Tag: conditioning

The Network of Thought and the Mind’s Need for Answers: A Dialogue

In this article I am presenting a dialogue with a student of the NEEV Psycho-Philosophy Group, where he starts out examining the notion of success, failure and comparison in society, in his journal. The dialogue starts going deeper as it moves from the leaves, to the branches to the trunk of the mind. It reveals the overwhelming tendency of the mind to land on an answer, to arrive at a certainty, to land on a conclusion on which it can build its comfortable nest. It is the task of the teacher to keep demolishing the nest the student is trying to build by advancing answers, so that he/she find quick relief from suffering. In my last article, “The Difference Between Thinker and Observer in Advaita: A Dialogue” I had talked about how one needs to shift from being a thinker to an observer if one has to undergo the subtle level of inquiries in Advaita. The dialogue in this article shows how one can make this shift and the massive difficulties encountered by a student’s mind in making this shift. Without this step, none can hope to make any progress in any path of self inquiry or Jnana Yoga. It is the base on which all future self inquiry at the most advanced levels rests upon.… Read More The Network of Thought and the Mind’s Need for Answers: A Dialogue

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Unmasking Ourselves

All of us are aware that we put various masks with different people in different situations. Prompted by a Facebook post of one of my friends, this article asks whether one can live without any masks. It also examines our unconscious motivations to put on different kinds of masks, the conflicts they create, and the enormous risks involved in removing them. Finally, it probes into the reason why anyone would like to unmask oneself.… Read More Unmasking Ourselves

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How Maps Of Mind Condition Us to Live and Act

We are born into a given world, a world mapped out for us in the form of ideas. We imbibe this map unconditionally in childhood. Very few know about the existence of this map in our minds, let alone question it. All that we think, and do in our life is because of this map. Even acts of doing good for society are born from this map. In this article I examine what these maps are, how they are formed, the difficulty of knowing them and the urgent need to examining their limitations rather than acting mindlessly from them.… Read More How Maps Of Mind Condition Us to Live and Act

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Is psychological learning about correcting mistakes?

In society we are often chided for doing mistakes psychologically, by various forms of authority. These voices of authority go very very deep, forming and erecting codes of ethics within us. Do we ever question these voices of authority? Can we be free to learn about ourselves if we judge and label our thoughts and acts as mistakes in accordance with these voices? In a response to a question I look into the whole notion of what we call mistakes, and if psychological learning and freedom has anything to do with correcting mistakes.… Read More Is psychological learning about correcting mistakes?

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Which incident made you realize the difference between self-respect and ego?

Which incident made you realize the difference between self-respect and ego? I don’t think that there is any difference between self respect and ego. Self respect is only a means of self preservation, which is the ego. When one is interested in self respect, one is preserving something, defending something. And when one is defending… Read More Which incident made you realize the difference between self-respect and ego?

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What are the shortcomings that you perceived in yourself, and how did they restrict your strengths?

What are the shortcomings that you perceived about yourself, and how did they restrict your strengths? Both, what you perceive as your shortcomings and your strengths are respective to a certain standard you have in mind. So instead of looking at shortcomings and strengths, let us look at how we come to create such standards… Read More What are the shortcomings that you perceived in yourself, and how did they restrict your strengths?

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At which stages in your life did you start questioning your own self?

At which stages in your life did you start questioning your own self? Depends upon how you are asking this question. Are you talking about questioning yourself negatively, as someone who is failing in some aspect of life or are you asking this question more as an inquiry into yourself, as to who you actually… Read More At which stages in your life did you start questioning your own self?

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