Mind is Everything
A man is what he thinks. Literally. A man’s character is the sum of all of his thoughts. His mind is everything. Action Every action requires a thought. Action blooms from a man’s thoughts. Every act grows and springs from his seeds planted by his thoughts. Joy and suffering may be the fruits of his thoughts. He may reap both the ripe and the rotten of his own mental harvest. Character A noble, manly character isn’t created by chance, but by the natural result of continued effort in intentional thinking. Believing. A man is built or destroyed by himself. By thought alone, a man may create the weapons with which he destroys himself. His thoughts can also forge the tools with which he builds himself a comforting armor of joy, power, and peace. Between the Godlike and the bestial are all the of measures of a man’s character, and he is their maker and master. Proverbs 23:7 As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. You may be interested in reading Learn How Your Spirit Makes Your Work Fruitful.
Wild Horse Ride
Everything begins with a thought, and anything can arise from thinking. This can be good, because all things are therefore possible. And it can be bad, because without understanding how the mind works, our lives can be like riding a wild horse at night. The mind:
When investigating certain spiritual truths, without accepting metaphysical abstractions, one important factor for a man to consider is that all around us, many people are not happy - they're suffering. They are dissatisfied, unhappy, and not content with their current situation.
And the root all suffering comes from an uncontrolled mind. People Around You Are Suffering We've all heard stories of wealthy and famous people being very troubled. We may know folks who have every reason to be happy, but are not. Some talented, attractive people I know just seem downright miserable. Our own lives can be filled with interruptions, emergencies, painful experiences, pressures, and confusion. There are some folks who never sit in one spot. They're always on the move, onto the next big thing, a new place to go, and a greater thing to do. Their calendars are filled. They speak and do with insistent energy to enhance and consume even the most simplest life experiences. Never really satisfied with what they've got. And many people are in real pain, physically and mentally. It's amazing how resilient we are. We can suffer on and on, and we still keep on going. What Can We Do? What can a man do to help not only others but ourselves from the dissatisfaction, discontentment, and suffering that may be experienced in life? Unfortunately, many turn to religion or other man-made dogma with teachings based upon fear, which are not worth our time to study. Let's think for a moment. The Buddha said,
Proverbs 23:7 reads,
Since joy, peace, and love all depend upon the mind, might it make sense to learn how the mind works? Yes.
Meditation
The true goal of meditation is to learn how to work with the mind to connect you with everything else in the universe. Once you can realize that your "self" is not separate, but connected, to everything in the cosmos, then you can live a life that is satisfied, content, undisturbed, no matter the situation, no matter the location or time. The ultimate goal to meditating, or focused believing, is to be satisfied (living a life filled with joy, peace, and love), no matter what's going on. Once you understand how to control or transform your mind, body, and feelings, you find power and strength. It's written in heavenly texts, "
To get there, a man must continually work on building a healthy mind. That takes some training. Not all of us are enlightened, living and walking in the Light. And, I know that it's far better for me to be more enlightened that I usually am. So, it makes sense for me to learn more about what's really going on. To Understand How Things Really Are People suffer with their lives needlessly. Most people tend to worry, doubt, and fear themselves to death. To suppress these feelings, they seek one temporary pleasure after another, hoping to satisfy their dissatisfaction. This can be very stressful. To make the world a better place, we need to understand the nature of consciousness, our thoughts, our minds, and how things really are. Sam Harris writes in his book Waking Up:
You Are the Reason for Suffering Making your world better and living a life that is fulfilled and enlightened does not come from without, but from within. People suffer because that's what they think. The Buddha said,
Suffering comes from the mind, not from the world. The world does not cause you to suffer, you do. Your own mind does. Your mind determines if you're suffering or not suffering. Your mind determines how you experience something that is good or bad in your life, regardless of whether it's actually good or bad. Even Shakespeare knew this to be true when Hamlet said:
It Makes Sense to Train the Mind
It makes sense, therefore, to train the mind. To train our minds to see things as they really are, we can stop suffering, transcend ourselves, and achieve a state of well-being and connectedness to each other and with the cosmos (the universe, the Spirit, God). It's written in heavenly texts that the two most important acts of developing well-being and sustaining enlightenment is through the love of Spirit and serving others, even total strangers. Matthew 22:37-39 reads:
Joy, peace, and unconditional love can only be experienced by continuously training a healthy mind (consciousness) and being in alignment and harmony with the Spirit. As you serve others by helping them break free from this world, renew their minds, free their bodies, and become mindful of what is actually happening in their lives, you will find power, love and a sound mind. 2 Timothy 1:7 reads:
Conclusion To have joy, peace, and love in life, one must train the mind. Let's learn more about that in "To Bring Suffering to an End, One Must Think" from The King's Guide. When I look at the stars in the night sky, I am amazed of how much we're uncertain.
96% is Unknown Physicists say the observable universe makes up only 4% of the entire universe. That includes all of the stars, galaxies, clouds, planets, comets, dust, etc. The rest - 96% of the universe - is called dark matter and dark energy. Invisible stuff. Unseen. We're uncertain of what makes up most of the universe. We really have no idea what's going on. My observations seem to agree. There's much more going on than what I can see. I don't believe in anything simply because I heard someone say it. I don't believe in things simply because it is found written in religious books. I don't believe in anything merely on the authority of others. I believe by observation, thought, and reason. So, let's think about what we see, and not see, in our world. Martin Luther Martin Luther said that God is not just in the Bible, but is also found in the trees, the flowers, the clouds, and the stars. In the crisp, clean air of Boulder, Colorado, I see the stars almost every night. The stars are amazing. They remind us of how vast God's presence is - not just throughout the universe, but also within each of us. Wonder Men travel great distances to climb snow-capped mountains, sail wavy seas, gaze across lands, ride wild rivers, and dive deep oceans. But we tend to pass by ourselves, not stopping to wonder about our connection to the universe. God is Everywhere Might it be that God is everywhere present and unseen? Yes. What we actually see are the manifestations of God, as Martin Luther said. God is a universal presence. Quantum physicists refer to an infinite field of invisible potentiality. Hm. Same thing. We cannot see God with our eyes. Why? Because God is Spirit. God is invisible to the human eye. No one has ever seen God. But we know, we believe, God is always present, with us, around us, in us. God is spirit (John 4:24). What else is God? Man? No. Woman? No. Is God Jesus? No. Is God religion? Certainly not. God is energy, everywhere, unlimited, eternal, powerful, joy, peace, love. God is unconditional love. And God is around us, with us, always. No matter where we are, God. Even if I was in the middle of nowhere – like the uttermost parts of the sea - I would not be alone (Psalms 139:9-10). God is everywhere present. He is always there as a source and a guide. How Big is the Universe? If God is everywhere present in the infinite universe, then God is, therefore, everywhere present in event the smallest, tiniest thing. Well, how big is the universe? Let's imagine the Earth was the size of a grain of sand. Then the size of our solar system, out to the planet Neptune, would be as big about as big as a football field. Now, imagine if our solar system was the size of a grain of sand, then our Milky Way Galaxy would be 1,000 times the size of a football field. Now, let's imagine our galaxy to be the size of a grain of sand. Then the size of the universe would be as big as a football field. The universe is really, really big. And God is everywhere. Everywhere Means Everywhere Now, let's imagine God being present everywhere, even in the smallest building blocks of everything that we see - atoms. What’s inside atoms? Nothing that we can see with our eyes. There are electrons, neutrons, and protons. And even smaller than that, there are quanta. Even in the tiniest of things, God is everywhere. Everywhere means everywhere. Why Study the Unseen? Why do we study things we can not see? Because the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal (2 Corinthians 4:18). God is eternal. Why is This Important? Why is it important to know that God is is everywhere, eternal, and always with us? It might be that remembering God’s presence in our lives helps us to not have fear. We can be peaceful in any situation as we stay our minds on God. Peace We experience perfect peace when our minds are stayed and focused on God (Isaiah 26:3). God says He will keep us in perfect peace. How? As we stay our minds on God. How do we do that? Staying Our Minds on God How do we stay our minds on God? We are not be conformed to this world, fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs. But instead we are transformed (changed) by the entire renewal of our minds, with its new ideals and its new attitude, so that we may prove for ourselves what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God (Romans 12:2). As we keep our minds on God by renewing our minds, and reading the Word, we can be peaceful, knowing that God is present. For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7). He is with us day and night, inside and out, no matter what challenge we face. Boat in a Storm Jesus knew God was with him in every situation. He practiced the presence of God. Because he remembered God was always with him to help, Jesus turned to God and stayed peaceful in difficult situations. In Luke 8:22-25, there a story about when Jesus and his friends were on a boat crossing over the Sea of Galilee. Jesus was tired from teaching, so he took a nap on the boat. While he slept, a large storm hit and lots of water came into their boat. This was a very scary and dangerous situation. Can you imagine being in this boat? Would you remain peaceful? Jesus did. He remembered that God was with him. He rebuked the storm. Rebuke means to express sharp disapproval or criticism of someone or something, because of their behavior or actions. He knew that God’s power was greater than the power of the storm. He commanded the storm to stop, and it did. Practice the Presence of God We can practice the presence of God in our lives. In all our ways we can acknowledge God’s presence. We can lean on, trust in, and be confident in God with all our heart and mind. We don't rely on our own insight or understanding. In all our ways, we know, recognize, and acknowledge that which is ever present, unlimited, yet unseen. And God will direct and make straight and plain our paths. Love Each Other And we can pray to God for ourselves and each other. We can pray at all times, on every occasion, in every season, in the Spirit, being inspired. We keep alert and watch with strong purpose and perseverance, and we intercede on behalf of each other. We have free will, freedom to either be opportunity to serve or excuse for selfishness. Through love we should serve one another (Galatians 5:13). Put on the Mind of God We can put on the mind of God by (a) studying the Word of God (2 Timothy 2:15), (b) recognizing ourselves as children of God or children of light (Ephesians 5:8), (c) practicing the presence of God (Proverbs 3:5-6), and (d) walking in love (2 John 1:6). Love One Another We ought to love one another. And what this love consists of is this: that we live and walk in accordance with and guided by God and the teachings from God. If there be only one expressed desire, it would be that we continue to walk in love, guided by it and following it (2 John 1:5-6). Conclusion When we keep our minds on God and His Word, we have God’s peace. God will guide us and help us. We can practice the presence of God in our lives as we acknowledge God in all situations, and we can pray and believe. When you’re outside today, is God with you? Yes. How about tonight when you’re sleeping? Is God with you? Yes. No matter where you are or what you’re doing or what challenges you’re facing, you can say, “God is with me always.” You might be interested in reading "Gandhi, Sugar and iPhones" from The King's Guide. |
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