Meditation and the Mind's Projection: How Thoughts Shape Our Reality
I'd like to share a few words on how our thoughts may shape our world. I say 'may' because I'd like to offer some reflections for you, the reader, on how this might be the case and how you might go about reflecting on that.
Let's start with a quote from the Dhammapada, one of the core teachings of the Buddha. The quote goes something like this: “All things have the nature of mind. Mind is the chief and takes the lead. If the mind is clear, whatever you do or say will bring happiness that will follow you like a shadow. All things have the nature of mind. Mind is the chief and takes the lead. If the mind is polluted, whatever you do or say leads to suffering which will follow you as a cart trails a horse.”
The core part of this quote, I find, is this phrase: 'All things have the nature of mind.' This can mean different things in different contexts or different vehicles of Buddhism, but here I believe this is really referring to all things being influenced by the mind, that all things are shaped by our mind.
In Buddhism, mind is something distinct from the brain. The brain is involved in the mind, meaning the brain is a muscle that helps to bring our human experience forward. Our brain helps us to process thoughts, colors, perceptions, etc. But the mind in Buddhism is something non-physical, and the mind doesn't have a specific location. Just as you can focus on your big toe of your right foot, you're bringing mind there, you're bringing awareness there, you're bringing attention there.
Mind has these components: it can think, it can know, it has awareness, and it has clarity. But this is not the clarity of thinking; it's the backdrop of mind, the potential of mind to perceive. This is what we would call the relative nature of mind.
Now, let's reflect on how our thoughts might shape our world. I want you to reflect on something recent that happened to you, maybe the last trip you took out of your house to get groceries, to meet a friend, to go to work. There's physical reality to that, but how was that physical reality shaped? How was your impression of that shaped by your thinking mind?
Another way to think of this is how when I'm in a bad mood and I leave the house, everybody looks like they're in a bad mood. Similarly, if I'm in a really good mood, everyone feels kind of bright and happy. Have you ever noticed that?
These are some things to pay attention to. I don't want to give too many conclusions here, just some reflections on how our thoughts shape our world. I just want to leave it there. I don't want to make too long of a post right now, but just some food for thought.
Are your thoughts shaping your world? That's an open question. And then reflect on these aspects of how might your thoughts be shaping the world. One quick one before we close is just to reflect on how some of my opinions and beliefs over the course of my life have changed. I want you to reflect on yours. How did you relate to yourself and others 5, 10, 15, 20 years ago? What kinds of identities were you associating with as yourself? What kinds of identities were you projecting onto others and the environment around you?
Again, don't do this with a sense of judgment that there's wrong or right here, just a general reflection. What we want to see is that our mind is projecting all the time. What we want to be curious about is this question: how much is there an objective reality versus how much is my mind projecting?
When we're discovering this, it's not that because, or if, the mind is projecting that we're somehow doing something bad or wrong. That's not the point here. The point is to start to recognize there's more flexibility and fluidity through this. So, I recommend that you reflect on your life in different periods of your life and what kinds of identities you're holding, what kinds of states of mind or thought, because we change throughout our life.
Thank you so much for taking the time to sit with me for this. I would love to hear feedback from you if you work with these reflections or you work with some of what I'm sharing here as a reflective meditation or a way to engage with your thoughts and mind differently. I welcome your feedback.
