The Mind Has No Power You Don't Give It
La mente no tiene ningún poder que tú no le des
A student shares a realization from morning meditation: that thought has no inherent power to pull one out of spacious awareness, and that only the belief in that power grants it.
The Mind Has No Power You Don't Give It
A student shares a realization from morning meditation: that thought has no inherent power to pull one out of spacious awareness, and that only the belief in that power grants it.
I think I had a realization that seemed important today, meditating in the morning. I realized that thought actually has no power to take me out of this spaceless space, or unity, or however you want to call it. The only thing that gives it that power is believing that it has power to take me out of that. I just wanted to share it. It felt really good.
That's a big deal. I think it's a bit of a before and after, that realization. You start to see freedom. I'm not sure if you notice that what you're describing is a realization of freedom.
I'm not sure.
The mind is not the enemy
Well, if the mind doesn't have power over you, you're already free. And if the power it has is given and granted by you, then it's your choice, and so you're free. You're free to give up that power and be chained again, but it's your choice.
Yeah. I was minimizing it in my mind, like it was just a glimpse and I'd soon go back to believing that thought has the power to take me out.
The important thing is that it always is a glimpse. What matters is what you do with it. To think something more is needed is just another trap.
That mind is not the enemy. It's like: the heart pumps blood, and the mind pumps thoughts. That's what it does. It just keeps continuously making thoughts over reality, but it really doesn't have the power to take you out of reality, in a sense.
Testing the glimpse as a hypothesis
One hundred percent correct. First of all, it helps to be encouraged, validated, confirmed that what you're describing is real. But what matters is that even on your own, you could see what happens if you assume that it is a true and real glimpse. What happens if you test that as a hypothesis? You glimpsed that the mind has no power unless you give it power by believing it has power. So live as if that were true, and practice the choice of not giving it power.
Then it's just a matter of changing a habit. You're no longer fighting something. When you think the mind has power, you fight that power, and so you're fighting a part of yourself that has decided something. Now you just have the option, which you always had, but now you realize you have it: to choose something different, which is simply relating to reality in a new way. Basically, it's choosing not to believe that thought has power, and seeing how deep the rabbit hole of that goes. Whenever you notice again that you're believing it, you can probably more and more instantly recognize it as just a belief. And in an instant, the power the mind seemed to have will dissolve, because it was only the belief that gave it power.
The ghost under the bed
It's like believing in a ghost under the bed. That belief can be a really powerful thing as an experience. But the instant you look under the bed and there's no ghost, all of its power disappears. Then you can start suspecting again that there's a ghost. You look again. But the instant you are convinced there's no ghost, the power disappears: the fear, the worry, all of it. And then it may come back.
So that's what I mean. All you need is that glimpse which says there is no ghost. Nothing more is needed other than living as if that were true, so you check under the bed. And you keep checking under the bed. But the glimpse, the realization, is just one, and you only need it once. It's just that one moment of seeing, and it's instantaneous, almost outside of time. You see that something is untrue in the sense that the mind has power.
Reconfirming what you already know
So whenever you feel again that the mind is compelling you, that it has power, you go back to that knowing that it doesn't. In a sense, you have to do a bit of a check or a test. You have to reconfirm it. Look under the bed. Is there a real ghost?
Over time, you won't have to do that. You won't have to reconfirm. You won't have to test. You won't have to check. It just becomes really obvious. Not necessarily because there are more glimpses, but because a habit falls away. There will be more glimpses, and they will be of deeper layers. But what really matters is recognizing the glimpse and doing something with it. In a way, it's easier to have the glimpses than to do something about them. The "doing something about them" is what I'm referring to: looking under the bed, remembering, integrating, retesting that realization.
Seeing why you give the mind power
Whenever you feel again that the mind has this power, you can go back to: "But I saw through this. So let me look again, more closely." There might be a new looking needed because some deeper intensity is happening and the mind is compelling because of it. But that looking will be able to show you why you are giving it that power. Because you know now: if it does have that power, it's because you have given it. So you can see, "I'm giving it that power because it's helping me manage this, or deal with this, or giving me a sense of safety," or whatever it is.
There's always an exchange, a transaction. Giving up freedom in order to get something in return. But to see that this choice is still always a free choice: to give up freedom is a choice you can make and unmake at any time.