A Clear Mind...What does it mean?

It means that we are open to analysis and the use of our reasoning. It means that we are not blind bound by what we have learned from our parents, in school or traditions of the place in which we live.

We are bombarded daily by ideas of different sources and this makes it necessary that we have a clear mind in order not to be confused and be able to make wise decisions.

We receive messages from various sources as to what scientists, religious people, philosophers, medical doctors, naturopaths, politicians, or famous people say in order to mold our way of thinking.

Due to the great amount of propaganda that exists it is necessary to have a clear mind that will allow us to analyze what is being said without passion or fanaticism. It helps us think clearly and come to conclusions that fit our way of thinking in the most reasonable way considering the facts we possess.

Let’s take a look at religious or spiritual ideas. They have been elaborated with many theories and teachings but in the long run we are told that we must have faith and believe them. There is no basis for accepting them so then they rely on the argument of faith.

Tibetan buddhism speaks about an ancient king called Gesar. This king was the result of the union of a spiritual being and a woman. Through much difficulty he became king of Tibet and he dedicated himself to conquering lands and overcoming the enemies of the tibetans. This king was a buddha or a completely illuminated being and when he fought he did magical things to conquer the enemies. On one occasion he converted himself into a minute insect and he introduced himself inside the nose of the monster who lead the opposing army and was practically invincible. He thus destroyed the monster’s brain thereby killing him and he won the battle.

I spoke with a great tibetan teacher about this subject and asked him if these teachings were historic, a legend or symbolisms of qualities we should cultivate. He answered that they believed these stories had occurred and they believed them because great masters of the past had spoken of them and he had faith in what had been written.

This happens in all spiritual teachings, somewhere along the line when there is no historical nor scientific evidence they introduce the faith element as the basis for their teachings.

Many would like to convince us with supposedly scientific ideas but when they cannot prove something they recur to the argument that if there is no proven evidence that means that the contrary is true. But this does not have to be always so.

We have to understand that at the moment we do not have information regarding all that surrounds us and we do not know it all. Therefore it is good to be careful of the conclusions we come to so as not to assume a point of view without any basis. It is important to recognize there are still many loopholes in our knowledge. So we should not be dogmatic nor reach conclusions without a solid basis.

We have many examples of this throughout human history. There was a time that it was believed that certain diseases existed due to malignant spirits. Further on the existence of microorganisms was discovered as the cause for those diseases. The idea that the cause of disease was due to malignant spirits was due in part to not having the knowledge that we now have about microscopic organisms and they looked for a spiritual reason on which to base it because they had no evidence for it. Because they didn’t have a solid bases and wanted to come to conclusions, caused much problems and sufferings, especially for those who did not receive the proper treatment.

Time will come when we will have knowledge of things we now ignore and it’s possible that there will be some things we will never know.

Anyhow we will feel good if we maintain an open and clear mind so as to avoid being victims of popular ideas that have no fundament and will only make us go against our best interests. It will help us so as not to act irrationally or fanatically.

Let us use our own faculty to think, avoid confusion and maintain a clear mind. We should also listen to our inner wisdom.