By: Jillian Sawers
Source: The Daily Guardian https://epaper.
Dated: October 12, 2024
Stopping ourselves from doing things we want to do, but know are not in our best interests is one of the challenges of being human and a battle you are probably familiar with.
In some ways it is like putting on the brakes once we have realized we are heading in the wrong direction. This can be a challenge when you are going 100mph towards your favorite addiction!
Of the most useful models which explains how our consciousness works in terms of forming and changing habits I learnt from the Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University.
Just as physical energy can be channelled through various devices to create heat, light or sound. The energy of our consciousness is channelled through three faculties, which work together to form of break habits.
The first aspect of the energy of our consciousness is the mind. The mind is like a screen on which thoughts, feelings, ideas, images and desires play out. These can be prompted from within or without. The mind does not have a mind of its own, in a sense that it is like a child who cannot discern what is harmful or helpful. Orange juice or Pepsi, the child-like mind just moves towards what feels good. So, generally our minds gravitate to thoughts and behaviors which offer instant feel-good rewards.
The second aspect of consciousness is intellect. Intellect has the capacity to understand, judge and decide. It is like the father who corrects and directs the child. The quality of our lives is based on the quality of our decisions, and it is the intellect which ultimately makes those decisions. We cannot blame our minds, just like we cannot blame a child. It the parent who gives permission.
When someone fasts for religious reasons, there is a distinct lack of inner conflict. Even if the faster feels hungry, the thought to break the fast does not arise. This is the power of a firm decision. When reasons are clear, and the intellect does not waver, the mind does not even attempt to tempt. However, if like a father giving in to a demanding child, the intellect makes excuses to give the mind what it wants, just to have a moment of temporary peace; the mind will keep hounding, and the intellect will keep battling, unless and until it asserts itself.
However, there is one last member in this family of consciousness. The ‘sanskaras’. This can be roughly translated as impressions, the results of all actions record.ed in the subconscious as beliefs, habits and character. If you imagine ‘sanskaras’ like an old vinyl record, there is the original ‘sanskaras’ or song, our true divine nature of love, power, peace, wisdom and purity. However, as time and entropy roll forward, the intellect loses clarity, allowing negative thoughts and actions to run wild, thus the divine music gets overridden by the discordant noise of the vices.
We can however still access the original music of the soul, and this is important when learning to manage our negative habits.
If a child is crying, it is because it needs something. It is not beneficial for the father to simply tell it to ‘shut up!’. In the same way, when our mind is drawn to bad habits, it is because it is craving an experience. The intellect may recognise that chocolate cake is not the solution to stress, but the mind still seeks peace. And if the intellect only focuses on preventing the action, the un-met need will eventually make the child (mind) rebel against the father (intellect).
The intellect, recognizing that the mind needs something, instead of using control and force, can use wisdom and compassion to redirect the mind to where it can receive the comfort it truly seeks. Just as a father will pass a child over to the mother, knowing that the mother has the ability to nurture the child,
So, the true secret of self-control, is not actually about control but about clarity. When the intellect has clarity about the true source of peace, it can re-direct the desires of the mind, away from habits which only deliver hits of false peace and direct towards to the inner mother. The source of true love, peace, joy, wisdom and purity which lies deep within the heart of all of us.
Jillian Sawers is a professional self-development trainer
and has a YouTube channel called ’The Department of Silence’.
She is based in Mount Abu, Rajasthan, at the headquarters of The Brahma Kumaris.
