Slow Down (Part 2)

(Please read the first part, Slow Down part 1)

The mind is ignorant and turns your reality into how you believe it to be. But this is an illusion because that is not reality. Therefore you have to cut the head off, cut the strings of the mind (we are the puppeteer we gave almost all control over to thinking mind that makes all judgement and decisions and behavior). Live without the mind and you are in reality. You have to exercise control of your mind by not listening to it. But to put it better, you have to let thoughts and emotions almost float away. The more dominance you have the quicker the thought slows down from growing until you can get to a point where you can catch it at its root. It's tough because you believe what your mind is telling you and so it has control over your thoughts and therefore actions, you are its puppet. It dominates you. So how do u train your mind? 

We fall in traps of seeing things as real when it is only based on the mind's ignorance. Which means all your feelings and emotions and actions are based on the illusion that is created by the mind and you are actually falling for it. Which means that the main thing the ego-mind does is distract you. For example I say that I want to quit smoking. Why do I want to quit? Because I want to quit. But I can't because my MIND wont let me. I am a slave of my mind. It controls what I do. My mind is telling me that a cigarette will not hurt me when in fact smoke and all kinds of chemicals poisons the body with each inhalation. The ego-mind is the only thing the cigarette pleases. Or another example I want to read a book. But I can't because my mind is distracting me, it is procrastinating and making me lazy. 

Normal people are used to having their mind being the pilot and let it perform automatically by itself. This is a huge mistake and this is exactly why you are literally asleep, your consciousness is asleep. You help to weaken the grip of your mind by putting your foot down and letting your mind know who's the boss. You are in control. Defeat the mind that is holding you from being what you can be potentially. Remember this is a long and patient process and requires baby steps.

The key secret of life is that your mind -- the holder of dual tension (some of you may know this as the black and white checkerboard in freemasonry. Also shown in the Portrait of Heath Ledger.) -- is an illusion AND so are your .... inferior, afflictive emotions. Your afflictive emotions are very dangerous. They have more complicated and faster control over you. The secret to life is to not believe either of them. However, you must always be mindful that your mind switches to auto-pilot by itself all the time and at any moment without you even noticing the slightest bit, it is incredibly tricky. 

Your emotions move 60,000 times faster then your intellect. Therefore most of your afflictive thoughts are actually coming from ... your emotions. They are emotional thoughts. Not intellect. Observe this in yourself. 

But since your emotional thoughts moves at incredibly high speeds you have to train yourself to be able to catch it. This takes constant effort from your part. As a foundation to begin this process you need to be able to first be alert as much as you can. You need to be alert because the mind will trick you back in hypnosis without any hint of your awareness. Being alert means asserting your focus on the here and now. When you do eventually notice yourself back in the trance of the mind, return to being watchful. This is a process that has to be repeated again and again because you need to be awake in order to catch emotional thoughts either after they arise or when they are arising or right before it arises (suggested post: Atisha on How to Deal With Anger). There will be successes. And there will be many failures. But by holding the weapon of determination, dust yourself off and keep persevering.

"If you do not watch your mind, then pride, lust, envy, anxiety will take over." - Gnosticteachings.org

In part 1, I have compared being mindful to physical exercise. If you don't keep exercise consistent, you will lose muscle. The same can be said for dominating your mind if you are not consistently watching it. 

To learn how to conquer your afflictions please read this excellent lesson: http://gnosticteachings.org/courses/meditation-without-exertion/1709-how-to-conquer-afflictions.html