Training the mind - 3

An unwritten code

Written in the land of the free

Sliding down a helical staircase

Leaving its impression on every door

Life starts when one door closes and another opens. When the door of the womb shuts, door of the mind opens letting in the light of the world. Like a brand new computer with a basic operating system, the brain is the “hardware” and the mind is the “software”. Computers may be programmed by a binary code of 1s and 0s. The human body is programmed by the genetic code. This is a quaternary code consisting of the letters A (for adenine), G (for guanine), C (for cytosine) and T (thymine). These four letters standing for nucleobases in DNA arranged in innumerable combinations create the blueprint for the entire human body.  Every cell in the body is given this genetic blueprint based on which all cellular processes go on.

Training the mind - 2

Five figurines stacked on one another

Their beauty hidden by a smokescreen

Conjured by a magician exemplar

Whose grandmaster lives beyond rivulets of desire

 

Wearable optics such as the Google Glass are now in vogue. Information that used to be available at fingertips can now be had at the blink of an eye. The modern mind is quickly adapting to these “synthetic senses” in addition to the five natural senses. But this “heads up display” of information has always been an inbuilt feature of mind. Anywhere we look, the sensory information processed by the eyes is interpreted in real time by the mind. A constant stream of thoughts guides us based on new information as well as older information already stored in the mind. Unlike the internet, the information bank in our minds is sequestered for only our private access. Or is it? Perhaps, it may be possible to explore the deeper roots and connections our minds may have if we are able to sufficiently quieten the surface mental activity.

Training the mind - 1

Not many sports can evoke such nationalistic fervor as soccer does. A ball being thrashed around a grassy field can raise or drop hopes of millions. The intense emotional scrutiny of screaming fans juxtaposed on the what goes on in the minds of the players as they attack or defend their positions more than makes up for the paucity of goals scored compared to other “high scoring” games. The psychology of the striker and the goalkeeper are very different as they come face to face separated by a ball in motion, the biggest prize on this moving chess board. The mind has millions of “thought balls” that are being kicked around between the conscious and subconscious minds. At any given moment, the mind is shuffling between an attacking and defensive mode, driven by the reward of objective gratification in the outer world. Like trapped air forming the core of a soccer ball, trapped energy forms the core of bundles of thoughts. If a soccer ball is deflated, the game stops, and similarly if the energy supplied to thoughts run out, the mind vanishes. In deep sleep, consciousness is withdrawn closer to the core of ourselves beyond the thoughts and the senses. Deprived of its fuel, the mind goes dark. Like a well timed geyser, consciousness erupts into the mind on waking up and the waking drama starts where it was left off.