The Mind’s Grip

I stumbled upon a great insight today that has been thoroughly surgical because of it relevance in my own self observation. Total freedom is freedom from one’s own mind. Why is this so? Because it is the mind that is the cause of the misery in ones life. Emotional pain, anxiety, concern, worry, pleasure chases, depression, need, attachment, imprisonment to personality, ego, reactivity etc…are all products of the mind. External environment only reveal these.

The truth that I stumbled upon is that, I do not sincerely want to be free from the mind. I seek the benefits of being free from the mind but I do not want the mind be relinquished altogether. I want the full rewards but not to pay the full price. Ironically, the paying of this price is not a volitional but a result of arriving at a place that it is no longer acceptable for one to live under the weight of the mind.

How do I know this? The things that I still engage myself in, that I still hold on to, that still have a grip on me, the content of my speech, the time wasted, empty chases that I am still on, indulgence in pleasure chases, need for approval in social media etc. It is not that these things are wrong and therefore I ‘should’ quit them. No. The quitting would be more reactivity — attempts at behavior modification, unless it happens as an offshoot of certain seeing or understanding the ‘quitting’ isn’t genuine. The observations are just indicators that I am still at the grip of the mind, and that this is still acceptable that I am this way.

This insight might be the very thing I have been yearning for to sharpen my seeing, the seeing that might birth a new transformation.