Minding Mind Mends Misery "The self is the master of the self. Who else can that master be?" So says the Buddhist text Dhammapadda on its revolutionary insights about the mind as the universal basis of experience. Re-invigorating this ageless doctrine, medical doctor and author Deepak Chopra writes that the self is "an untouchable core...which possesses absolute wisdom and self-knowledge." In his new book, Unconditional Life: Discovering the Power to Fulfill Your Dreams (Bantam Books), he explains that the way we conceive the self depends upon the extent to which we allow our minds to expand or limit our personal creation of reality. Dr. Chopra warns, "If you are ignorant about your own self, your self will shrink to fit your conception." By mastering our thoughts, we can overcome confining burdens and discover a world free of fear and anguish. Case histories include conversion experiences, from chronic suffering to joy or vice-versa simply by adjusting mental viewpoints: Phillip, for example, became a hopeless catatonic schizophrenic following childhood trauma. A psychologist recognized that Phillip's sanity reflected the "superficial love and caring" given by the hospital staff. He invited Phillip to live in his home. After several years of compassionate rapport, Phillip improved to where he married, had two children, held a steady job, and attending college. On the other hand, a patient with minor heart muscle damage launched into a chain reaction of emotional fits when told of his condition. He died of myocardial rupture within minutes because of his outbursts. Dr. Chopra explains that our lives are as flexible or inflexible as we train our minds to permit. We are conditioned to believe that "hard scientific materialism" builds a map of reality for us: that objects "out there" have greater control over us than our own feelings and intuitions. Thus, attached to worldly experiences that are forever in flux, we become distorted from our true nature, forever asking the question, "Why do I hurt?" The ensuing search compels us to continually grasp for meaning outside of ourselves with despairing frustration. We forget to trust in the creative abilities of the mind to consider different options. As we explore these alternatives, we become more aware of how we are the creators of our own reality. Dr. Chopra admonishes that we become miserable through a profound lack of self-acceptance when we fail to acknowledge this power. "The mistake of the intellect," Dr. Chopra quotes an ancient rishi, "is that you believe that you live in the world, when in fact the world lives in you." This message points to the idea that we engage in life with a mind that is greater than what any one individual possesses. Similarly, Edgar Cayce spoke of the mind as the mediator of all knowledge and that we have the power to bring this knowledge into material expression. Access to a cosmic mind poses enormous implications for maximizing one's personal effectiveness and happiness. For one thing, all the resources that you need are available to you. You access them by creating the appropriate situations; that is, change your mind, change your awareness, and you change the world. When you become aware of the inner experiences of bliss and mental expansion, of complete freedom and boundless power, you discover that there are no enemies within. Therein lies the master. (Digest by Clayton Montez, Atlantic University) |