Chapter 8 (The Mind is the Enemy: Either You Control Your Thoughts or Your Thoughts Will Control You)

The Oxford Languages Dictionary defines a thought as “an idea or opinion by thinking or occurring suddenly in the mind; the action or process of thinking”. (https://languages.oup.com/google-dictionary-en/). The Merriam-Webster dictionary adds “an individual act or product of thinking” “a developed intention or plan” “something (such as an opinion or belief) in the mind” “the intellectual product or the organized views and principles of a period, place, group, or individual”(https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/thought). A thought is thus an idea, something generated in the mind.

Three types of thoughts

When I look at my thoughts, particularly when I am able to settle the mind down as in meditation, I think I see three kinds.

Type I thoughts. These are the thoughts that occur when focused on a subject such as writing this chapter. The thoughts that occur listening to and responding to a question, trying to solve a problem or understand some concept. These thoughts are active and directed. They are useful thoughts.

Type II thoughts. A second type of thought is the chatter in our heads. These thoughts can be of different types. They can be intrusive and uncomfortable thoughts such as thinking about that conversation earlier in the day that didn’t go well or worry about something that may happen later. They may also be the tendency to replay something that went well. A lot of these thoughts are driven by angry reactions to something in the environment. However, they may be innocuous thoughts about errands to do later or what’s for dinner. I sometimes find myself thinking about news stories which I am not even that interested in. You might even include here that melody that keeps playing repeatedly in your head. These thoughts tend to recur. Collectively they are the noise in our heads that distracts us. The thoughts that I would prefer to not have but have trouble shutting down. These thoughts can mix seamlessly with type I thoughts and many people probably don’t recognize that they have this chatter in their heads, these thoughts are so much a part of normal mental activity.

Type III thoughts. There is a third type of thought which seems to come out of nowhere. These thoughts may appear during or after coming out of a meditation session or just show up spontaneously. They are not type I or type II thoughts. Sometimes they involve new insights. They may involve sudden solutions to problems that were being explored with type I thoughts earlier. They are the least common but often the most interesting. I’m not sure where type III thoughts come from. I don’t feel like I think them. They are not the directed type I thoughts or the chatter of type II thoughts.

The origins of thoughts.

Chapter 3 argued that there are four things that exist:

(1) The physical body including the brain

(2) The spiritual consciousness

(3) The mind

(4) The Source

Three of these are directly involved in production of thoughts. Perhaps the 4th is involved in type III thoughts but let’s not worry about that here.

(1) The physical body including the brain.

“Including the brain” is mentioned since in Western neuroscience distinctions are drawn between brain and mind as discussed more below. You could broaden this category and include all matter. Chapters 2 and 3 didn’t mention matter since they were concerned with the composition of the individual but let’s accept that the physical body is made up of the same atoms, subatomic particles at whatever level you wish to consider matter, as those found in rocks, clods of dirt and other apparently non-living material.

(2) The spiritual consciousness

The spiritual consciousness is not made of any physical substance that we currently can detect. It is not part of the physical world. The spiritual consciousness survives the death of the physical body and is the closest entity to what is conceptualized in the West as the “soul”, although as discussed in chapters 6 and 7 the notion of soul can take on somewhat different connotations across traditions. Although immaterial, the spiritual consciousness seems to have an awareness and even a memory as well as being able to sense at least in some circumstances what is happening when it is outside the body, assertions made in chapter 4 based on near death experiences and the phenomenon of remembering past lives. However, these don’t become issues until the spiritual consciousness is separated from the brain. Thus, the spiritual consciousness possesses some capacity for “thought” or memory although for the state that we are in now, the site of thought is the mind.

(3) The mind

Mind represents a transient state reflecting an interaction between the spiritual consciousness and brain while the spiritual consciousness is located in the physical body. Mind and consciousness have a relationship to brain. In Western neuroscience, we talk about brain/mind duality. The brain in this context refers to the physical substance, i.e. the gray matter, white matter, axonal tracts, neurotransmitters all the physical stuff. But then there are thoughts, perceptions, feeling, sense experiences, the mental states that we experience. The basic question of brain/mind duality is how much can mental activity including thought can be explained by brain function. There are different points of view on this question among Western philosophers ranging from very materialistic views that all mental activity can be explained as a product of brain function to little of it can.

Why is the mind the enemy?

While the spiritual consciousness is in the body, mind is the seat of its mental activity. In this setting, the spiritual consciousness is influenced by brain activity. For example, while we are under anesthesia, we have no awareness of our external environment or conscious thoughts although the spiritual consciousness is assumed to still be in the body. The physical brain influences how we think and feel. The brain is necessary for our capacity to store memories during life. Disease states such as stroke, traumatic brain injuries or Alzheimer’s disease affect memory storge as well as how we think, feel and express thoughts. Drugs may profoundly alter our mental functioning through effects on brain. Psychiatric and neurological conditions may produce hallucinations or delusions that don’t reflect reactions to external stimuli (i.e. the real world) but rather are generated in the mind. In severe mental illness, the sick brain effectively takes control.

The body/brain may at times be left in a vegetative state. These states can occur after the brain has been deprived of oxygen such as after cardiac arrest or with severe traumatic brain injuries or strokes. In these states, vegetative functions such as the ability to maintain blood pressure and respiration can be maintained. There are electrical brain waves which can be seen on an electroencephalogram (EEG) that may look close to a normal waking state but the individual is not conscious. In these states the individual may appear awake. Their eyes can be open and they may look around making automatic reflex responses while being unaware. There is no mental activity or consciousness as we think of it. In vegetative states, the spiritual consciousness is presumed to still be in the body providing the vital force or energy necessary to maintain a living physiologically active body. Without that vital force the physical body dies although the body may be maintained through artificial life support for a period of time.

The mind is the enemy because while the spiritual consciousness is part of mind, its functioning is influenced, colored or one might say tainted by brain activity or disease states that affect the brain. In addition, the mind is the enemy because it creates in combination with our cultural upbringing the illusory or fabricated world that we live in. Ignorance is seen to be at the core of human suffering in many traditions. It is found clearly in Buddhism and the thinking of Hindu philosophers such as Adi Shankara (early 8th century CE). What is it that we are ignorant of? We are ignorant of certain fundamental characteristics of the world the way it is. These can be broken down into the impermanence of the material world, the fabricated illusory nature of the world that we create in our minds, and the impermanent and illusory self.

The world is impermanent.

At one level, this seems so obvious it is silly to even mention it. Of course, things are changing. Nothing is permanent and we are all going to grow old and die. Even young people understand this at some conceptual level. However, for the young this is an abstract concept that for all practical purposes only happens to old people and while it will be applicable to them someday, it is not for now. However, although this applies to all of us, we avoid thinking about it. Chapter 2 mentioned in the Hindu epic the Mahabharata, one of the epic’s protagonists, Yudhishthira is at one point asked by a demoness what is the greatest wonder in the world? He replies that the greatest wonder in the world is that every day people see death all around them but live as if they will live forever.

Underlying this impermanence is that the physical world we live in is in constant flux. It is in constant motion around us. If we look closely nothing stands still. The Greek philosopher Heraclitus (6th century BCE) said “you can’t step into the same river twice”. We can notice this if we pay attention to the constant flow of traffic, people, and events in our daily lives. Although less directly appreciated it is also reflected in the constant physiological activities in our body such as the beating of the heart and flow of blood, the electrical activity of the brain, and at the biochemical level, the constant metabolism occurring in all tissues. In fact, when you go back to step into that now different river, you are a different person. As modern physics understands it, the world of subatomic particles becomes even wilder. These particles are in constant high-speed motion, colliding with other particles transforming into different types of particles and states. Some of these effects are easy to appreciate if we pay attention to them while others like the actions of subatomic particles can’t be appreciated with our regular senses. But that’s the nature of the world that we live in and we can’t make it stop.

Buddhism stresses this especially. The Buddha noted three marks of existence: dukkha, anicca and anatta. These are can be translated as suffering (dukkha), impermanence (anicca) and no self (anatta). Impermanence can be seen as leading to the ultimately unsatisfactory nature of the world that we live in (dukka). Impermanence is also one aspect of no self (anatta). However, we don’t accept the depth and importance of impermanence, but once deeply appreciated, it changes our outlook entirely.

The world as an illusion, a fabrication.

Many traditions talk about the world as an illusion. Here I am not talking about the notion found in Western philosophical idealism that objects don’t exist unless there is a mind present to perceive them. George Berkeley is the philosopher most often associated with this idea in the West. To the famous question, if a tree falls in the forest and there is no one there to hear it, does it make a sound? I would say yes. At least it generates the sound waves in air that would be appreciated by an ear if one was there to hear it. A moving train has wheels even if none of the passengers are looking at them. The material world that we perceive with our senses exists.

The illusion is in the labels that we put on material objects and the stories about their relationships that we fabricate. In life, we encounter objects, people, other forms of sensory stimuli, and the effects of natural forces. To make sense of these sensations/observations we put labels on them and create narratives about them. We construct relationships between them. Some of these objects are ours, others are not. Some important, some not. These labels are convenient to help us make sense of the world. However, the relationships are not in the objects themselves, they are created by us in our minds. In other words, we fabricate them.

The impermanent and illusory self

However, we don’t stop with external objects. We fabricate an illusory self which lives in that world. My name is such and such. I am a this or that. My being a this or that is important and makes me who I am. It gives me an identity. We use this concept of self to divide people in the world. I belong to this group. These people are part of my family or my larger group, my culture. Those people over there are not. We further react to these people and relationships with emotions including anger, love, envy, and jealousy. However, the emotions are not in the objects themselves, they are created in our minds. These relationships form because of the natural tendency of our mind to grasp and attach in the context of our cultural conditioning but the relationships are not in the people, they are imputed by us. Everyone else does the same thing. Thus, reinforcing our own fabrications and creating an intricate network of collective fabrications. In other words, there is no self, us or them. The illusory self is just an extension of the notion of the world as an illusion applied to the self but it is so important it deserves its own category to emphasize that importance. The third element in the Buddhist tradition, anatta, which is almost always translated as no self, expresses this concept.

Should we try to control our thoughts?

If thoughts are so problematic, should we try to control them? Mindfulness practices developed in the East but have gained much attention in the West over the past two decades. In the West these practices have become of interest for their ability to produce better health including mental health, relationships, calmness, and generally living a happier life. In Western mindfulness practice it is generally taught that one should observe thoughts but not try to control them. Thoughts are observed as they arise and then dissipate but not controlled. In the East, mindfulness is also practiced as a form of mediation, particularly in the Buddhist tradition. However, there it has a different purpose. Its goal is insight.

I came to the conclusion some years ago that for myself if I was going to get anywhere, I needed to be able to stop thought altogether when I wanted to. Watching thoughts just didn’t seem enough. The ceaseless arising of thoughts creates a restless mind, impossible to focus. Only once we settle thought down can we realize the pervasive control that thoughts have and even begin to distinguish those three types of thoughts and how they often intermix during our daily activities. One may be attending to a topic with a type I thought in focus while type II thoughts are entering in the background. Without paying attention to the content of our thought, it is easy to not even recognize the chatter in our heads. However, without being able to stop thoughts at least at times, we are never able to see the realities of the world that we live in.

The attitude that we must control thought is prevalent in Eastern meditation practices. Chapter 6 mentioned “Yoga is the cessation of the turnings of thought” as one of the initial aphorisms of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali (Barbara Stoller Miller, Yoga, Discipline of Freedom, University of California Press, 1995). In the Jhanas practiced by Theravada Buddhists, there is a gradual cessation of thought as the meditative states deepen. “Just sitting” as Zen Buddhist mediation is often described is really just sitting and not thinking.

Does Mara exist?

Chapter 3 argued that four things exist (physical body including the brain, spiritual consciousness, mind and the Source). When I observe my thoughts, I sometimes wonder if there is not a fifth element that I will call Mara. The Mara referred to is the figure found in the Buddhist tradition. He can be considered a demon, the devil or death, being similar in the last role to Yama in the Hindu tradition. He plays an important role in the Buddhist tradition as Siddhartha Gautama’s tempter on the night of his enlightenment. Through the night Mara tried in various ways to stop Siddhartha Gautama on his quest. He tried scaring the soon to be Buddha with his armies. He offered him wealth and worldly power. Mara’s three daughters appeared and tried to tempt the Buddha. When all else was failing, Mara tried to convince the Buddha that he wasn’t worthy or capable of achieving this lofty ambition.

Finally, when the Buddha had enough, while seated in meditation posture in a pose commonly depicted in Buddhist art, Siddhartha Gautama touched his right hand to the ground to say to Mara “enough is enough, you will not succeed”. At this point Mara was vanquished and Siddhartha Gautama’s continued on to his enlightenment. Mara continues to live on in Buddhist thinking in both a literal and a psychological sense. Literal in the historical figure who tried to stop Siddhartha Gautama from becoming the Buddha. In a psychological sense Mara is used as a metaphor for the emotions such as anger, greed and lust that are impediments on the spiritual quest as well as a metaphor for delusion. The world that we live in is considered the world of Mara.

I consider adding Mara because when I look at my thoughts, I find that there are intrusions that are hard to explain as just the workings of my own mind. They are often angry thoughts that go beyond the replaying of events and occur when the mind feels raw and agitated. I find that these thoughts can be fought using the notion that you fight fire with fire. You neutralize anger with anger, by artificially generating angry counter thoughts, saying enough is enough. Once those angry thoughts are neutralized, Mara seems to turn to using more pleasant thoughts to distract. If Mara is real, then dealing with him becomes part of controlling thought.

This is a terrible world and it can’t be fixed.

Some may consider the above statement extreme. However, even if you do this is an imperfect world at best. Just impermanence alone is enough to doom it from being perfect. As the Buddhist tradition stresses so well, all we have to look forward to is aging, sickness and death even if we ignore that reality every day. It is not that there aren’t pleasurable objects, activities and experiences but they are all impermanent and balanced out by the unpleasant which will eventually happen. Within our own developed and relatively safe society, health constantly co-exists with accidents, personal misfortune, sickness and death.

Yet even if impermanence could be overcome, the fabricated world our thoughts create poses a second flaw that can’t be overcome. Our fabricated self-identities, the stories we make up about objects, the me and mine, all work to create a divided world which can’t be undivided. Maybe we can learn to respect one another more, but the divisions can't be undone. While an Olympic games goes on in one part of the world, there is war, drought, famine, and natural disasters in other parts. Politicians appeal to voters by making fabricated arguments. Animals suffer from predators, disease, are consumed in fires and tormented by the elements. We try to isolate ourselves within our own little world, but those barriers eventually break down and even if those suffering today are relieved of that burden, they typically retreat back into a bubble where they become unaware of the suffering of others. This situation can’t be fixed. If one steps back and objectively looks at it, I don’t think the statement this is a terrible world, and it can’t be fixed is too strong.

Either you control your thoughts or your thoughts will control you.

The effects of thoughts are pervasive. The philosopher Spinoza (1632-1677) emphasized how the environment controls our thoughts and our thoughts control us. Dan Harris (born 1971) the author of 10% Happier (Dey Street Books) explains in the book's preface that initially he wanted to call the book “The Voice in My Head Is an Asshole” but that title came to be deemed inappropriate because his day job as a broadcaster required him to consider FCC decency standards. However, that alternate title has a lot of truth in it. So many of our thoughts are angry reactions to perceived insults, bad luck, reactions to events that are trivial in their own right. Rather than a source of wisdom, when you listen to that little voice inside your head you are more often than not listening to an asshole.

The impact of thoughts and the grasping mind, taint, often completely control the spiritual consciousness while it is in the body. We are unable to see the impermanence all around us. We create fabricated self-images. We fabricate emotions and then react to them as if they were real rather than entities created in our minds. We lose that distance, that ability to stand outside ourselves and see things as they really are.

If one strips away all those fabrications what is left? Not much. There is a physical body and spiritual consciousness but they seem plain and ill defined without that false persona and complicated set of fabricated relationships. However, it is at this moment that one can begin to experience the emptiness that is the essential nature of our current reality. Acquiring that ability to stand outside oneself and see the world and ourselves as we really are, is an essential skill on the spiritual journey.

References

Ethan Kross, Chatter: The Voice in Our Head, Why it Matters, and How to Harness It. Crown, New York, 2021.

Barbara Stoller Miller (translator), Yoga, Discipline of Freedom, University of California Press, 1995.

Dan Harris, 10% Happier: How I Tamed the Voice in My Head, Reduced Stress Without Losing MY Edge, and Found Self-Help That Actually Works-A True Story. Dey Street Books. New York, 2014.

John Daido Loori (editor), the art of Just Sitting: essential writings on the zen practice of shikantaza. Second Edition, Wisdom Publications, Boston, 2002. Collection of writings on what one does while just sitting.