Nature of the Mind – Part 2

In part 1, Master Tim shared his thoughts on the nature of the mind in this day and age. The mind he spoke of was the thinking mind that is rather limited in its perceptive abilities. This is the mind that constantly worries about everyday life and creates problems to solve. This is the mind that can completely take over one’s life if mental training isn’t put in place. This month, Master Tim of the Twinsburg Academy of Self-Defense will speak of the Bigger Mind. 

While spiritual teachers of all cultures speak of this mind, each has their own term for it. In order to avoid confusion, the following discussion will focus on the Big Mind (capital “M”) while merely touching on the thinking mind (lowercase “m”). Master Tim knows how disconcerting it can be when one lets the latter take over, which is why this Northeast Ohio martial art studio informs readers about tools and techniques allowing the peaceful Mind to emerge.

According to Master Tim and other spiritual teachers, the Mind is not bound by the limitations of the small mind.  It is not restrained by concept, logic, judgment, suffering, or fear. It has no belief system. It is all knowing and ever present. In this context, the Mind is often associated with Divine Mind. In most humans, the link between Big Mind and small mind is the unconscious mind.  The ultimate goal of mental training is to clear a path to enable the Mind to be more “conscious” in the human experience, a process referred to as Awakening and Enlightenment.

Master Tim’s students often comment that they believe the Mind, a Mind without thinking, concept or judgment, seems out of their reach. But in reality, the Mind resides within each of us and always has.  Everyone has experienced it in their lives, but not everyone realizes it. The Mind is that voice inside of our heads telling us the right thing to do. It is our hearts speaking, a moment of inspiration or an epiphany. It is a parent knowing that something has happened to one of their children. Often, the expression of Mind is conveyed as just knowing something is so—a far cry away from the rational thinking mind we use most often.

The Mind blossoms when the tangles born and perpetuated by the thinking mind begin to unravel and dissolve. The tangles are imprints upon the nervous system causing a “stress” to enter our system. Our nervous system has been imprinted with stress over years and even life times. This process often starts at birth, our first stressful experience. Stress can be found in a seemingly meaningless event such as music being played too loudly, to the most devastating of events such as physical, mental or emotional abuse. We inadvertently store each event, no matter how trivial, in our central nervous system. Without helpful de-stressing techniques such as T’ai Chi Ch’uan, Yoga, and meditation to release the stress it accumulates in our system to the point of decreasing our wellness (sickness and disease) and quality of life. 

The great teachings of yoga, meditation, T’ai Chi and Qigong enable the student to relieve stress and remove it from the nervous system. While these de-stress techniques are tremendously useful in cleaning up the nervous system, our perception of our life situation continues to put stress on the nervous system.

Master Tim’s own guru, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, says that “The human nervous system is so designed that it can exhibit the totality of consciousness. Living in a finite body and expressing the infinite is the possibility of human life.”

Master Tim states that in order to permanently clear the nervous system and reach Awakened or Enlightened states of consciousness, we must learn to fully and completely let go of all our concepts, beliefs, judgments and fears.  As this becomes your experience, the thinking mind quiets down.  There are fewer and fewer thoughts until the thinking mind is tamed and put back into its place. The thinking mind then becomes a tool to be used when it’s needed and to be put down when it’s not.

The training and technique of finally and completely letting go of all concept and judgment is available at Twinsburg Academy of Self-Defense. The spiritual curriculum at this Northeast Ohio martial art studio is designed to put you on the path to Awakening and eventually Enlightenment. As you might expect, this work takes commitment and dedication, but isn’t your final peace of mind worth it?

There is a reason why this Northeast Ohio studio and so many spiritual teachers place such great emphasis on the Mind. With the right mental training, you can reach a state of being that surpasses anything you’ve ever experienced. If you’re searching for a better way of thinking, a better way of living, then the Twinsburg Academy of Self-Defense is just the place to go for help.