Eye of an ant and the body of an elephant

Living without the power of sight is hard to imagine. Those tiny apertures just a few millimeters across, are such a great gift, adding immense value to our lives. We take them for granted until sight starts to fail us. Our lives start in the darkness of the womb and ends when the curtain like eyelids close for the final time. In between we experience light, without which nothing would be visible. The opening and closing of this grand drama is not only played out over many years, but daily as well. When we sleep, we enter the womb of our own consciousness. The entryway is through darkness. Our consciousness is very much alive, but we are unaware of it. As soon as we awaken, that communion with our own consciousness within is instantly overpowered by light that reflects off the world of objects. That inner light emanating from our own consciousness is never seen, and thought to be non existent.

Self consciousness

From a very young age we are taught not to be self conscious. We are encouraged to project outward confidence. All the senses are geared to look externally and seek out the world. The mind is kept very busy through its constant engagement with the sense organs. Slowly over time, we conclude that reality is that which exists outside of us. We ignore what lurks within the darkness behind the visible part of the mind and what’s behind the functioning of each individual cell. On a physical level cells and organs are continuously functioning. We seldom pay attention to them until an illness strikes. The attention of the mind is quickly diverted from the external world to the illness within the body. Through the lens of illness, there is constant awareness of the living reality that the human body is. But this awareness is chained to the body and cannot go beyond it. Only when the body is rendered “invisible” through deeper introspection with constant awareness, self consciousness takes a positive turn. When limited to the body, it turns negative and is ultimately a dead end. The mind has convinced us that there is nothing beyond the body, which becomes a virtual starting point from which the mind pushes us outwards.

Heart and mind: Bridging the gap

A talk given in Sarasota, FL on April 14, 2016

There are three dimensions to the health of a human heart. They are the physical, the physiological and the psychological. Modern medicine is good at healing illnesses that affect the physical and physiological aspects of the heart. These two are unique to each individual. We cannot experience the joy and pain of another through the physical and physiological dimensions. We can share another being’s happiness or suffering only through the psychological window of the heart. That window is the link that can either unite us or divide us. Medicines cannot enhance or fix it. On the contrary, it may mask and suppresses the psychological aspect of the heart.

Judging, witnessing and awareness - II

Continued a from prior post (2-8-2016)

Understanding the mind and making it do our bidding may be seem like an impossible task at times. The mind occupies a central part of our lives and everything we do involves the mind directly or indirectly. Whatever happens in the mind is deeply is deeply intertwined with our external lives. So much so, that there perhaps isn’t one act that is done that does not involve the mind. If we aren’t conscious of something, it does not mean that the subconscious mind isn’t registering it. In sleep, we lose awareness of the mind, but does the mind completely shut down? That is very hard to tell. It seems paradoxical to remain awake and being witness to what happens when we are asleep. The mind has turned into a judge of everything, a potent force to be reckoned with. Through our inattention, it has turned into an autonomous entity within ourselves and has assumed a steering role in our lives. It holds us accountable, but there is nothing that seems to hold the mind accountable. It has occupied the driver’s seat.

Introvert and extrovert

Fun loving extroverts, playing mischief

In our minds, are thoughts, and will never lead us

To the shy introvert, called by many names

Any pseudonym will do, after all they are just sounds

Even when softly whispered, wrong words

Cause great damage, extroverted thoughts rarely forgive

We live and walk this great divide, the choice is ours

Who to follow? The introvert within or thoughts which promise

The world, the followers of the mind fall into a darker abyss

Than the one that hides the inner introvert

The choice isn’t hard, but is rarely made, disparate as fire and ice

Words can define, but can never reach, where a true introvert resides

Crowds and solitude

There is solitude only in the moment, not on mountain tops

Barren deserts, deserted beaches or lonesome forests

Crowds of thought quickly swarm those places, even if there is

No one around, like the sky they are always there, the whispering

Cannot be turned off, unless one learns, to listen, amidst the busy crowd

For elusive silence, everyone is gifted solitude, daily in the depths of sleep

If one can escape the charm of dreams, which provide a contrast

To the happenings of the day, even those crowds must be parted

It can only happen, there is solitude everywhere, just as there are crowds

Those moments of solitude must be prised open, not through effort

But by effortless patience, the crowds will thin and die out

Leaving solitude in its wake, which was always there

Color and colorless

Color represents who we are, infinite variations

Made from the same human mold, imagine a world without it

The tiny speck of color standing out in the backdrop of black

Would disappear, but for light, the source of it all

Chasing darkness is its hobby, the two can never meet

Where one is the other cannot live, the monotony

Of light is broken up, into colors, for our enjoyment

It slips even into dreams, the mind holds the pallette

While an inner light brings it out, the journey can be colorful

All the way to the end, beyond the reach of even light

It isn’t death, which is colorless, it cannot be seen or painted

Life is color, its shades are uncertain, but a picture may be painted