You have probably heard about the Eastern concept of the Ego. It is described as the ‘thinking mind’, something we can get great value from paying attention to, but so depressing and unhealthy if we only rely on it. We live in a society where the thinking mind is ruling, the “new” religion is science and logic, but there is an aspect of believing here too. Who is to say what is right and not. Well, you of course. Only you can decide what to believe in. At Olive we are absolutely science oriented and I have criteria’s for how to use science before I do any recommendation; how many studies I need to check, how important it is, who pays for the study, etc. In our personal life it’s the same. We ourselves decide what to believe.
“Both victim consciousness and guilt consciousness are detrimental on the spiritual path, they make you miserable. Whenever you think you are a victim, you cannot have proper rest. Then you keep crying or getting angry at others.” Sri Sri Ravi Shankar.
The thinking mind, often called “the small mind-body” in literature, is not where feelings spring from, but it’s where they stay as derived to a conclusion; I am bad…I was hurt…I was guilty… It’s when we stay in this thinking mind that we get limited and stuck. The first signal is restlessness or frustration. It’s a good signal to rethink your “truth”. The opposite, the so called “the big mind-body”, is explained as the part of us that gives us intuition, creativity, deja-vu’s, gut feeling, etc. These are the areas modern science hasn’t been able to show us the origin of, but I believe Quantum Science will soon offer pretty awesome answers. For now we can only accept that we don’t have modern scientific explanations for, but we do have many other ways to explain it. We absolutely have to listen to both intuition and logic. Where is the border line ? Up to you. What ever gives you energy and vitality (Prana) is right for you.
“Reason is reeling in the known. Faith is adventuring in the unknown. Reason is repetition and routine. Faith is exploration and adventure.” – Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Use reason to understand, but faith to get beyond your understanding. In management research by Laura Day, author and scientist on intuition, she asked managers what they base their decisions on and surprisingly enough 80% of their decisions is based on intuition (but they wouldn’t call it that). Einstein was right! Hard facts and logic only stands for 10% of the decision making, 90% is intuition. What he called “the other side of the brain”. Her research also shows that in stressed situations like in an emergency room, surgeons are using their intuition much more than a Zen monk.
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