The Mindless Western Mind!!

Written by Mathew Naismith

It was said to me recently in a discussion on the western and eastern mind that the western mind is controlling or maybe even of no mind. Considering that the yang and yin are within each other so is the eastern and western mind, one is never not of the other to one extent or another, it is therefore unlikely that the western mind is of total control and/or mindless. The following replies I gave to other people on this subject will explain this further.

The western mind, being of the greater ego, will of course judge someone like me stating that the western mind is mindless is judgmentally egotistic, however, the eastern mind observes this as simply pointing our an obvious weakness within the western mind itself. In saying this, as the western mind has it's weaknesses, so does the eastern mind. The difference is in that the eastern mind will acknowledge and deal with it's weaknesses, this is different to the western mind that primarily focuses on it's strengths while ignoring it's weaknesses.

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Interesting Chinwhisker, this is probably why I relate Christianity and Hinduism, in the raw form, to be of both western and eastern mind, yin and yang, however, I only equate Buddhism to yin, the feminine, the eastern mind.

To me: Eastern mind = yin + feminine + of lesser ego

            Western mind = yang + masculine + of greater ego

A balance brings peace, God's kingdom, where an imbalance brings chaos, man's kingdom.

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I also wrote the following reply on questioning the bible and the mindlessness of the western mind. It was interestingly mentioned that the western mind is of control or of no mind.

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+Chinwhisker  It's all to do with how one is conditioned to read the bible, however, as I have found out,  prayers have been changed over time to reflect a different stance, is the bible the same?

If one is all ego, can we equate this to no mind? By destroying the very thing one relies on for it's existence to feed it's ego, I would say this is of no mind. 

China has destroyed it's natural environment mainly because of western influence through becoming more westernised.  Yes, I would say it's fair enough to call the western mind mindless.

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Primarily focusing on, for example, positive thinking or love and light, is focusing on our strengths while noticeably ignoring the weaknesses. A good example of this is of children being abused in every way, this is ignored by positive and love and light people because it's too negative or toxic to address. It's a weakness that is plainly ignored. If half the people in the world spoke against this kind of abuse, a lot of children would be saved from abuse, instead, the western mind focuses on itself and it's own strengths, not it's own weaknesses. By ignoring these weaknesses because they are not of love and light or positive, allows these weaknesses to flourish, in actuality that is exactly what is presently occurring.

I should mention here that stating Buddhism is equated to the feminine (yin) and not also the masculine (yang) is in reference to it's philosophies. I believe that Buddhism came about for a need of a philosophy and an awareness to balance out life as a whole that was and still is primarily of the masculine. Even though Buddhism is of a religion as well as of philosophy, Buddhism wasn't meant to be followed or used in the same way as most ideologies. I believe Buddhism should be used in conjunction with other ideologies, not in opposition, a lot of western people following Buddhist philosophies, in my mind, are using Buddhism in opposition to other ideologies, not in conjunction.

It's funny to think it's the eastern part of the western mind that observes these weaknesses as the western mind is unable to. Consider this; can a man (yang) give birth? It's the same as the western mind being unable to address it's weaknesses, it needs the eastern mind to do this. Void of the eastern mind, the western mind can indeed be too controlling and mindless by primarily focusing on the ego, the outer world instead of the inner world or self.

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Supplement:

I suppose the way we are looking at past lives is more western than eastern.

At times translation between western and eastern is easy, at other times virtually impossible. I don't think everything eastern can be successfully translated into western and probably visa-versa. Language is one barrier but so is the substance or meaning. Considering that the eastern and western mind looks at things in quite a different way a lot of the times, this figures.

I was talking to a bloke from India about the bhagavad gita, he simply said it's virtually impossible to convert the bhagavad gita to English, you lose too much of it's truer meaning. I don't think western language has as much inner depth and meaning as eastern languages. In saying this, I think the old English language has more depth than today's English; I'm not sure on this though.   

Yin and Yang Ego

Written by Mathew Naismith

Buddhism relates all suffering to the ego as all suffering can only be created through the ego mind. Looking around our present environment today, it's difficult to refute this claim, however, this doesn't make the ego bad or negative, just simply unaware especially in regards to a controlling ego. As soon as we see the ego as being bad or negative in some way, this is a good indication of the ego mind in control. Simply look at the ego as an unaware state, state that is unaware of what it is apart of as a whole.

Indeed, ego simply means a state of existence experienced that is unaware of it's own connection to all else, and the more controlling the ego mind is, the less aware a state of consciousness naturally becomes. I say natural because it's quite natural for an ego in control to be unaware, this is it's natural state, the trick is, the ego mind controlled by the ego, not just of the ego mind, won't want to see this state as being natural. What controlling ego desires to be of a natural state of unawareness? An ego in control will often deceive itself; this is why this state is naturally in a state of unawareness.

Yin and yang are good representations of the ego mind or ego self. In balance with each other, they are only of the ego, in imbalance, they are of the a controlling ego, One always trying to control the other while refuting that is it apart of the other or connected to the other in some way. For example, how often do the rich disconnect themselves from the poor? The controlling ego mind always tries to disconnect itself from the other; of course this disconnection naturally makes this kind of conscious state unaware for obvious reasons.

Yin and yang working in perfect balance naturally creates awareness, this is because this balance creates a union of one working as one. Within this union, there is no yang or yin trying to control the other, in turn naturally creating a state of awareness.

How often do we try to separate ourselves from duality and only see our truer being as a non-dual state of existence or being? Even though a non-dual state and a dual state of existence represents yin and yang, our controlling ego mind still only sees our truer being as being non-dualistic thus separation from the other has occurred. How aware is a non-dualistic state of a dualistic state? It's simply not, as soon as a non-dualistic state becomes aware of a dualistic state, it's become dualistic in nature.

Simply, the ego in control deceives us to think we are non-dualistic when all the time we are dualistic in nature. In saying this, I do think we can enter into non-dualistic states which often give us the perception that we are of this non-dualistic state and not truly also of a dualistic state. As of yin and yang, one is of the other; all that the perception of separation creates is an unawareness that naturally creates suffering and destructiveness.

I had an interesting conversation with a lass from Great Britain recently, I will finish off this post with this conversation. 

My Reply

Fear should always be faced face on to see it for what it truly is, a hollow apparition/phantom. Fear to me is simply a consciousness's unawareness of what truly is. Only an unaware consciousness can be and create a reality of fear based perceptions. Sounds awfully familiar sadly enough, we simply don't have to be this way, we certainly have a choice in my mind.

As like not perceiving/judging everything negative that is not of our own beliefs and perceptions, we should also try to see fear in a neutral light as our perceptions of fear being negative gives it it's control over us. This is why some people of love and light have gone way too far with love and light; everything else not of love and light is a negative. A true sense of love and light is to perceive everything as love and light, this simply isn't the case for most people it would seem.

People like me are more for the middle ground with no extremes, a totally neutral reality where all things are truly created and treated as equals, a true sense of balance. No extremes of light and dark, love and hate, will bring balance, there is simply no equilibrium with to and fro actions and counteractions between love and light, hate and dark.

Can love and light create a reality of love and light? For the individual or (a) collective consciousness, yes, most definitely, but it's still not a reality of a true sense of balance as each extreme reality creates it's opposite somewhere in the (whole) collective consciousness.

To a lot of people of love and light, love has no opposite, even when the opposite of hate is love. It's like extracting the yang from the yin and still calling it balance between yin and yang while extracting the yang from the yin altogether, a lot of people are simply fooling themselves here.

The reason for this, to me, is that these people have only gone part way in the awareness process, this one part of the awareness process feels good so this must be the be and end all. When you sit back from everything and observe it without bias, everything is neutral; this is until a consciousness perceives it otherwise, usually in retaliation to something the controlling ego doesn't desire like our present situation in the world for example.

Sorry, you started me off again; some people just have a knack of getting it to flow with me. When I converse with someone else who is also neutral in one sense or another, this brings forth the neutrality within me. Just imagine if everyone was neutral, we just simply wouldn't have a problem in the world, we would reflect off each other beautifully in relative perfect balance.

Reply

Everything just is. Duality is in fact the whole.
Recently I have observed others talking about separation and encouraging others not to be divisive, which is a fundamental part of increasing consciousness. 

However, as you have so eloquently articulated, the end point is Love and Light for them. What they don't realise is that by not embracing the whole, the light, the dark, the shadow, the love - as One , then they are living a life of separation on another level.
It is easy to write these words but a whole different matter living by these terms.

My Reply

Indeed, duality actually represents the whole. Imagine being of non-duality, an unawareness of the duality within the whole, how aware and whole are we then? In-effect, a non-dual state is all about separation and unawareness, separating itself from duality, the yang if you like. It's like being just of this light and love, how aware (enlightened) are you truly? You're simply not. It's good to see someone else who tries not to allow the controlling ego to control them; the ego desires one or the other as always.

      

Shooting for the Sky

Written by Mathew Naismith

The following quote was introduced to me by a bloke of the name of Sreeram.  

"Quietude when active and active when quietude is the sign of the wise."

My Response:

I had to come back to this. I was recently removed from an ascension group, a group of people looking  to ascend beyond the present human consciousness.

There was  a lot of talk about toxic people, there was two of us that stated that it is toxic within itself to express such actions, you are continuing on the cycle of pain, release yourself from this endless cycle. This didn't go down too well with a number of people, in the end, ending up with my removal.

I was too active with this group and labelled in accordance. I pointed out the sun, being the most active energy source in the solar system, is at the same time the most life giving, obviously not all active energy is toxic/negative.

These people desire quietude void of being active within themselves, in a finite existence this isn't practical for finite existence is based on motion. It's as though they are shooting for the stars, infinite being, instead of shooting for the sky, infinite and finite being.

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http://ocoy.org/dharma-for-christians/tao-teh-king-for-christians/calm-quietude/

Extract: The greatest perfection seems imperfect, and yet its use is inexhaustible.
The greatest fullness seems empty, and yet its use is endless.
The great straightness looks like crookedness.
The greatest skill appears clumsy.
The greatest eloquence sounds like stammering.
Restlessness overcomes cold, but calm overcomes heat.
The peaceful and serene is the norm of the world.

Let's say yin represents our infinite being and yang represents our finite being, also that yin is the stars and yang the physical.

Yin = infinite being + stars

Yin and Yang = infinite and finite being  + the stars and the physical

Yang = finite being +  physical

In our existence, yin and yang would be separated from each other if it wasn't for the sky, it's the sky that brings our whole being together, for we are not whole unless we are of the other. Why is yin and yang often displayed as a whole? What we seem to be doing in a lot of cases, especially in the West, is shoot for the stars  (yin) at the expense of the Yang (physical), when one is not whole without the other!!   As it seems of many people in these kinds of groups, it's the stars or nothing at the expense of the whole and yin.

Yin and yang are often represented as black and white, this is in relation to a black and white mentality which I try to avoid myself. The reason I try to avoid this, is where does the sky then fit within this kind of mentality? It often doesn't which means one will never become truly whole with one's whole being. The yin and yang symbol is represented as separate entities, the physical and stars in this case, however at the same time symbolised as one as a whole which is represented by the sky in this case.

In an existence of extreme finite (physical ) expressions,  we are desiring to be just of the infinite (stars), within this action, we are excluding what makes us whole and balanced again, the sky. The sky is often referred to as the grey area, a state were black and white intermingle to create the whole being as opposed to separate beings as in black and white, yin and yang.

Yes, many people are also anti-ego in these groups, of course only the ego can have disdain for itself !! It's not the ego that wants the stars void of the physical, it's a controlling ego for a controlling ego is all about separating one from the other by excluding the sky, and in this case the physical. A controlling ego doesn't want balance of it's this balance that takes control from the ego. Within groups like this, I often give a balanced view, for example, instead of saying people are toxic, state they are imbalanced instead, this of course was not accepted either.

How often is a person trying to bring this existence balance rebuffed (rejected)? It's like what is occurring in relation to the Romanian sphinx. Underground tunnels and chambers have been discovered that hold knowledge that would bring balance back to this very existence. This knowledge  has been withheld because this balance would take away the control  the ego has over this existence. No controlling ego consciousness is going to sit by watching its control being diminished, it's the same with various spiritual groups at present it would seem.

Will peoepl like me who are active, which seems to some people be in opposition to passive, be accepted by other people either shooting for the stars or the physical? Like I stated, a controlling ego will not sit by watching it's control being diminished or eroded by expressions (motions) of balance. We must accept within ourselves that no expression or motion of balance will be ever accepted by a consciousness controlled by a controlling ego, this was never going to occur, only an awakened conscious to the controlling ego will accept this. The strange thing is though, would I be as aware of the controlling ego if the controlling ego wasn't as extreme within it's motion as it is? Very unlikely, you see what seems negative (toxic), isn't always the case.

Shooting for the sky instead of the stars will free us from a controlling ego, anything other than this is still of a controlling ego, for the controlling go is unable to exist in a balanced existence.