Are you out of your mind? I certainly hope so. I am. And if you don't believe you are out of your mind, I suggest you give it a try. It can be very empowering.
Perhaps I should explain what I mean. As children, our caretakers provide us with many of the answers to life's questions. We use these answers to build our beliefs about ourselves and the world around us. Somewhere along the line, typically in the teenage years, we evaluate those beliefs and we decide whether to keep them or to replace them with our own beliefs that are more true to our own personal identity.
The question I am asking is really are you still using those answers and beliefs from your childhood to guide you in your adult years? Or have you embarked upon the journey to question those beliefs and either validate them or replace them with something more personal?
If indeed you have taken the time to evaluate those early childhood beliefs, it is likely that you have changed your perspective about who you are, why you are here, and what this place is all about. And that changed perspective is likely to be an expanded view, a view with less limits then that initial childhood mindset.
I would describe anyone with that expanded mindset as being out of their mind and experiencing a more expanded reality. Regardless of where you may be at the present time, either in your mind or out of your mind, let's talk about the mind. Is there anything that defines you more than your mind? Your mind is where you generate your thoughts and of course your thoughts are very personal.
Your mind contains your imagination. I'm sure you can remember when you were younger how often you used your imagination. If you observe children playing, they are often fully involved in exercising their imaginations. It seems, however, that as we get older we use our imaginations less and less. Some of us even forget how to engage our imaginations.
Our mind is also what triggers our emotions. Emotions are based upon personal beliefs and what evokes one emotion in one person may evoke a totally different emotion in another person.
Researchers suggest that our mind is divided into two parts, the conscious mind and the subconscious mind. They also suggest that typically we only use 5 percent of our conscious mind throughout the course of the day and allow our subconscious mind to control the other 95 percent of our daily experience. Seems to me that we should be really interested in that subconscious mind that controls so much of our daily experience.
I would like to suggest that what we refer to as the subconscious mind is really very much different than the models that the psychologists and researchers present. And one of the reasons for a different model is that the model needs to take into consideration the concept of consciousness. Consciousness is a defining characteristic of the mind.
And if you have ever read anything scientific about the mind you know the concept of consciousness confounds the researchers. It is hard for them to define and even harder for them to measure. A quick note. Many quantum physicists have come to the conclusion that the universe contains consciousness.
Briefly, consciousness exists throughout your entire body. I believe it exists in every atom, in every molecule, in every cell of your body. I believe it exists in the energy that comprises the universe. That brings me to my next question.
Where is your mind? Your mind is not your brain. Your brain is a physical part of your body. Your mind is not a physical part of your body. So where is it? I believe that your mind is all around you. I believe it is in the cells in your body. I believe it is in the energy that surrounds your body. I believe it is part of a larger mind that created our universe. That is why I believe that our minds are more than we think they are.
When we come into this lifetime we are immediately presented with what I will call an illusion of separation. Physical birth is by definition a separation from our mothers. No illusion there. There is, however, an illusion of spiritual separation from the part of us that exists beyond this dimension. There is purpose to this illusion. There is also purpose in moving beyond the illusion. I'll have much more to say about that in future blogs.
The concept of the conscious mind is fairly easy to understand. We all experience it every day. The subconscious mind is, however, a lot more mysterious. But it doesn’t need to be. In my next bog I will go more deeply into the notion that our minds are more than we think they are. I will be sharing my understanding of the elusive subconscious mind and hopefully bring some clarity to what it really is and what it interacts with. Here is a little spoiler. Your body is part of your subconscious mind.