Do you notice that apart from what we own, the things we protect exist only in our minds? We defend things that nobody can see – ideas of who we are and what we know. Because we hold a certain image of ourselves, we do not like people to point out anything that disagrees with what we think. We hate to be corrected when we are wrong, to be exposed by our faults even when they are obvious. You see this in people of every age, socially, among families, friends, and colleagues, and more dangerously, between strangers. We may not see it as misbehavior but it does affect how we relate to people and how they perceive us.
But what we are defending is an image we have created of ourselves. It could be because we have money and own more things or feel that we have more knowledge. It can also be based on our values. Right or wrong, good, or bad, are concepts we hold in our minds that we are proud of, that we do not like to be questioned about. Anyone who doubts or contradicts these thoughts becomes an enemy.
The mental tricks we play on ourselves
Note that these thoughts are not known to others, only we know about them. We decide how valid they are and how far we should go to defend them, which could have unexpected or unpleasant consequences. See how these thoughts rule us, our behaviour, our responses, and how they can cause problems in all our relationships.
Yet we allow these unseen thoughts on likes and dislikes to control our lives. Of course, we all have our reasons about what we prefer, but the fact is that we are responsible for what we think. No matter what reasons or basis we have for thinking, saying, or doing what we do, we are the only ones who can stop the harmful words or actions that we inflict on each other. And it is possible to stop them when we acknowledge and realise that we would be hurt if the abuse was directed at us.
Every sacred text has its version of the Golden Rule. The Buddha is quoted as saying, “Whatever is disagreeable to yourself, do not do unto others”; the Christian version is almost identical, “Do unto others as you would have others do unto you”; the quotation from Confucius is, “Do not do to others what you do not want them to do to you”; while the Hindus say, “This is the sum of duty; do naught unto others what you would not have them do unto you”; in Islamic teachings, “Do unto all men as you would wish to have done to you”; and in Judaism, “Do good to others as you would like good to be done to you”. The reminders are repeated historically, and a person would have to be somewhat uneducated not to be aware of them or idiotically stubborn to ignore them.
Yet we persist. We forget or ignore these sayings because of our stubborn egos. Notice again that this ego, the ‘I’ that we defend so strongly is, like so many other ideas we have, a thought form existing only in our imagination. It cannot be seen or touched. Which makes which? Does the ego create the thought or does the thought make the ego exist? You will not be able to tell. Both appear out of nothing, out of nowhere, like a conjurer’s trick, here one minute gone the next. Check it out. Get to the root if you can and if you do you could change the world.
Even if you don’t change the world, you will see that the importance we place on this “thing” is weird and almost laughable except that we shed tears and cause others pain over it. We would be free if we didn’t have this emotional burden.
Mind and body
Even before people could write and produce books, they talked about mind and tried to define it. Scholars in the West now write about how we use our mind to analyze things while those of the East focus on intuition and how we experience our mind to sense things. Today’s scientists say that mind is an information processing system because of all the nerves that interact in the brain. They say that our mind is our brain because what we think about can be monitored: different parts of the brain show activity of electrical currents when we see, hear, or think about different things – how we measure space, use language, count using numbers, or feel (emotions) – can be observed as activity in different parts of the brain.
But while these currents can be measured, and while the brain sends and receives signals to and from the parts of our bodies, it doesn’t mean that our brain is our mind, only that it shows how we respond to things. What if mind is some kind of invisible cosmic intelligence that we can somehow tap in the way that phones and radios detect signals in the atmosphere?
Think about it and you’ll notice something. We can get new ideas when the ‘I’ is not there with all its inner chatter going on. Notice that when we are quiet and relaxed, we get answers to things we ponder about. We become able to know things intuitively.
So where does it come from, these facts or truths we didn’t know before? Where from and how did great teachers receive this knowledge to be able to teach others? How did famous scientists solve scientific problems that others couldn’t? Inventors and other thinkers discovered things never heard of before and they changed the world. They somehow tapped into knowledge most of us can’t imagine. Or they might have re-interpreted the same information that other people have and came to their own conclusions. But it’s still very strange and fascinating.
Mental and physical interdependence
Whatever or wherever we think our mind is, we are affected by memory and how we react or respond to things. We do know that how our bodies feel affects our moods: going into a cool room after being out on a hot day, putting on a thermal jacket when it is cold, or after enjoying a meal that we like. Because our bodies are comfortable, we also feel mentally at ease or, as we say, we are in a good mood. Both physical and mental comfort depend on and affect each other.
We know how we react to different things: touch a hot surface and you jerk your hand away; if you are confronted by a growling dog, you will stop moving or back away from what you sense to be dangerous. These things that happen to us, how we react, is called our ‘fight or flight response’ – we either stand and defend ourselves or run for our lives. It is our nature among humans and animals to try to survive from something that threatens us.
Now see how our whole body responds – if we are attacked, hear loud frightening sounds, or become late for a deadline for example, several things happen in our body at the same time: our (sympathetic) nervous system sends chemical messengers (neurotransmitters) to different parts of the body. Immediately, our heart rate increases to pump blood faster to our muscles; the airways in our lungs widen to allow for more oxygen to come in for physical exertion; our eye pupils become bigger to help us see our surroundings clearly; we start sweating to help cool the body during exertion; hormones enter the bloodstream to boost the heart rate further, among other things. All this helps the blood flow to the brain to make us more aware, make faster decisions to respond to danger. We become more physically and mentally alert so that we can fight or run.
These responses are very important to enable fast reactions in an emergency, but if they are activated constantly due to repeated stress it is bad for our health and we need to help our body and mind to maintain a more relaxed state for longer periods. Fortunately, just as our thoughts can make changes in our bodily functions, there are things we can do physically to make changes in our mental responses.
Feelings affect the body and vice versa
Breathing, for example, because it is tied to our emotions, both shows and affects how we feel. When we are angry, we breathe fast and hard, and when we are depressed, we usually take in shallow breaths. It is difficult to experience one emotional state while experiencing the breathing pattern of another emotion. Imagine yourself depressed then try to breathe deep and rapidly as an angry person does. You will discover that it cannot be done, that your mood changes. The oxygen requirement of one mental state is not the same as the other so if you consciously do a different kind of breathing it automatically changes your mood. (Thanks to Tom Kenyon for this tip).
So, one of the fastest methods to bring your body into a calm and relaxed state is to consciously alter your breathing pattern. If you get anxious or agitated about something and feel breathless and you need to calm down quickly, breathe using your belly instead of your chest to draw air into your lungs. Shallow, upper chest breathing is a response to stress, and you counter its effects by consciously using deep belly breathing, which brings you into a calmer state. (People with low blood pressure or who have recently suffered a stroke, however, should consult their doctors before attempting any breathing technique.)
The word hormone was mentioned – it comes from a Greek word, hormon, meaning ‘that which sets in motion’. Our hormones are chemicals made by glands or cells in our bodies and they activate or set things in motion when they are sent around our bodies through the bloodstream. Other organs or tissues respond to them, the way a key opens a door. We saw the effects they have when we react to danger, but there are other hormones which do the opposite and make us feel good.
For instance, our brain releases oxytocin when we are touched or hugged by someone we love or when we spend time with family and friends, making us feel even closer to the ones we care about. Our brains also release serotonin, another feel-good hormone, when we eat certain foods like chocolate, or after doing hard exercise, making us feel happy. This feeling is also known as the “runner’s high” when we have achieved something that makes us feel good.
Yet another way to relax quickly is to focus on your face. Our mental tensions, dissatisfaction, unhappiness, worry and anger toward things and people create physical tensions that show up as facial expressions. Here, again, a physical action will affect your mood. Relax your facial muscles gradually, starting at your forehead, down to your eyes, cheeks and mouth, jaws, chin, and neck. This helps you to relax and is useful when you are in bed and trying to fall asleep at night. People also practise this to prepare for meditation, but they extend their muscle relaxation downward from the neck to shoulders, arms, fingers, torso, thighs, knees, calves, ankles, feet, and toes. Such is the human body, which is affected a lot by what we think about and do.
Be fully aware we are physical bodies; we function through six senses; we can perceive this sensory input; we can exert our will; and we have the consciousness to be aware of all this. A deep understanding of these five things that most of us take for granted helps us realize that we do not even know where our desires come from. How do they arise? Why do we get carried away by them blindly and suffer for it?https://freemefromme28.wordpress.com/2024/11/21/self-slavery/
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