The Power of the Mind
What is the Mind?
Many people identify with their thoughts. In this way, they think their true essence is the presence inside of them that creates these thoughts. This leads to many people believing the creator of their reality to be the brain. They believe this because the brain controls the 5 senses that take in physical stimuli to create our reality.
However, there is a presence that transcends the brain, and therefore, this physical reality. It is the same presence that observes your thoughts. When you speak inside of your head, who is listening? Your ears cannot pick up that voice inside of your head. This means that there must be a presence distinct from the brain that “listens” to the brain’s thoughts. This is called the mind.
Some people might call it your soul. Some may call it your being. The distinction does not really matter. One just has to know that there is a presence that observes the thoughts of the brain.
Why is this important?
This means that you are more than your brain. You are observing your brain create thoughts.
This understanding alone opens up a new dimension of possibilities.
1.You have opened up your mind to the possibilities that exist outside of the physical experience created by your brain.
2.You have started to observe your brain in action, which is the start of the mind’s detachment (removal of attachments) from the brain. This is called introspection.
You can think of your brain as a complex, sophisticated device that is controlled by your mind.
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The mind controls the brain, like a person controls a computer.
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The mind uses the brain as a tool to become conscious of this physical reality, similar to how a user would use a computer to surf the web.
Our brains are much more complex ‘computers’ than actual computers. Our brains have very detailed code similar to the code in a computer. The brain processes biological information like the computer processes 1’s and 0’s.
Our brains can also process information in a way in which our mind cannot. It is not that the brain is more powerful than the mind. Rather, the brain has a more specific function. In this way, it is actually more limited. This is similar to how a computer is not more powerful than the user, it is just more limited. A computer cannot do what humans can do. It may do some things faster or more efficient than humans, but it is not more capable than humans.
We operate our brain similarly to how we would operate a computer. We execute certain processes with certain outcomes in mind, hoping to achieve a given outcome. Overtime, we learn how to navigate the computer and what processes and functions result in desired outcomes.
The mind is consciousness that transcends our physical reality.
Transcend - be or go beyond the range or limits of (something abstract, typically a conceptual field or division)
From a perspective inside of this reality, this is a great definition.
It emphasizes a very important aspect of the mind: its presence outside of this physical reality.
When you have thoughts in your head, what is observing those thoughts? What is aware of those thoughts? Is it the same presence that is aware of everything in this physical reality? Is it the same presence that is aware of things that are not even physical?
We can add a second definition.
The mind is the observer of thoughts.
This is a timely definition since we should have learned meditation and mindfulness by now.
When you were meditating in stillness and observing your thoughts and feelings, you were using your mind.
However, can we observe the mind? Can we observe the observer?
We can finish off with a third definition.
The mind is the faculty of an entity's thoughts and consciousness.
Faculty - an inherent mental or physical power
I have included this last definition to open your mind to the endless possibilities of what the mind can be. I don't want you to limit your definition of the mind to simply the first definition. Your mind can do much more than observe your thoughts. Your mind can even observe itself. Your mind has many abilities that are inherent to what it is.
Parts of the Mind
The mind is made up of three parts: The conscious mind, the subconscious mind, and the unconscious mind.
Conscious - (noun) awareness
(verb) to be aware
Subconscious - below normal awareness
Unconscious - deep below one’s normal awareness
Our conscious mind includes things that we are aware of in the present moment. It commonly includes things you are aware of on a daily basis. This can be your job, school, friends, activities, feelings, events etc. If you are aware of something, you are being conscious of it.
Our subconscious mind includes what we are normally not aware of, but can readily access. This includes due dates, lists, birthdays, memories, phone numbers, addresses etc. When we bring something up from our subconscious mind into our awareness, we are being conscious of that thing. In this way, things transition to and from the subconscious mind and the conscious mind.
Our unconscious mind includes things that are not easily accessible. These include traumatic experiences you have suppressed or anything that you were not aware of in the past. Something that happens in your peripheral perception will still be recorded by your unconscious mind even if your conscious mind does not notice it. In other words, everything that is not picked up by the conscious or subconscious minds gets stored in the unconscious mind. If your ears pick up something in the distance, but you do not consciously pay any attention to it, it will still be recorded in your unconscious mind. Things can also be transferred between the subconscious and unconscious mind.
(Note: Sometimes, conscious can refer to the conscious, subconscious, and unconscious minds. Sometimes, subconscious can refer to the subconscious and unconscious minds. When I use the word subconscious, I am referring to both the subconscious and unconscious minds.)
In the computer analogy, the conscious would be your RAM and the subconscious would be the hard drive. You run actual processes in the RAM, while the hard drive just acts as storage for all of the information. You can access certain information in the hard drive if you want to, just like you can access certain information in your subconscious if you should choose to. The unconscious mind could be hidden files like registry files or BIOS.
Perception
Your perception of your reality lays the blueprint for the reality you will experience. Don't believe me?
I didn't either until I started learning about quantum physics.
If you ever took a basic chemistry class in high school, you may have learned about the model of the atom. It refers to the atom and its subatomic particles: protons, neutrons, and electrons. The model mentions how electrons reside on rings surrounding the atom with differing energy levels called orbits. However, this model is an overly simplified way of explaining physics that we still cannot completely comprehend.
Add quantum physics into the picture, and your view of reality starts to change.
Quantum physics describe the physical nature of our reality on a quantum level. The quantum level describes the level of subatomic particles, or the level that we cannot see with our eyes. Quantum physics is so radical because it describes patterns and behaviors that are unlike the patterns that we observe in conventional physics.
In actuality, the ring that the electrons reside on is not actually a ring. It is a "cloud". The ring just represents where we are most likely to find electrons. However, electrons can be anywhere in the cloud at any time. In fact, they can even be in two positions in the cloud at the same time. This is called quantum superposition. I call this timelessness.
Another interesting pattern is described as quantum entanglement. It refers to when two particles become "entangled" (connected) in which their quantum state is dependent on the other. The crazy thing is that this entanglement seems to transcend time and distance. If one particle changes its quantum state, the other entangled particle will change immediately as well, regardless of the distance between them. One particle could be on another planet, and their states would still be entangled. I also call this a form of timelessness.
One of the most interesting patterns is how subatomic particles don't actually exist solely as particles. Rather, they exist as waves of potential, similar to how the electron cloud represents all of the potential positions of the subatomic particle.
A famous experiment called the double slit experiment studied this.
Here is a fun video to watch about it.
What scientists found was that the very act of observing the particle changed it from wave-nature to particle-nature.
As stated in the video, the observer "collapsed" the waves of potentials/possibilities into a single particle/outcome.
This was an extraordinary finding that opened many doors relating to the power of the mind. It seemed that our perception had the power to fundamentally alter the nature of atoms, the building blocks of every, single, thing in this reality.
Quantum physicists continued to study this phenomenon. Many quantum physicists claimed that matter itself is not "real". All matter is "mind-stuff", in that all matter is a creation of the mind. Scientists could not prove the existence of matter independent of the mind's perception.
Your perception of reality creates the reality that you will experience.
This should be apparent on many levels.
From a surface level perspective, if your perspective of reality tends to exclude small details, you may find it hard to be detail-oriented. You may spill often or misplace things.
On a slightly deeper level, if you have a judgmental or pessimistic outlook on life, you will tend to notice "negative" things more often or you will find the "negative" in everything. You may struggle to appreciate things genuinely.
On the deepest level, your perception of your reality affects the energy levels of the atoms around you. Many people can feel this energy around them.
In this way, the beliefs we form about ourselves and our reality greatly affect the reality we experience.
BeLIEfs are a form of programming. To believe something is to judge it to be true unconditionally. However, it also means that the "opposite" of that belief is unconditionally false. This closes off our mind from new possibilities. I call this programming.
We will continue to explore the power of perception throughout this guide. One of the most important aspects of the power of perception is how it is used to manifest subconscious patterns in our life. I call this lazy programming. These patterns cause our powers of perception to be used from a place of fear, manifesting a fear-based reality.
However, you can learn to deprogram the mind.