Of all the Buddhist texts I studied, none excited me as much as lo-rig—types of mind. It’s often referred to as ‘Buddhist Psychology,” and is a map of fifty-one mental factors, including attention, mindfulness, anger and compassion.
Apart from the mental factors, it also defines ‘mind’ itself, in three simple words: “Clear and knowing.”
I remember my first reaction. Really? That’s it?
I was still confused about mind and brain. It took me a while to understand that while brain is tangible, mind is not—it’s a verb, not a noun. Your brain (and nervous system) mind you—they keep everything running, sync the various bodily systems, process information into complex sensations, emotions and thoughts.
We think we decide our lives, but we’re pre-programmed with natural instincts. Once born, we start minding in earnest and by the time we’re grown we’ve developed a ton of artificial instincts—ways to react to the stresses we’ve had to face. These learned patterns characterize us. We tend to identify with them.
We don’t have to. Everything learned can be unlearned. Being human, we have choices. We’re free—potentially.
But freedom is scary. Why risk change when we could just lean back into those learned patterns? They always worked in the past. Why not just rely on them now?
It takes courage to question how you mind your life. It’s not just a one-time thing. It opens the floodgates of guilt, regret, denial and the baggage of a lifetime. To see what lies behind those walls you first have to climb them. Why oh why, when you have the choice not to? Wouldn’t you rather not know? You’ll end up with that one silly little question:
“Who am I?”
It’s embarrassing, humiliating, depersonalizing, confusing. And yet in mindfulness circles, in psychology journals and right across the business blogosphere, people are in search of their ‘authentic’ self.
That may be why you’re here. If you’re breaking through the rigidity of reactive patterns and working to be free, good on you! The world needs people like you, with the courage to be yourself—even if you’re still figuring out what that means.
