If the Buddha Got Stuck_ A Handbook for Change on a Spiritual Path - Charlotte Sophia Kasl [32]
18. Explore Your Amazing Mind
The mind of the sage does not abide anywhere . . . not in goodness, evil, being, non-being, inside, outside, or in the middle . . .
ROBERT LINSSEN, LIVING ZEM
Both noticing your mind and realizing you are not your mind lies at the heart of Buddhism. The Buddha considered the mind to be in the same category as the other senses: our task is to see its nature, how it is conditioned, and how it affects every level of our be-ing. It is not that we fight our minds; rather, we wake up and see the rise and fall of thoughts and the role they play in our suffering as well as our joy and power.
Beneath your conditioned mind you have a powerful ability to direct energy and become a channel for knowledge, wisdom, and healing. On the other hand, the conditioned mind can race in circles with repetitive images and thoughts that can be irrational and fearful and lead us to agitation, emotional overload, and anxiety.
Here are two aspects of mind to consider: first is the conditioned mind made up of all we have been taught either overtly or covertly from family, culture, and social systems. It’s the shoulds, rules, and judgments that sometimes seem like a train without breaks running through our heads. Whether we label them as positive—they help us reason and cope—or see them as the censors and critics that taunt us, the point is to remember they are all aspects of conditioning and are not who we really are. In other words, everything in your mind was put there one way or another.
The second aspect of the mind is the creative mind, which arises when we get out of the way and allow thoughts to emanate from stillness, fascination, curiosity, and interest. The creative mind is absorbed in the moment, engaged in something beyond the self. It’s not completely separated from our conditioning, but it is not running on automatic. It’s like the music playing through us, getting lost in time as we’re tinkering with something to find a solution, the proverbial light bulb going off inside with the answer to a question we’ve been pondering. It’s as if thoughts come to us from the Big Mind of the Universe, they just happen, rather than stemming from a desire to prove we are good, lovable, and worthwhile.
As you explore your conditioned mind in the next four chapters, you can ponder how it got you off course. This will help you understand how you can retrace your steps to come home to your natural self.
A road map for the journey: Here is a diagram that shows the path of getting stuck. I’ll discuss it in the next three chapters.
19. Realize Your Connection to the Underlying Unity of All Life
Whatever we see is changing, losing its balance . . . but its background is always in perfect harmony. This is how everything exists in the realm of Buddha nature—losing its balance against a background of perfect balance.
—SHUNRYU SUZUKI, ZEN MIND, BEGINNER’S MIND
On the journey of getting unstuck and breaking free, being aware of the unifying energy from which all life is created can become a peaceful background to the drama of our lives. When we get caught up in the minutia of the everyday, we can drop into this vast space and remember that our little dramas are played out against the expanse of all time. Said another way, this moment matters at one level, but at another it’s not cosmically serious.
From the mystics, to Buddhism, to Einstein, to Sufism, to Christianity, to quantum physics, we have the assertion that all of life comes from one energy, One Substance, or Emptiness. It can be called chi, prana, quantum field, God, Yaweh, All That Is, or the Unifying Field. All creation is emptiness or energy condensing down into form. It’s a constant process of transformation.