Edward’s Diary Entry 122: Mind Map 1: The Problematic Life

Using the diagram of the “Automatic Operation of Mind – S-A 2” given yesterday, it is easy to see where things can go wrong in this normal civilised mode of existence. In a low state of awareness and without the necessary training in the field of mind, all problems take on huge proportions and occupy the mind in futile automatic functioning. 

Let’s take a look and see how the description of the parts of the mind can shed some light on the creation and perpetuation of the so-called “problems” we humans normally have.

Automatic Operation of Mind – S-A 2 According to one’s “type” (more thinking, feeling or doing) the mind-body complex works mostly in automatic mode, receiving sense impressions from “outside” and receiving random pushes and shoves from “inside” in the form of:
Intellect Predominance of the thinking or thought process (which may or may not produce feelings) connecting with:	Problems from the “Intellect” (thinking) Thinking runs along in a closed loop, but Identify with Thinking fuels this and increases the thought process. At the same time, Thinking dives into Memory to justify its Identification, and of course it finds past experiences which justify present thinking, and this spirals into strong feelings, which also reinforce the initial thinking patterns, which continue unabated. This occurs until Awareness of the double bind comes in (maybe from someone outside), but if not, the subject spirals into stress, anxiety, frustration and violence, and may cause actual physical harm to him or herself (psychosomatic damage).
Identity Based on past conditioning, the “I” (the Will) gets engulfed in the thought, feeling or action itself, with no noticeable separation in the Mind-Stuff of Intellect, Identity and Memory.	Problems from “Identity” (sense of “me”) Identity is criticised or rejected by someone from outside (or internally by one’s own self!), which fuels Thinking in a closed loop, increasing the thought process, which dives into Memory to justify its own picture, of course finding past experiences which justify present thinking and sensations, and this spirals into very strong feelings of hurt or damage to the Identity, which again reinforce the initial thinking patterns, and this spirals out of control if Awareness fails to enter (maybe from someone outside), producing anger, hurt, sadness, frustration and violence, also leading to actual physical harm (psychosomatic damage) in the subject, and perhaps even to violence toward the original criticiser or instigator.
Memory (Manas) Automatic “Image picturing” and “Word thinking”, of which one is aware or unaware (unconscious origin), triggering more of the same and occasionally triggering feelings of one kind or another.	Problems from “Memory” (the past) A Memory is triggered by internal (Thinking) or external (input) (chance) sources. Identity immediately accepts this and starts the Thinking loop as above. Continued Thinking and diving into more Memories produce strong feelings affecting the Identity, which again reinforce the initial Thinking patterns, and this spirals out of control if Awareness fails to enter (maybe from someone outside), producing sadness, depression, frustration, guilt, anxiety, despair, etc. This can also lead to actual physical harm (psychosomatic damage) in the subject.
Awareness (Chitta) Occasional realisation of “I” as Awareness, usually when the subject is queried, as the Identity usually remembers the last input or the habitual mode of action and invests the sense of “I” in the corresponding thought, idea or feeling and justifies this to him or herself and/or to the enquirer.	Problems from “Awareness” (“seeing”)? No! Given false thinking or wrong outlook or not, Awareness of a “problem” simply triggers case 1, 2 or 3 above and the Thinking process sets in. There is no problem in being aware or conscious of a thing or event. It is only a recognition by Consciousness, and as such, it is always good, but may either correspond to Reality or not – that is for the Intellect to determine. So Awareness as such is never a problem creator, only a problem detector and observer. So no problems here!

Then all of the so-called “problems” can be relegated to one of the categories shown in the "Problem Chart", linked here. A problem is seen as a life-threatening or self-threatening situation only due to false reasoning, wrong thinking or incorrect outlook; improper identification or wrong sense of “me”, or predominance of past memories in the mind-stuff, all due to lack of Awareness.

Take any of your “problems” and put them in the right category. An extended Problem Chart with solutions will be here soon. Stick with me please.