Quotes About the Mind

"Your mind is a fabulous instrument of communication. It can comprehend the past. It can plan for the future. Indeed, the mind is a great membrane between your worldly existence and your spiritual reality."

"When the mind is joined with Spirit, it is in its true role. It recognizes its function and is capable of fulfilling it perfectly."

"It is your little command center for being in the world."

Directives

"Deal with your mind firmly, patiently and compassionately, like a parent raising a child. "

"Your mind is your servant and potentially a servant of God under the direction of Knowledge. Honor its strengths and manage it weaknesses. Feed it well and it will be healthy."

"You must take responsibility for the content of your mind.What are you thinking at this moment? What you are thinking is relevant to what you are experiencing.This is accurate. But beyond this is reality, and that is the great gift. Achieving this, then, is more a settling down than a building up. It is the result of becoming still and observant so that you can penetrate your own interpretation. A still mind is a mind that is collecting its own power. It can direct its full resources in any direction, and that is the definition of power in the world."

Mind, Heart and Spirit

"You can imagine all kinds of things but, really, the mind cannot understand the spirit."

"Between the life of the mind and the life of the heart there is a great gulf, a huge chasm, with no apparent bottom. The distance between the two seems insurmountable. Yet there is a way to bridge it."

"The mind must be renewable. To have your mind be renewed, you must realize that you have a greater foundation than the mind, and you must reclaim your relationship with this foundation, which is your relationship with Knowledge."

Quotes About the Personal Mind

"The personal mind ... seeks to use everything for self-assurance, self-glorification and self-protection because it is weak and vulnerable and has no foundation in life."

"For you see, you were born with two minds—a mind to think with and a mind to know. The mind that you think with is a product of all of your social conditioning. It is a product of being in the world. It is an accumulation of ideas, associations and patterns of thinking that you have been learning since the day you were born. Much of this is useful, and some of it is hazardous and dangerous to you. Certainly, you have had to learn how to survive in the world—how to survive physically, how to survive socially, how to participate within a family environment, within a culture or perhaps within a religious framework. You have had to learn how to communicate your ideas and feelings. You have had to learn what society has told you you have to learn. As we have said, some of this is useful and important and some of this is hazardous and not in your best interests."

“People who are obsessed over their thoughts and their feelings and their dreams will never recognize the deeper current of their life because they are not looking in the right place. They are still self-obsessed at the surface of their mind and have not learned to listen more deeply and to develop the patience, the skill, and the perseverance to do this.”

Right Use of the Mind

"Your mind serves two primary functions: It is either contemplating and problem-solving with the power of Knowledge, or it is still. Experiencing peace is a still mind. And to reach this state, you must be able to go beneath the surface of the mind into the well of silence."

"The mind must be employed or allowed to rest, and its employment is not always in a state of work. It may be focused on an enjoyable activity, but it must be focused. When it is not focused, it should be allowed to rest so that you may use it to listen and to look."

"Long ago when I used to work with people one on one. I would practice letting go all my ideas, recommendations and solutions regarding their problem or need. I would instead become very still, listening for what could be done for that person, if anything. Most of the time with my mind very clear and empty, I would receive the key—I would see it, know it and then find an appropriate way to present it. Often it would have little to do with what that person was telling me or what they thought the source of their difficulty was."

"Give the mind one thing to dedicate itself to. This produces equanimity because when the mind is focused, it becomes still—even when it is working very hard. This gives you freedom from past regrets and from future anxieties. It takes you away from fear and into a concentrated state of mind. It generates activity, observation and many other specific tasks."

An Instrument for Communication

"If the mind is not preoccupied with its own thoughts, it naturally gives and receives communication. In fact, it does this even when it is preoccupied, but it is not aware that this is occuring."

"If you think you are your thoughts and your mind, well, you will not be able to comprehend the Mind, the Will and the Presence of God, for the mind is a vehicle of communication in the world."

"With [a foundation in Knowledge], the mind can become a vehicle of great service, a marvelous instrument of communication--a medium between your Ancient Home and the world in which you now live."

"Your mind is different from your True Being, and as such it is ultimately a vehicle for Knowledge. This is its highest function and highest service. To be a vehicle for Knowledge, the mind must be fresh and renewable. It must be able to think clearly and freely and be able to rethink or recreate its thoughts. It must be pliable and open, accessible to new experience, open to new thresholds of understanding and willing to release its own ideas in order to gain a greater perspective and a greater Wisdom at every important threshold of life."

"The mind is a magnificent organizer and vehicle of communication. But it must be wisely directed and employed for a real purpose. Having a mind is like flying a plane. The plane is always going off course. You have to keep it directed where you want it to go."

Freedom from the Oppression of Mind

"Gain access to Knowledge and you will become free of the mind."

"Because most people are not aware that Knowledge is a reality beyond their mind, the mind then becomes greatly amplified. People become very involved in it. In fact, just like people can become obsessed with their bodies, they can also become obsessed with their minds-with their feelings, with their thoughts, with their emotional states, with their memories, with their future ideas, with their theories, with their philosophies, with their fears, with their terrors, and so forth. And oh, the mind looks so big and so dominant! And oh, it is so confusing with so many levels! And it seems unfathomable. It is layers and layers and layers of thinking. The mind seems to overwhelm existence, and you feel enslaved to its will and to its impulses. Where can freedom be found? Freedom is found in bringing the mind in service to Knowledge. Freedom is found in reversing the order of authority. If you are a slave to your mind, then the order of authority is reversed from what it should be. If the mind cannot be employed, it will run wild. If the mind cannot be directed, it shoots around in all directions. If the mind cannot have authority within you, it will become a slave to other minds in the mental environment."

"Your future is and will be in the Greater Community. It is not associated with the past. It is new. It is about the present and the future. The future is coming towards you, over the horizons of your life. You can see this if your vision is developed. You can feel this if you are aware of what you feel. You can gain your strength if your mind can become focused and unified."

“In reality, your worldly mind is meant to serve Knowledge, and here its greater strengths, intelligence and capabilities become really utilized, and it is redeemed and given a greater purpose and integration into your life. But before this can happen, there must be a revolution—a spiritual revolution, a revolution against ideas and obligations, against fear, against guilt, against obsession, against grievances. A revolution to free you to find that which is calling to you and which has been waiting for you for so long.”

See Also

Nature and Design

Intelligence

Stillness

Mental Environment

Group mind

Metaphors for the mind

Further Study

• Greater Community Spirituality: Working With the Mind

• Your Relationship With Yourself

• How Is Wisdom Achieved In Life

• Deepening Your Spiritual Practice (November 1, 2008)