is called pranayama. Life exists in different systems (such as digestive system, nervous systems, circulatory systems etc.) and organs.

Pranayama strengthens, protects and energizes various physiological systems. If pranayama is practiced on a regular basis, many lifestyle diseases can be prevented and cured to a large extent. It acts like a gateway to higher yoga and leads to realise your inner self.

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Strictly speaking pranayama is not a meditation technique but is actually an excellent technique to calm the mind and prepare for meditation.

There are many types of pranayama exercises, in which inhalation and exhalation is repeated on regular intervals. However, duration of withholding of breath and time duration of inhalation and exhalation varies from one exercise to another. By way of deep breathing exercises, oxygen intake increases by greater circulation of blood. Even, more oxygen is reached to all the internal organs.

Tantra: Tantra, also called Tantrism and Tantric religion, is an ancient Hindu tradition of beliefs and meditation and ritual practices that seeks to channel the divine energy of the macrocosm or godhead into the human microcosm,[in order to attain siddhis and moksha. It arose in India no later than the 5th century CE, and had a strong influence on both Hinduism and Buddhism. Tantra is a very rich tradition with numerous contemplative practices. Rituals are the main focus of the Tantras. Rather than one coherent system, Tantra is an accumulation of practices and ideas. A number of techniques (sadhana) are used as aids for meditation and achieving spiritual power.

In brief, Tantra is a practice that combines movement, breath, meditation and sound, to assist the chakra energy system within the body to open.

This opening allows dormant energy, known as Kundalini, to move up from the pelvis, along the spine. The movement of this life-force energy can help to heal by loosening constrictions within the body that have developed over a lifetime.

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TO SUM UP )) Many of us are more sensitive to other people’s actions and behaviour, and to situations that are not at all our concern, than we are to our own. )) When this default network is active, we think about our own history and about the future, including all the people we know. Thus occupied, we create and manipulate massive storehouses of data to suit our fancy. )) From human prehistory, man has been familiar with meditation and other contemplative practices to calm the agitated mind. )) Though the methods may vary from culture to culture, people across the globe believe meditation is an essential cornerstone of spiritual development. )) Through meditation, our observing capacity increases and then we can watch and observe our own thinking process as thoughts arise, some of them repeatedly. Merely by doing so, we can witness improvement in disturbing moments. )) Research has shown that meditation increases activity in areas of the brain that help to form positive emotions, while decreasing activity in areas that contribute to negative emotions; it even calms the part of the brain that experiences anger.

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CHAPTER 25

The Ultimate Answer to Modern Living Lies with Mindfulness and Meditation

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n reality, the root cause of all of our problems lies in the mind.

Whether the problems are because of relationships, poor health or mental disorders, somewhere the cause lies with our mind. The primary reason is that we have poor understanding about the mind.

We are ignorant or mis-educated about the working of our own mind.

Since we are completely identified with our thoughts, we fail to see our mind as a separate identity. Unfortunately, this mind will not allow us to go deeper and explore its inner working. It convinces us to stay in the comfort zone and does not allow for venturing out to seek new opportunities and unexplored areas. It resists change whenever such ideas come up.

Whether we worship God, visit religious places, listen to teachings/ sermons of spiritual gurus, read books on spirituality or self-help, we will continue to feel dissatisfied, worried and unhappy. This is because we have not been properly educated and taught the holistic truth of our life. Unless we look into our beliefs, conditioned ideas and thoughts deeply embedded in our unconscious mind, it will not be possible for us to learn and understand the true reality of our life. We need to examine those hardened beliefs and habituated ideas because they are the core of what brings happiness, health and peace in our life. Ultimate

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bottom line of what we all need in life is happiness and inner peace. We all strive for it all the time. We look forward to many available options for finding peace and solace in our busy life. The best part is that more and more people are getting aware of their stressful and dissatisfied life and look around for possible ways to find inner peace.

There are certain non-religious ways by which we can find peace and serenity by taking out some time in our busy schedule. These are primarily the spiritual practices in prevalence since prehistoric times.

In its simplest and purest form, yoga and meditation are all about quieting the mind. This can happen through the practice of yoga poses or while seated for yoga. When the mind becomes quiet and still, our awareness moves inward. In this state of self-absorption, we become more aware of our inner self. Many people find that yoga as one of the easiest ways to begin a spiritual existence.

How to stop worrying and rumination?

We all worry for one reason or the other, and this is how our mind works. Worrying is an inherent feature of our mind because of reptilian part of the brain. Worry refers to the thoughts, images and emotions of a negative nature in which mental attempts are made] to avoid anticipated potential threats (Wikipedia). As an emotion, it is experienced as anxiety or concern about a real or imagined fear or threat often on personal matters like health. Most of us experience short-lived episodes of worry in our lives. In fact, to a certain extent, worrying has positive effects because it prompts us to take precautionary measures or avoid risky behaviour. However, worrying is generally not limited to this extent and it often leads to

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distressing, negative and often obsessive thoughts.

Whenever there is a fearsome factor or perceived threat perception, our reptilian brain gets activated. Our mind then keeps on deliberating, analysing and elaborating such worrisome issues till the mind gets overburdened with negative thoughts. The mind is always going to worry about something because there will always be some imaginary or real fear/threat perception involved with something in our routine life. More we focus on the issue giving us worry, more we attract the same in one form or the other. The mind tends to create worst-case scenario based on any imaginary fear. Unless we realise that worrying is a waste of time and energy and it has ill effects on our health, we cannot empower ourselves to fight against this mind’s negative feature of getting worried on one pretext or the other.

Indeed, a number of studies have shown that worry not only puts a strain on our mental health, but on our physical health, too. While worry in itself is not bad as it makes us prepare better for that specific event/circumstances for which we are worrying, but this is at the cost of our happiness. For instance, research has shown that anxiety can take a toll on sleep, stress on our immune system and raise the tisk of post-traumatic stress disorder. The problem with worrying is that it becomes a cycle of self-perpetuating negative thoughts. In a new study, University of Surrey, researchers described worry as “a chain of thoughts and images that are affectively negative and relatively uncontrollable”.

There are many ways that are being suggested by psychologists,

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spiritual writers and books. However, I am highlighting only two very effective methods of handling worrisome experiences. First, the most effective strategies to stop worrying and rumination is the one based in mindfulness, which involves non-judgmental awareness of present thoughts and emotions. We can reduce the frequency of episodes as well as their severity through mindfulness.

We should recall as to how many times in the past, perceived fear was imaginary or unfounded. This will help in understanding the cause of fear in the case at hand. One must stop periodically during the day for few minutes and watch carefully how thoughts that generate worry are creating feelings on those moments. Merely awareness on those thoughts and feelings can have profound effects on their intensity. Negativity will decrease as we become more aware in respect to those thoughts.

The second effective method to stop worrying is to accept the worry and then to move on, as suggested by Amanda L Chan, in the article “9 Scientifically-Backed Ways To Stop Worrying” published in Huffington Post. Worrying about worrying is a dangerous circle to get trapped. A 2005 study in the journal Behaviour Research and Therapy showed that people, who naturally try to suppress their unwanted thoughts, end up being more distressed by said thoughts. Meanwhile, “those who are naturally more accepting of their intrusive thoughts are less obsessional, have lower levels of depression, and are less anxious,” the researchers wrote. Therefore, people who get caught up in worry when they try to force themselves to stop worrying may want to try a different strategy i.e. acceptance. This has been explained in a separate chapter.

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The next one is to be in touch with nature. Experiences with nature can also serve to enhance our spiritual life. Like yoga, taking out some time from the fast pace of daily activities and distractions can serve to calm the mind. In a natural setting, we often become more aware of our natural environment and feel connected to our surroundings. We can easily find a spiritual connection with nature during a quiet walk in the neighborhood park or forest area. For some people, trekking or a hiking trip to some hilly tracks can also meet their need to come close to the nature.

It is well known that mental illnesses and mood disorders are more common in urban areas partly due to reduced access to nature. “There’s an enormous amount of diseases largely tied to our removal from the natural environment,” said Peter Kahn, Professor at University of Washington. In a research paper published in the journal Science, the authors discussed the growing tension between an arguably necessary role urban areas play in society and the numbing, even debilitating, aspects of cities that disconnect humans from the natural world. As we build bigger cities, we are not aware how much and how fast we are undermining our connection to nature, and more wild nature – the wellspring of our existence,” he pointed out. Therefore, people must interact with nature in order to experience its physical and psychological benefits and also to have better understanding and appreciation of the natural world.

Spiritual expression through art by way of painting, music, classical dance can greatly help many to make them comfortable and at peace.

A successful dancer or artist or musician can foster connection with the spiritual part of their being and expressing it through their art. We

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need not to be professional to enjoy having rich experience of blissful moments during practice. We have seen people totally lost when they spend time doing such activities. Many artists find spending time on their art more constructive than practicing meditation or other spiritual practices.

For many, getting spiritual is a matter of connecting with the people who surround us every day of our lives. Spirituality can be found through exploring our inner selves, looking for connections with the natural world or by losing ourselves in self-expression. However, practicing meditation can be most satisfying of all the spiritual practices and exercises when it comes to its direct and indirect benefits. Meditation has the potential to transform one’s own life if practiced regularly and for a long span of life.

Researchers speculate that primitive hunter-gatherer societies may have discovered meditation and its altered states of consciousness while gazing into the flames of their fires. Some of the earliest written records of meditation come from the Hindu traditions of Vedanta, around 1500 BCE. The Vedas detail the meditative traditions of ancient India. Around the 6th to 5th centuries BCE, other forms of meditation developed in Taoist China and Buddhist India. Early written records of the various levels and states of meditation in Buddhism in India are found in the sutras of the Pāli Canon, which dates to the 1st century BCE (Wikipedia).

Thousands of years after it was adopted in the East, meditation spread to Western society. As the centuries passed, most of the world’s great religions adopted the basic concepts of meditation. Though the methods may vary from culture to culture, people across the globe

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believe meditation is an essential cornerstone of spiritual development.

In fact, all of the major religions have incorporated various modes of meditation in one form or another, particularly in their mystical branches. In the 1960s and 1970s, many professors and researchers began testing the effects of meditation and learned about its multitude of benefits.

Whether we adhere to a particular spiritual tradition or not is irrelevant.

Millions of people all over the world have found that meditation is a very effective way to clear the mind of excess and conflicting thoughts. With the influx of Eastern philosophy into the United States and Europe, millions of Westerners have also embraced yoga and meditation. And with all of the research highlighting the benefits of meditating, this trend becomes ever more prevalent.

Meditation can effectively stop us from getting angry Generally anger is a completely normal, usually healthy, human emotion. But when it gets out of control and turns destructive, it can lead to a variety of problems – problems at work, in our personal relationships, and in the overall quality of our life. And it can make us feel as though we are at the mercy of a powerful demon. It makes our hearts race and our palms sweat. It makes us feel anxious and scared.

The cerebral cortex is the thinking part of the brain where logic and judgment reside. It is the outer portion of the brain and is divided into lobes. Think of the cortex as the strategy centre of

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the brain. The emotional centre of the brain is the limbic system.

Within the limbic system is a small structure called the amygdala, a storehouse for emotional memories. It is also the area of the brain responsible for our “fight or flight” reactions, our natural survival instincts. When someone is experiencing and expressing anger, he or she is not using the thinking (cortex) part of the brain, but primarily, the limbic centre of the brain.

When the amygdala is over-activated/excited, a large quantity of hormones is released –theses cause physical and emotional alarm. A surge of energy follows, preparing the person for the fight or flight response. The impact of this hormonal flush lasts for several minutes during which time the person is usually out of control and may say or do things he or she will later regret, when the thinking part of the brain re-engages.

A new study in the journal Consciousness and Cognition suggests that one session of meditation can help reduce your body’s response to anger. This study adds to the growing evidence that meditation, both short-term and long-term, can help protect our bodies and minds from the harmful physical stress of anger (New Study Shows Brief Meditation Can Reduce Anger by Marlynn Wei M.D., published in Psychology Today). Repeated, consistent practice of meditation enhances our ability to cope and sit with negative emotions like anger without reacting. It is possible that people who choose to do meditation long-term are more likely to be less reactive in the first place. Through practice, we are able to learn to respond, not react.

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Meditation not only invites us to witness anger, but also to get to know and make friends with ourselves. It gives us a midpoint between expressing anger and repressing it, a place where we can be aware of our feelings and not be swept away by them. Meditation is not going to make all our challenges go away, but it does enable us to rest in an inclusive acceptance of who we are.

Mindfulness means maintaining a moment-by-moment awareness of our thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations, and surrounding environment.

When we are mindful, we observe our thoughts and feelings from a distance, without judging them. Mindfulness means living in the moment and awakening to experience. Regular daily so practice of mindfulness meditation develops our ability to pay attention to our immediate experience – the Now – helping us to overcome such preoccupations that we can clearly see what is happening in our surrounding environment means live experience of the present moment.

There is a massive amount of research data available on studies that have been carried out on mindful meditation. Hundreds of research papers and articles posted by meditation practitioners on the Internet give us details about its beneficial effects on us. There is no dearth of people narrating their extraordinary benefits they got after practicing meditation. I have my own experience of getting results from Transcendental Meditation, which I never thought could be achieved.

In the western world, numerous academic and medical institutions have carried out research and studies on meditation and have published results in prestigious journals.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Spiritual Leader and Founder of Art of Living

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Foundation has summarised the art of meditation as “We hold on to the concepts of the mind and want things to happen in a certain way. Thus, the concepts in our mind impede us from perceiving the infinite consciousness that is a part of us. This is not to say that the senses or the mind are bad.

But we must learn to discriminate between things and be aware of what is happening at all times; that is when clarity dawns on us. This is the first step toward the higher state of consciousness. The sapling of consciousness is within you – it needs to be nurtured through spiritual practices like meditation.

“Meditation helps in two ways – it prevents stress from entering the system and simultaneously releases accumulated stress. With the assimilation of meditation into daily life, a higher state of consciousness dawns within us. This higher level of consciousness perceives the whole universe as part of oneself. When we perceive the world as a part of us, love flows strongly between the world and us. This love empowers us to overcome the opposing forces and the disturbances in life.”

TO SUM UP )) Mind convinces us to stay in the comfort zone and does not allow for venturing out to seek new opportunities and unexplored areas. It resists change whenever such ideas come up. )) Unless we look into our beliefs, conditioned ideas and thoughts deeply embedded in our unconscious mind, it will not be possible for us to learn and understand the true reality of our life.

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)) When the mind becomes quiet and still, our awareness moves inward. In this state of self-absorption, we become more aware of our inner self. )) Spirituality can be found through exploring our inner selves, looking for connections with the natural world or by losing ourselves in self-expression. )) Though the methods may vary from culture to culture, people across the globe believe meditation is an essential cornerstone of spiritual development. )) Mindfulness means living in the moment and awakening to experience.

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Part VII

All Minds are Intimately Interconnected and Together They Affect Collective Human Consciousness

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e generally hold a world view of separateness in this physical reality, believing that we are discrete and autonomous entities, totally separate from our fellow beings because this is how we perceive through our senses. However, in ancient times, especially in India, man’s views were essentially those of wholeness. The most significant doctrine expressed in the Vedas and the Upanishads is that Reality is One or Absolute, changeless and eternal, the Brahman. And the ordinary human world of many separate and discrete (finite) things, which our mind perceives through our senses, is merely an illusion. Hence the Vedas speak of a unified field of “pure consciousness” that permeates all of creation. Now modern physicists have established that there is a unified energy field that interconnects everything from molecules to plants, animals, planets and galaxies in the universe.

According to physicist/inventor/engineer Nikola Tesla, “To understand the true nature of the universe, one must think in terms of energy, frequency, and vibration.” Previously, it was believed that a Newtonian material universe was the foundation of our physical reality. However, this all changed when scientists began to recognize that energy is the fabric of the universe, and all matter originates from energy. Physical atoms are made up of vortices of energy that are constantly spinning and

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vibrating. Matter, at its tiniest observable level, is energy, and human consciousness is connected to it. Astonishingly, human consciousness can influence the behaviour of the matter and can even restructure it.

It is proven that thought, intention, prayer, and other units of consciousness can directly influence our physical material world.

Energy fields, all vibrating at different frequencies, influence one another in a subtle way, and significantly impact their surrounding reality. When energy waves come together in coherence, forming a constructive interference pattern, this increases the energy of a wave.

Increasing the energy of a wave has the potential to amplify its effect on matter, including our body-mind. The universe is not an assembly of physical parts but instead an entanglement of immaterial energy waves.

Quantum mechanics has also established that quantum coherence or coherence of energy at a subatomic level, adds the quality of entanglement. Entanglement is the ability of energy particles, such as photons, to communicate and influence each other even when they are billions of miles apart. In this way, energy – from both near and far – is constantly influencing our physical body. As a quantum intention, every thought has the potential power of prayer. This is because all energy contains information, and as an intention, it also contains consciousness. This is how all kinds of thoughts are transmitted in a powerful way to influence our environment, especially our body-mind.

Telepathic experiences and different psychic abilities also give credence to the idea that our minds are connected at a much more intimate level than ever imagined. There are many fascinating incidents of people who have absolutely no communication with each other coming up with almost identical discoveries or solutions to the same problems

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at the exact same time. Case studies of this phenomenon have been compiled by the scientific community.

Albert Einstein also described the human being as “a part of the whole, called by us universe, a part limited in time and space”. His words reinforced the most ancient of spiritual and philosophical teachings. In the scientific world we speak of the unified field, and in the spiritual world, we refer to The Universal Consciousness, or Universal Mind.

In religion, we call it by various names, including God. Our minds are interconnected through this Universal Mind.

There is a discernible correlation between collective consciousness and the physical world, especially during extraordinary events. Experiments by the Global Consciousness Project (GCP) have shown that human consciousness can make a string of random numbers appear in a slightly less random – or rather, more orderly way – when people hold common intentions to do so, or when there is a special state of coherent group consciousness. In other words, our minds can organize the physical world at a quantum level. In this way, from individual atoms to individual brains to groups of brains emerges global brain, or global consciousness. Now, if consciousness is indeed universal and omnipresent, then everything that exists in the universe may ultimately be interconnected and unified through Universal Mind.

The GCP is an international project involving researchers from several institutions and countries, designed to explore whether the presence and activity of interconnected consciousness can be scientifically measured and validated. The project builds on excellent experiments conducted over the past 35 years at a number of laboratories, demonstrating that human consciousness interacts with random event generators

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(REGs), apparently “causing” them to produce non-random patterns.

The studies conducted by the GCP reveal that major global events that engage our minds and hearts have a measurable effect upon the network’s computer, non-random changes that are nearly impossible to have been caused by chance. This means that such incidents impact the collective consciousness, which in turn affects REG detectors.

In other words, large-scale group consciousness has effects upon the physical world.

Under this project, data is collected and analysed continuously from a global network located in 65 host sites around the world. The purpose is to examine subtle correlations that may reflect the presence and activity of collective consciousness in the world. When millions of us share intentions and emotions, the GCP network data show meaningful departures from expectation. Studies have found that large-scale group consciousness can affect the physical world. Knowing this, we can use our full capacities to create movement towards a conscious future (http://noosphere.princeton.edu) It has also been established that even if a small percentage of the population achieves peace among themselves, it is reflected in the world around them. However, the problem is that most of these people are isolated, and their influence is limited to themselves, while those indulging in aggression and crime against fellow beings can together have a far greater influence/ effect on others. In the 1960s, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi described a paranormal phenomenon wherein a significant number of individuals practicing Transcendental Meditation ™ could influence the local environment. This was called “The Maharishi Effect”.

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Maharishi Introduced the TM-Sidhi Program in 1976, and proposed that the square root of one percent of the population practicing the TMSidhi Program, together at the same time and in the same place, would increase “life-supporting trends”. This was referred to as “The Extended Maharishi Effect”. For instance, it has been established that when 1% of the population of a city practices Transcendental Meditation, the crime rate and the number of accidents significantly decreases. The basis of this effect is the rise of collective consciousness, which is the wholeness of consciousness of any specific group. In brief, a group of individuals can effect powerful improvements in the environment through their collective practice of TM. Amit Goswami, a world-renowned theoretical quantum physicist and a pioneer of the new paradigm of science called “science within consciousness” proposes to place his quantum theory of consciousness

Our minds are interconnected and can influence the reality around us

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within the overall context of monistic idealism. He postulates that consciousness, the ground of all being, is primary. Traditional idealism holds that consciousness is the primary reality and that all objects, whether material or mental, are objects within consciousness. The consciousness of all of us is identical to the consciousness that is the ground of all being. The sense of separation that we feel and observe is an illusion, as has always been claimed by the sages. The separation among us does not exist in reality. However, ignorance of our true nature gives us the illusion of separateness.

This means that what appears to be individual consciousness (mind) is in reality Universal Consciousness/mind. In other words, the consciousness/mind that I think is mine is identical to the consciousness that you think is yours. This does not mean that the contents of my mind are the same as the contents of your mind. These are individual and depend on our brain’s structure, individual sensory mechanisms, and the conditioning of mind, as discussed earlier in the book. There exists a nonlocal Universal Consciousness or Universal Mind, and the effects on this nonlocal mind are clearly evidenced, when people are meditating in a group. All material objects are really mental objects.

Mind can affect them because there is no difference between mind and matter.

The core problem of this contemporary world is that humanity is growing lopsidedly. Growth is not balanced. Progress in science and technology is not seeing a corresponding rise in reason and rational thinking. Technological advances have made life far more comfortable, secure, and easy going. However, because ways of thinking have remained more or less static, man’s suffering has not abated. Fundamentally,

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we feel more alienated and separate from our fellow beings.

Albert Einstein has eloquently remarked that, “We experience ourselves, our thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest. A kind of optical delusion of our consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.” Unless we change the way we think about our fellow beings, humanity will continue to suffer.

Many question whether humanity is still evolving, especially in view of the escalating conflicts and crises that mankind faces on so many fronts. Studies have been carried out to get a sense of whether collective human consciousness is moving ahead, toward a better future or is, in fact, stagnating. It is possible to demonstrate that individual minds and groups of minds that are working together can have unintended and unconscious effects on the surrounding physical world; though on an extremely small scale, the results can be detected and quantified.

In this way, from individual minds to collective mind, emerges the phenomenon of Universal Mind or global consciousness.

With the steep rise of reason and rationality in this modern age, all across the world, humanity has started moving away from rigid religious rituals, worship, dogmas, and beliefs in the existence of a discrete deity.

In particular, people doubt “His” existence as a regulator and protector of humanity. Attendance in religious places is steadily declining as increasing number of people are losing faith in religious dogmas and turn instead to spiritual practices and the underlying Reality that gives

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them life. Recent surveys and studies have established that more and more people are now dis-interested in visiting churches, temples, and other places of worship. For example, modern Britain is “spiritual but not religious”, as well over half (59%) of those questioned in an opinion poll carried out by ComRes said that they believe in some kind of spiritual being or essence.

Some evolutionary psychologists also think that there have been a few noticeable changes in the brain and physical body of humans over 50,000 years of their evolution, while scientists on the other hand are establishing progressive changes in human consciousness.

The Indian sage Sri Aurobindo sees evolution primarily as an ongoing emergence of consciousness and holds that the human mind is much too imperfect a vehicle to be the final abode of nature, and that just as life developed out of matter, and mind out of life, a still higher form of consciousness is bound to develop out of the mind. Similarly, Ervin Laszlo, a famous Hungarian philosopher of science, advocates humans moving from ego-bound and sense-organ-limited consciousness to a wider transpersonal consciousness as they become aware of their deep and integral ties to one another, to the biosphere, and to the cosmos.

We all can grow in two phases. The first phase is when the purpose of life is nothing more than the inflation of our ego. Ego is purely self-serving. We accumulate wealth and its material expressions to satisfy our ego’s desires and wishes. Many remain in ignorance and die while pursuing their ego goals. However, many of us start asking ourselves the perennial questions, such as, what’s the meaning of life? Why are we here? Is life random and aimless? These are the ones who enter into the second phase of life, seeking answers to

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those questions by way of expanding their consciousness. They seek a higher level of awareness, at which love, compassion, empathy, and concern for others hold all the meaning in their life.

From Man’s Spiritual Journey by the author Our lives are becoming more and more complex and noticeably interconnected. Societies are far more intertwined, simultaneously challenged by many social and environmental crises. Though they may seem regressive if seen locally and over a short period of time, these changes are undoubtedly progressive. Humanity is growing in stages.

According to Dr. Clare W. Graves, an American professor of psychology, humanity is indeed making a momentous leap in consciousness. He described human development as progressive movement upwards through increasingly complex stages. This upward movement is an adaptive response to our changing life conditions. Based on Dr. Graves’s research, the evidence suggests that we are approaching a time of significant and rapid global changes, especially due to the internet and environmental movements.

In 1982, Peter Russell coined the term “global brain” with his 1980s bestseller of the same name in which he predicted the Internet and the impact it would have on the world. His contemporaries have now lauded him as “one of the finest minds of our time”. He is the bestselling author of many books including The Global Brain, Waking up in Time, and, most recently, From Science to God, and his video The Global Brain won international acclaim. His work integrates Eastern and Western understandings of the mind, exploring their relevance to the world today and to humanity’s future. Peter Russell says that

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the next evolution of our consciousness points in the direction of transpersonal consciousness – a consciousness of unity with others and oneness with nature. This evolution will be vital for our future.

Peter Russell further explains that the next evolution could re-establish the coherence we lack in today’s world, a coherence found in wellintegrated systems where all the parts are fine tuned to all the other parts. A human pyramid is just such a highly coherent system, and so is nature and so is our body. Currently, we are living in a highly incoherent and chaotic world. We are in a global crisis caused by the accelerated growth of humanity’s ability to change the world for its own ends. It is also a crisis in consciousness a crisis in human thinking and human values. Most of us lead our life based on highly materialistic self-centred belief system. We feel that if want to be happy and contended then we need to more of wealth and material comforts.

The result is growing frustration, aggression, alienation, dissatisfaction and intolerance among vast population across the globe.

Across the world, like Peter Russell, large numbers of contemporary thinkers, scientists, philosophers and spiritual gurus are advocating emergence of new era of growing collective consciousness. We are entering a new era of evolutionary transformation, growing human awareness. It is widely believed that the transformation of our world civilization has been prompted by a rapid increase in technology, advances in quantum sciences and expansion of social media through internet. Global connectivity is growing at a much faster pace. We all are getting connected with others irrespective of age, nationality and religion. Likeminded people can share their concerns, beliefs and

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emotions across the globe. Millions of people can channelize their energies for a common cause through digital media.

Spiritual practices like meditation and yoga are increasingly embraced, not only in the Western world but throughout the entire world. As organized religion declines, spirituality rises. Though it may seem difficult to believe, the fact is that over the centuries, humanity as a whole has been becoming less and less violent and aggressive, as more and more people have started adopting a spiritual way of life. This is surely reflected in our collective consciousness and we all move towards higher level of consciousness. We may also called it spiritual awakening.

The concept of higher consciousness rests on the belief that the average ordinary human being is only partially conscious due to his untrained mind. In Eckhart Tolle’s opinion, when a person is aware that he/she is thinking, the consciousness that experiences this is not part of the person’s thinking. This is another dimension of consciousness.

All minds are getting linked. Our collective awareness is heading for a stage where a major shift towards spiritual awakening will take off sooner than the expected. Humanity in order to survive in view of impending crisis has to awaken for progressing towards higher plane of consciousness. The time has come and we can see clear signs of major shift or change in collective consciousness. We have begun our journey and started moving in that direction. Millions of people across the nations have started showing interest in non-religious practices like mindfulness meditation, TM, yoga and breathing exercises, etc.

Western science is keenly observing and corroborating the beneficial results of meditation. Is it not the beginning of this journey?

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TO SUM UP )) The sense of separation that we strongly believe is merely an illusion, as has always been claimed by the sages. The separation among us does not exist in reality. However, ignorance of our true nature gives us the feeling of separateness. )) The consciousness of all of us is identical to the consciousness that is the ground of all being. )) Even if a small percentage of the population achieves peace among themselves, it can be detected and is reflected in the world around them. )) The next evolution of our consciousness points in the direction of transpersonal consciousness – a consciousness of unity with others and oneness with nature. This evolution will be vital for our future. )) All minds are getting linked through digital and social network. Our collective awareness is heading for a stage where a major shift towards spiritual awakening will take off sooner than the expected.

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About Man’s Spiritual Journey

Man’s Spiritual Journey is all about discovering what we truly are through self-inquiry and awareness. As we evolve spiritually, we begin to understand what we already have within us but we seek from outside world. We are not here accidentally. There is a meaningful purpose behind our existence. As we undertake life’s journey, we keep on learning lessons until the very last day. Lessons bearing circumstances are attracted to us in various forms until we learn what is required to be learnt to understand the true meaning of life and existence.

The book explores many contentious issues that are central to man’s spiritual journey we all undertake during our life time. Right from the issues of ‘interconnectedness and inseparability of the physical world at the deeper level’ and ‘man’s inherent nature of ‘goodness’ to the questions like ‘do randomness and uncertainty govern our life?’

‘How free is the free-will’? and ‘Is reality illusionary in nature’? have been briefly explored in this book. Basic understanding on such issues will help the readers to know the true reality of their surroundings world in a better way by clearing the veil of ignorance and hard conditioning. This will, in turn, speed up our journey towards higher level of conscious being.

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Quotations from Man’s Spiritual Journey “We all interpret reality in our own conditioned way, only marginally aware that others have their own construct of reality!”

“Our beliefs have the power to change the course of events in the physical world. Believe it or not, in a participatory reality, we are creating our experiences through our beliefs, as well as experiencing what we have created.”

“Every one of us designs his or her own unique meaning of life.

Along life’s journey, every one of us is open to wide possibilities, and we can grow in the direction of those possibilities.”

“We choose the feelings we experience, we decide the way we respond and act. In nutshell, we are the weavers, designing and weaving the web of reality around us.”

“We are the architects of our own ‘hell’ as well as ‘heaven’ long before we die. No one else is responsible for their creation. The choice is solely ours.”

“We all love to stay in safe comfort zones of predictability and familiarity, due to fear of change. This tendency greatly hinders spiritual growth.”

“Even our dearest memories may not be reliable, as we distort them to fit into the bigger and usually more self-flattering story.”

Book Presented to President

Book Presented to Prime Minister

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Launch of Man's Spiritual Jouney by Hon’ble LG and Swami Nikhalananda of Chinmaya Mission

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Launch of Hindi edition of Man’s Spiritual Journey by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar ji

Author with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar ji during release of the book