“The mind is an excellent servant but a lousy master.”

The mind and the spiritual path

I was first inspired to step back and look at my way of perceiving reality itself by Eckhart Tolle in The power of Now, a book that has been absolutely transformative in my life, as well as for millions of people. He suggested that our mind is not just the innocent calculating machine we thought it was. When we identify with the mind and think we need to defend it, we are able to see anything but the truth in order to cling to a feeling of being right or superior. So suddenly we have two, not one, adversaries to contend with in order to find the truth. One is ignorance. The other is ourselves. The more dangerous a truth is to our sense of identity, the better we deceive ourselves. That is why science, which advocates an entirely mental approach to finding the truth, has had great success in areas like physics but virtually none in psychology and the tender subject of how to be happy in a world that needs dissatisfaction. constant to maintain the status quo. .

For the topic of how to be happy, Eckhart Tolle recommended that you give up trying to figure things out in your head altogether and see this as a contest with your mind. You have a lack of clarity because your mind makes things unclear. You get clarity, then, by preventing your mind from doing it. There is nothing you need to “know”.

I still learn that lesson from time to time as I explore the use of meditation and prayer instead of trying to approach my psychological problems from a problem-solving framework. Today I have left MANY complications and I have a very simple spiritual path:

Keep walking. Live your life. follow my heart Have faith that I am where I need to be at any given moment. Learn from the experiences and ask my angels and spirit guides for help. Meditate when I am attracted.

It is up to you to create your own spiritual path. Feel free to take inspiration from mine and look for other paths as well.

This is how to find the Truth. But what about truths in lowercase t? I took a detour, but this series of articles is really about small truths and refining your larger worldview. But don’t worry, there was a point in what I just wrote.

transcend intellectualism

To become good at finding the truth in a world of lies, I think it’s impossible to completely separate the spiritual aspect of all of this. If you don’t know yourself, you can’t know the world. And take a step back – why want to know the truth? If you just want to develop your intellect, then you can. But it might be worth challenging yourself anyway. Is that the best use of your energy?

I know a lot of people who think that

n = this

Where n is the number of books read and i is intelligence. it’s number 1, which makes it effectively irrelevant. I only put it on because it looked fun.

I do not agree. I believe that

not = this

Where e is the energy you put into being transformed by what you read. I know someone who lent me a book on the Law of Attraction who doesn’t live the knowledge it contains. He asked me why it took me so long to read it and why I returned it half finished. I said it was a good book, but I wasn’t ready to fully integrate the information yet. He wasn’t interested in reading for the sake of it.

Read for the fun of it It is a big thing in our society.

The problem with this, apart from the fact that it is a waste of energy, is that people acquire knowledge but do not UNDERSTAND it and do not LIVE it. This is absurd, but it makes sense to them because what they want is to build their identity, not empower themselves with understanding. They want to take refuge from life instead of living it.

I can’t be too hard on these people because I was the worst there is. I changed because there was something more important to me.

So we come back to the spiritual aspect of finding the truth. Here we go: To align with the truth you must transform yourself, transmute your fears and enhance your passion.. A fearful person simply cannot see the world as it is.

If you want help on how to do this, the best book in the world is The Power of Now.

How to think clearly

Inspired by that book, I learned to intersperse periods of meditation with periods of thought. Yes, like most Tolle fans, I went through a phase where I tried never to think and got mad at myself every time I noticed I was thinking 🙂 But today I’m happy to think hard and keep searching for the truth , and I don’t think I’m wrong when I tell you that you could also benefit from doing it. Be sure to notice if your mind is overactive or spinning, and take some time to meditate if it is.

If your mind sounds like a broken record and you can’t seem to find the solution you need, check to see if your mind is simply going through a feedback loop where you feel fearful and create more feelings of fear by imagining all your problems vividly. details, thinking that focusing on the problems will dispel the fear. With hardcore intellectuals, their problem is often that they still aren’t quite right about everything, which makes them fear damage to their ego. Right now the solution is to calm down. Although it is difficult, you would probably benefit more if you choose to do nothing for a while. I know it often seems impossible. Just realize that nothing is as terrible as the mind makes it, that the world doesn’t end if you’re relaxed and enjoying yourself, and that solutions often arise on their own without intervention. In short, doubt your mind.

Try to laugh. There is nothing that cannot contain humor except a person controlled by her ego. Laughter is a cleaner: it destroys false structures. In fact, I suggest this trick: stop and laugh for no reason. If you have the strength to do so, I guarantee your train of thought will be on a different path when you return to the problem at hand. It is a great exercise if only to learn to doubt the mind and the things it does serious. If so many things cease to be important after laughter, then what is important? Check it out.

So take regular “steps back” and consider what your true motivations for thinking are, whether your fears and desires might be leading you to false conclusions, and what results you’re getting. A sure indicator that you’re on the wrong track is if you’ve spent a lot of energy making an impressive case for what you already believe 🙂

Finally, who could rule out the need to share thoughts with others. Historically I haven’t been that good at it, but the more you open up, the more “real” you become. Connections with other people, especially people on your wavelength who can understand your ideas and accept your way of being, are the best way to stay grounded. Often simply voicing your thoughts out loud to someone is enough to change your perspective (consider psychiatrists who are paid excellent salaries just for listening carefully to people). They will automatically point out the gaps in your ideas, and if they are really cool, they may be able to help you notice if your mind is distorting things. Cultivating relationships where you can give and receive criticism is very powerful.

Your brain is not a computer.

This is the message I would like to end with: your brain is not a computer. A computer works by taking into account all the factors and making expert calculations. Do you know how many “thoughts” a robot would have to undertake to correctly determine where a ball is going to land? However, even a dog can play fetch. It’s the same with other “calculations”. You go from one idea to the next but you don’t know exactly how. It is not mathematical. Basically, just like your hand will move, your mind will have an answer.

So don’t think you need to create a perfect mental dialogue to come up with a solution. You don’t necessarily need any mental dialogue at all. Quiet your mind, feel the issues at hand, and with your awareness push toward the feeling that is in the space between wanting to know something and knowing it. You need to have a calm mind to be able to do this or you won’t even notice the gap. And when the answer comes, move on to the next thing you want to know.

This is what you already do, so don’t think it’s a magical skill you need to learn. But knowing the process is helpful. It is a reminder that YOU are not doing anything. The answer comes, or it doesn’t. You are only the will to know.