Writing: Speeches
The intellect and the Mind – letter to A. NYC. 2007
… I totally sympathize with you. I am, or at least I used to be, exactly like you and even worse... I would go with my heart in my palms and get hurt all the time. But first, I was extremely selfish, and second, I didn’t use my intellect at all. So now you have a chance to learn from somebody else’s experience and maybe it will save you some heartache...
No, you shouldn’t be happy for him that he has another girl (well, yes), but you shouldn’t hate him and wish him bad... you are just wallowing in your own self pity now, which you are responsible for in the first place.
The Indian Vedanta guy will tell you straight in the face that you don’t have an intellect whatsoever, or if you do, you are not using it at all... also, you are totally concentrated on yourself, and not even aware that there are bigger things to your life beyond the satisfaction of your -- and your heart. And that’s why you suffer so much. You act only with your ‘mind’, i.e. only upon your desires, likes and dislikes, selfish attachments, and the unrealistic fantasies of your mind which take you exactly to the things which are harmful for you, and you don’t apply any reasoning, assessing, discrimination and analysis with your intellect. You also don’t realize with your intellect, or at least investigate the option, that there is more to life beyond these desires and likes/dislikes. You are controlled by the mind, which is the horses tied to the carriage, and the intellect - which is supposed to be the driver who holds the ropes - is either dead or asleep. So the carriage goes all over the place, in all the wrong directions.
Yoga helps a lot in that it calms the mind down a bit, lower its desires, and lets you a glimpse into that something which is beyond this petty mind. Unfortunately, it doesn’t develop the intellect. This happens by studying, reflecting and thinking. And practicing assessment, discrimination, and controlling the mind.
I know this all sounds like highfaluting philosophy and maybe very harsh and it might even make you more angry. You might even not wanna talk to me. But I can tell you from my 39 years of experience with bad-handling these exact problems you are suffering from, that it really boils down to these 2 things I mentioned. So again, in short:
1. There is more to life than satisfying our selfish wants and desires, and once we realize that, all these little things we want and not get (because its a never ending cycle of wanting and getting and then not getting and then more wanting...) just seem so less important. And less hurtful. 2. Even in this more spiritual and aware life we gain then, once you use your intellect (and compassion, I will add), things really get in proportion and the suffering diminishes. We can reach a point where we won’t suffer at all by the constant blows of life, and take everything as an enriching experience which helps us grow (I mean, for Jesussake, you met a wonderful guy, had great sex, got some love which could last for a lifetime, learned the hang, what more do you want ? ;-)
Uufff... now I'm gonna go chase my own selfish desires, look for love in the wrong places, totally shut my intellect off, and get hurt by every little thing that happens... so talk to ya later...
Swami A.
No, you shouldn’t be happy for him that he has another girl (well, yes), but you shouldn’t hate him and wish him bad... you are just wallowing in your own self pity now, which you are responsible for in the first place.
The Indian Vedanta guy will tell you straight in the face that you don’t have an intellect whatsoever, or if you do, you are not using it at all... also, you are totally concentrated on yourself, and not even aware that there are bigger things to your life beyond the satisfaction of your -- and your heart. And that’s why you suffer so much. You act only with your ‘mind’, i.e. only upon your desires, likes and dislikes, selfish attachments, and the unrealistic fantasies of your mind which take you exactly to the things which are harmful for you, and you don’t apply any reasoning, assessing, discrimination and analysis with your intellect. You also don’t realize with your intellect, or at least investigate the option, that there is more to life beyond these desires and likes/dislikes. You are controlled by the mind, which is the horses tied to the carriage, and the intellect - which is supposed to be the driver who holds the ropes - is either dead or asleep. So the carriage goes all over the place, in all the wrong directions.
Yoga helps a lot in that it calms the mind down a bit, lower its desires, and lets you a glimpse into that something which is beyond this petty mind. Unfortunately, it doesn’t develop the intellect. This happens by studying, reflecting and thinking. And practicing assessment, discrimination, and controlling the mind.
I know this all sounds like highfaluting philosophy and maybe very harsh and it might even make you more angry. You might even not wanna talk to me. But I can tell you from my 39 years of experience with bad-handling these exact problems you are suffering from, that it really boils down to these 2 things I mentioned. So again, in short:
1. There is more to life than satisfying our selfish wants and desires, and once we realize that, all these little things we want and not get (because its a never ending cycle of wanting and getting and then not getting and then more wanting...) just seem so less important. And less hurtful. 2. Even in this more spiritual and aware life we gain then, once you use your intellect (and compassion, I will add), things really get in proportion and the suffering diminishes. We can reach a point where we won’t suffer at all by the constant blows of life, and take everything as an enriching experience which helps us grow (I mean, for Jesussake, you met a wonderful guy, had great sex, got some love which could last for a lifetime, learned the hang, what more do you want ? ;-)
Uufff... now I'm gonna go chase my own selfish desires, look for love in the wrong places, totally shut my intellect off, and get hurt by every little thing that happens... so talk to ya later...
Swami A.
