There is no difference between the purified mind and the true Self of man. The mind is pure when it is single, that is when it it is devoted to one. If you wish to see God, the only way is to get rid of all selfish desires and make the mind single.
Ramakrishna
In his podcast this morning, Michael A. Singer spoke of the two parts of our minds: the personal mind and the nonpersonal/ intellectual mind. Hmm! What part of your mind are you using most?
Once again we need to make the distinction between the brain and the mind. The brain is an organ in the body. It is not the maker of thoughts, feelings, concepts, ideas etc. It is simply a filter for processing this energy. And thoughts are energy. If I dissected your brain right now under a high powered microscope I would not find one thought. There would not be one visible memory, belief, or concept showing up in that tissue that I could point to. Yet, you know thoughts, feelings. beliefs etc are part of the human experience. Where does this energy come from, then, if not the brain? The mind.
The mind, according to many yogis including Michael Singer , is just a field of energy on which the thought forms are created. It is consciousness. I am reminded of Thich Nhat Hanh's beautiful teachings on store consciousness and mind. We have, he taught, seeds for thoughts and feelings and all other types of mental formations housed in our store consciousness just waiting to grow up into the mind. I kind of see it, now after listening to Singer, ( and I could very likely be way off base) as store consciousness being universal, intellectual mind with so much potential and what Hanh referred to as "mind" being personal mind...what we are aware of as "me".
Anyway, I digress. Michael Singer tells us that most of us are so focused on our personal minds...those things related to "me and my story"... that we fail to see and use all the potential of intellectual mind. We are using our will to focus this amazing power of consciousness down on the inner and outer dramas of personal mind: our feelings, our thoughts, our beliefs, our samskaras, etc and using this mind in an offbeat attempt to protect and preserve the idea of "me". If we were using intellectual mind, however, we would see and experience so much more than "me drama". We would see and seek to understand the magnificence of the universe... the perfect order of its apparent chaos. We could be more inspired to create, and to experience all the gifts we have been given. And there would be nothing personal about it...no "me" in the way. We would see that we are a part of it all but in the most wholesome and singular of ways.
Hmm! Wouldn't that be something?
All is well.
Michael A. Singer/ Temple of the Universe ( February 8, 2024) How Empty Mind Creates Personal and Impersonal Thoughts. https://tou.org/talks/
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