If we ask the question “how”, the mind is a good tool to start with. But if we ask the question “why” it is the non-mind that will help us much more. But if we ask the question “what” we normally think that the mind should be doing the work, but in fact it then would be the same as Ariel said, that the Map is not the Terrain. So the mind will only give you the map and nothing else. Even if you go out there you will probably be so caught up in your map of the mind that you will probably never experience the real terrain that is full of beauty and infinite richness. You have to disassociate from your mind before you can actually engage the full richness. Say you meet a person that you know nothing about. Is it better when you think of this person as a person that you don’t know and you rationalize a map to yourself according to his or her actions, or is it better if you know that this person is yourself basically and you love him unconditionally just as you love yourself? Sidenote: First you have to learn to love yourself though. If your mind tells you that you have to be “fixed” all the time or something is wrong with you, you won’t be able to love yourself properly, and yourself won’t be able to love other people or even the world around you. That is what the mind is able to do to you. But good news is that you can silent the mind or at least train it to think positively about yourself so that it will help you on your journey to unconditional love.

Only problem is that there is a lot of conflict and friction in our society between the mind and the soul. Our whole system is mind based. People who want to have more money then others are more likely to be caught up in their mind so much that they don’t have the time to even find their way to spirituality or a kind of understanding that is “above” being above somebody else’s head. But those people look like this most of their time whereas people who live their life much more enlightened look more like this deep inside. And they do this more often. But it doesn’t mean they have to live a modest life. They just live it differently…

I am sorry about my bad English. I’m from Europe actually. And I’m a 21 year old man on the path to enlightenment, but not yet there. I still have a lot of mind based problems I gave myself in the years I was only in my mind big time. But today I “just know” a lot I didn’t before that would have helped me A LOT in my relationships and personal development.

Thank you. It’s wonderful to hear that you’re tuning in more and more to Unconditional Love.

You’re absolutely right that when you don’t go to the mind for answers, you intuitively “just know” what to do. The heart is amazing like that.

It seems unconditional hate can ONLY exist through the mind. When the mind goes quiet and one looks within, hate is never found there. Only acceptance, peace, joy, and love. They are characteristics of your natural state, not something that necessarily needs to be enhanced, only realized.

Finally, one small point you mentioned at the end regarding the “shutting down” of the mind and ego: Instead of shutting down, let’s look at it more along the lines of disassociating. The mind has its role and is a very useful tool, but it is not us. If we can be in the world from the core of our being as our True Selves, we are free to let the mind think what it will, because it doesn’t have any affect on our true nature. It is *identification* with the mind that is the main limitation.

Now, one cool thing about disassociating from the mind is that by withdrawing your sense of identity from it, it will naturally start to go quiet over time because it no longer needs to be run continuously in order for you to feel like you can exist. You can just BE without having the mind twisting and turning in your head. The mental hub bub is no longer a necessity and lowers in volume naturally as an after effect.

I’d say these things the same way I have said them here: by saying my point and allowing them to believe what they will, with no attachment or desire to convert them on my part.

What I’ve found is that people who are deeply rooted in the mind tend to confuse thoughts with the actual thing, the map with the territory. The belief is that if they can understand the actual thing by understanding the symbolic version.

This may sometimes be the case. It may not. With respect to spirituality, I have found that this is definitely NOT the case, nor can it be for it is totally using the wrong tool for the job.

how would you say these thoughts to a convention of neuro-scientists, or wall street analysts, or politcians?

I wanted to say this post was really eye opening again. How you compared the state of flow to the state of letting go of our minds. And that unconditional LOVE is the greatest motivator, fulfillment and reward that one can give to the self. I really believe in that now. Nothing else can have a meaning besides what we give it. Only unconditional LOVE has a pure nature that is probably ourselves, literally. I say probably because we can’t know it unless we experience it without the boundaries of the ego. The mind can’t tell you anything about it, even if you try try and try you won’t ever find out what love is, because love is not about trying to do something, but truly doing it. If you are trying it means that you are stuck in your mind. If you have to analyze your love or have a bad feeling or regret or doubt, this is probably due to your mind. Without the mind you “just know”. It can be unconditional LOVE or unconditional HATE, but you have to experience it first by FULLY (this is the BIG trick) shutting down the mind and ego first.