Map of a Human Being
Mind Precepts (Negative) - scroll down:
Monkey Mind
Baby Mind
Dog of Desire
Ego
Mind Wires Brain
400 Million Thoughts
Limited Sentient Perception
Mind-life (The inhuman condition) (See Soul-life for human condition)
The mind, brain, soul/inner-heart have been separated for clarity of study. The mind is an ideational projection that emerges from the elements that make up the body, to and from the elements that make up the world. Although it can contain much worldly knowledge, it must be controlled by the soul/inner-heart center, which has a distinguished intelligence, drawing its wisdom from the divine. (Please do not attach the sky-god thinking of the religions to the word divine or God.)
The mind is contingent on creation. It is also informed through true and false perceptions. Humans are not their mind, though most people live their lives as if this was so.
A squirrel is a squirrel and a bird is a bird, they cannot imitate each other. However, the depth and complexity of a human life is so great that we can behave with any bestial quality, even demonic.
The mind-life is a life of fate, whereas the soul-life is the life of destiny. I know we use fate and destiny interchangeably, but I’m suggesting we change that. Fate is what happens to us when we live in the mind as defined by the Map. Consider a life influenced by the precepts of the mind: monkey mind, baby mind, dog of desire, ego, maya (Illusion), 400 million thoughts, 18,000 Universes, karma, hunger, disease, aging and death,17 Epics (Puranas), 9 openings and five elements; surely this is the life of being kicked around by the world and what results is unpredictable, due to lack of consciousness? But if we live a life consciously using the soul precepts we can overcome and control the tendencies of the mind. Then we are living a life of wisdom and what results could be called destiny up to the level that we have eradicated ignorance. “Only when wisdom is fully applied, can we then say what happens to us is destined,” says Bawa Muhaiyaddeen.
But what does it mean to behave consistently as a human being? This is one of the questions we hope will be answered through study of the Map.
The mind is only aware of the physical realm, although, because of its limited understanding, it is capable of magical thinking. The mind cannot know God, in fact, “the distance between a human being and God is the mind.” (BM)
The mind is amoral, inconsistent, makes decisions based on selfishness, sets bestial needs above all else, is not concerned with survival but indulgence. From its myriad of influences it contains 400 million thoughts, many of which are destructive to its own life, its environment and others. The mind begins at conception and ends at death.
Understanding and then controlling the mind's propensities leads to a more peaceful and exalted life.
The Guidebook To The True Secret of the Heart, Vol. 1 & 2 contains this essential part of the core teachings. (Fellowship Press) (Available from Map of a Human Being Bookstore). Or (Google books)
Monkey Mind
The monkey mind refers to one of the three major areas that characterize the mind: Its constant tendency to perform pranks, diversions - imitating what it sees without discernment - grabbing hold of the multifarious parts of the world, often to the detriment of its host. These actions are not the essential 'you.'
Baby Mind
The baby mind refers to one of the three major areas that characterize the mind: It is the condition of never being satisfied. Within minutes (sometimes seconds) of giving a baby something off the shelf of a supermarket, it throws it down and points to the next fascinating thing. This leads to a searching after constant amusement, and the dog of desire is happy to lead us there. (This is the tendency that the advertising agencies exploit when convincing us that we must have the latest and greatest model.) If we still want something from this physical world, we still have the baby mind.
Dog of Desire (Mind)
The dog of desire refers to one of the three major areas that characterize the mind: It is the tendency that searches for the needs of the mind. It pulls us, like a dog on a leash, from place to place in order to satisfy our desires (which are not necessarily our real needs). It has no morals, no discernment, in fact the smellier the thing the better. It is connected to the lowest of our base desires. Because human beings are so capable of fulfilling their desires, this tendency, if not controlled by wisdom, leads to a sub-human life.
Note: When these three culprits: Monkey mind, dog of desire and baby mind, get together, you can see what a mischievous web they weave!
Discussion:
I'm not a mathematician, but even if you only agree with some of the negatives shown on the Map, you can see how they could compound and confound our judgement - especially if they are still present in old age. Could this be an underlying exacerbation of dementia? But I hear some say, "Ah, but my mother/father didn't have these qualities." But does any of us really know what qualities or feelings others hold within themselves? Who is even living consciously enough to have identified and eradicated them? This is the work of the conscious human being. There's nowhere to go for this. But the beautiful qualities are also pre-installed software - we just need to become aware of them. Then, when we're lacking in them, just like when we see a hair out of place in the mirror, we can simply make a correction and carry on our day, regaining our equilibrium.
Ego (Mind)
It is hard to leave the word ego out of this discussion. So I think in our context it is that individuated part of us that believes in the world and seeks attainment through and in the world. And because this operates through the limited understanding of the mind, it is also an amoral faculty; so it can perform everything from the most saintly act to the most dastardly deed. From the Map’s perspective, we’re defining it as the mind’s collective will.
Discussion:
In one of our prayer phrases we recite, "I seek refuge in God from the accursed one," (satan, the totality of all that takes us away from Truth).
So I ask, "Who is this 'I' that seeks refuge in God?" Is it this ego 'I' that is the collective will of the mind? Is it the 'I' that is my self image? Is it the person that other people see in me? If you have read the section on karma, you will have some understanding of my position on our composition by the time we reach late childhood and adulthood and you will know that I do not consider this to be based in reality. So can something that is not reality, or is only partial reality, seek refuge in God? Would it survive there? Can it even enter into that company? I don't think illusion can seek refuge in God, so that means there is a genuine 'I' that is able to seek refuge in Reality (God). What does that 'I' look like in me? Do I align myself or identify with that 'I,' or do I identify with some other image of myself, and what is the difference between the two? Do I look at myself from the mind or do I look from the soul?
Mind Wires Brain
Until the Mind-life precepts have been controlled or removed from our lives, they impact us. But it is worse than that they can dominate us.
How is that? I believe that both the mind and the soul need the brain to communicate with the body and the world. The more we perform from the mind, the more the brain remembers those actions and begins wiring the neural pathways that become habits. That is why, even when we realize we are not our mind, it is so hard to change. The current discoveries about the workings of the brain cannot be ignored by any of us. Understanding their process will be another tool to help us affect meaningful change. From neural canyons of addiction and mental illness, to habitual foibles, we come to understand that these are not our essential self, and so begin the work of redirecting the pathways. It does take a lot of effort and, yes, even faith.
(Although in some cases medication is necessary to temporarily relieve the problems associated with these conditions, the work of re-shaping the brain through therapy or spiritual work is the only permanent solution - of course the person must be willing and able to commit to this kind of change and the quality of the intervention and the practitioner must be up to the task.)
"Do not carry or replay the memories of events, carry only the point of wisdom they convey and you will not be sad." BM
400 Million Thoughts (Mind)
We know from experience that the mind continually generates thoughts and emotions. However, we may not realize how many. It is a vast problem for us if we don't practice controlling them.
I believe that many psychiatric conditions revolve around this point. We must admit that these thoughts and emotions are often meaningless and have no significance in our lives. When we are young the random antics of these thoughts are annoying enough, but in old age it is harder to take control of them if we have not lived the examined life. I used to think that as I grew older the younger me became written over by the new me, but now I don’t think so. All those people we have been through our life, the five year old, the ten year old, the twenty year old, etc., are still there to some extent, like shareholders in a cooperative store. Which one will make a demand on me today? How will I recognize that it is not the essential me making demands and what standard will I use to assess and control that impulse? Because our childhood insecurities might still be lurking below the surface we need to be ever vigilant. Bawa suggests that many of these hidden negative tendencies are also the source of illness and disease. I once mused with Bawa about the dangers of the modern world with its nuclear weapons. He asked me what was the most destructive weapon currently. I replied the hydrogen bomb. He said no it is the mind. So, if that is the case, we can grasp the need to develop the skills to contain these thoughts. It is equivalent to de-fragging a computer or regularly clearing an untidy desk, but do not lose sight of this point: this desk is inside us, and no one but I can clear it!
Limited Sentient Perception (Mind)
The mind uses sentient perception to understand life in the physical world. This is also the main observation tool of science. It is true that the scientific approach has liberated us from a lot of magical thinking and superstition, but ultimately, by not researching a spiritual realm/intelligence center or consciousness, we still end up with a partial picture. Tragically, then, because of the high place given the scientific method in the modern world, as with some of our ancestors, when the modern mind thinks of God it imagines an idol, which science then rightly attacks as not being God; and then goes on to conclude, therefore, there is no God.
