The mind
is responsible for thinking, feeling, and intention…. Like a computer’s hard
drive, the mind is a repository of facts and memories. It doesn’t necessarily understand the
significance of the information it processes, but it places sensation into two
broad categories, pleasure and pain, and responds accordingly.
Just as
the height of an ocean’s wave is influenced by the weather, so the mind,
according to how it has been influenced by the sensory experiences we’ve had,
responds to new sensory input with either desire or repulsion, elation or
depression, courage or fear, celebration or lamentation.
The
software of the mind is constantly updated through daily experience.
The mind
changes constantly based on the ever-shifting experiences.
If we
identify with the mind, we subject ourselves to all these shifting emotional
states.
We are
separate from our thoughts. If we
weren’t, how could we direct the mind away from them?
Self-realization
and humility are inseparable.
Lying
doesn’t refer only to untruths but to rationalizations as well. Lies, rationalizations, justifications,
hypocrisy: all of them accustom us to duplicity, or falsity.
There are
several reasons that people choose not to speak the truth. One is selfishness, but another is fear.
Humility
gives us access to the grace required to overcome obstacles, especially the
most difficult one, the ego.
Think of
dharma as thing’s inherent quality – the part of something that cannot be
separated from it.
We see
everything according to our own mental state.
It is not
a spiritual quality to remain passive where action may be required.
When we
can stop thinking of “me” and “mine” and instead think of “ours”, our roots
will hold strong in the soil of love, trust, and grace, reminding us that in
giving we receive.
If we
understand the reality of death, we would treat each other differently.
Spiritual
knowledge is not just about knowing but transforming.
Every
time we give in to anger, greed, or the cravings of the mind and senses, we’re
watering the roots of those behaviors.
We
create our own destiny by the choices we make.
But while we are free to make choices, once we have acted on them, we
are bound to live with their consequences.
That’s karma.
There
may not be anything you can do about what’s happened but as difficult as it is,
you still have the freedom to choose how to respond to it. How you respond now will determine your
future in this life and beyond.