THE MIND: A BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED WATERS

Our ability to change for the better is contingent on what we do inside. This level of reality has many dimensions. The only reality we truly have control over is within us, our inner world. Neutrally observing our inner world is the basis of this ability to control our inner world. A very valuable tool to utilize as the reference points for our neutral observer is the nine universal principles that form the essence of all religious and spiritual teachings. These principles are gateways to freedom for the practitioner of neutral self observation.

Here they are: Grace, or gratitude to God, or The Divine however perceived, ; Joy is next, which refers to joy in the process of practitioner self awareness and self transformation; Presence, meaning being present and aware in each moment and being aware of the trails and trials of the past and the imaginings for the future as you are so present and not identifying with them; Truth, the nine universal principles; Reason, is the use of the rational mind to study and understand the reality as it is manifest before us; Logic, is one aspect of the process of reason whereby objectively observed facts in the moment are ordered so that the understanding of what is observed is clear; Ethics, has two aspects, that is, an absolute Ethics which refers to the experience of living life as best as one can from the perspective and practice of the universal principles; then relative ethics is the practice of principles according to the present social and ethical milieu one is in. These nine principles and the practice creates a synergy of being in which observation and transformation to a higher energy and reality is a fluid path. There will always be the cyclical patterns of one’s emotional life that plays out BUT there is always the potential and opportunity to observe and transform them.

The Mind, rationally described as in the above paragraphs is not all there is. The irrational or habituated mind, is everything else!!

FOUR RATIONAL EMOTIONS TO CULTIVATE: HAPPINESS FOR THE HAPPY; JOY FOR MERITORIOUS INCLUDING YOURSELF; COMPASSION (NOT ENABLING) FOR SUFFERING; AND INDIFFERENCE/NON ATTACHMENT TO NEGATIVITY OR EVIL. HERE IS WHERE WE NEED TO PUT OUR ENERGY.