What is a Mature Mind? A guideline for you to self evaluate to see if you are a qualified candidate
Are you ready to know the Truth? Not everyone is ready to know the Truth. And this is okay. However, a great number of people believe they are ready, but with a little investigation it turns out that they are looking for something else. Perhaps they are seeking comfort, escape from the dullness of their lives, a way to avoid suffering, entertainment, or even an ego boost.
For this reason, there has to be an honest recognition of why you want to know the Truth. You must know this in your very core. What are you looking for and why are you looking for it?
Your desire to know The search for the Truth, without any other interest, must be the ultimate desire. And this desire has to be strong — so strong that it crowds everything else out. The need to know is not one of curiosity, but rather necessity. It cannot be based on a trend, popular culture, what your friends are doing, or what you think might make you happy. It cannot be said to exist merely because you enjoy going to satsangs or discussions about the meaning of life.
The ego mind is very deceptive, which is why you must find out whether your search for the Truth is really only about your doing something to feel special or have a sense of spiritual accomplishment.
If you just want to be a better person in this play called life — if you want to be a better character — then this path is not for you. If you are looking for enlightenment that you have heard is a wonderful state of bliss and trouble-free living, then this path is not for you. If you want to be a teacher and lead people through some sort of spiritual progress, then this path is not for you. Ultimately, you must have the strongest of desires to realize the Truth, and this Truth cannot be a preconceived idea that you are trying to attain.
Quite often, this strong desire is apparent in childhood and it never leaves you.
Why do you want to know? To determine your own motives for wanting to know the Truth, you must analyze your own mind and thoughts and find out whether the readiness to know the Truth is within you or whether it is not.
Though the mind would love to experience a wonderful state of bliss, happiness, and absence of care, these have nothing to do with the Truth; it has to do with the mind. The Truth is not an experience. It is not even describable. It is not about who you are, because such a thing cannot be talked about.
The Truth, the Totality, the Absolute, cannot be described. It is not an experience that comes and goes. It is not an exciting state of reality, or an alternative reality. There is no sign, color, or anything to cling onto to talk about; no one can talk about who he/she is. All descriptions of enlightenment or the so-called enlightened state are misleading and false, for how can one describe the indescribable? It is not possible to put into imagery or language that which exists prior to consciousness, prior to thought and the mind.
In order to understand who you are, your mind has to be pure; you need an authentic desire to know yourself, and your mind needs to be purified.
If you are a true candidate for the Truth, I will show you how to purify your mind. 99% of all seekers have a desire that is not authentic. Find out if you are ready and what your motives are.
Misconceptions about the mind So much has been said about killing the mind, getting rid of the mind, learning to ignore the mind, and so forth. But know this: The mind is not the enemy, because you need it. The ego must exist in order for you to have the question: “Who am I?” This should be your question.
Who am I? Asking “Who am I?” is the beginning of having the mind turn inward. The mind is always used to going off in different directions in this play that we call life. The mind accepts this play as the reality and completely identifies with the actor who plays the role of “I,” or “me.” This is the problem, the obstacle to Truth.
The fact is that nothing is real, nothing stands alone, and nothing really happens. The mind perceives that this world is fragmented and that there is an “I” who is separated from the rest of existence. All your efforts and experiences in the outer world get you no closer to knowing about Totality.
The mind, even if you say you want to know the Truth, is still seeking in the “play” itself and it is identifying with the character that you call “I.” The mind is looking for satsangs, speakers, gurus, teachers, books, discussions, and all sorts of practices. None of these are going to help; they do not work.
You have to just turn inward, and the mind has to be mature enough to know the Truth is not “there,” but it is here. It has to be mature enough not to identify with the character in the play.
The behavior of the mind Your mind has to behave. It must be trained to behave a certain way so that it will be detached from this duality. It must come to know that you do not do anything in this life. You can do anything in this life, but do not be attached to your actions. The sense of doer-ship will mellow out.
Through meditation you will make the mind suitable enough, fit enough, clear enough, and mature enough so that when the guru says, “You are THAT,” then this mind should understand that You are That. You must not only recognize this, but also know the value of this. Only a mature mind knows the value of this. An Immature mind, on the other hand, is looking for experience, expansion, and a “something.”
Investigating yourself to see if your desire is authentic You need to investigate whether your desire is authentic and real. If so, you need a mature mind so it sees the truth and it does not walk away from this meditation that inquires “Who is here?” and “Who am I?” The mind must be fit enough to train the immature mind to go back to the witness so that it will appreciate the value of how things really are.
You are already You You don’t need to practice to be yourself. You are already yourself. Just be honest with yourself; this is the path of self knowledge, but it begins with a strong and complete conviction to knowing — an authentic desire.
A mind that is not familiar with this will not be at one with this. The immature mind says “I want to be somebody to know this,” but the truth is that there is nobody here. There is nobody living in this body.
You have knowledge problems not experience problems. This bears explaining. The problem is that people are looking for experiences, but experiences have nothing to do with the Truth, which is not a state and it is not describable. It is not beingness and it is not not-beingness. It is not a witness or even a “state.” The real problem is that you do not know, it is not that you are not having an experience of being the “real you,” because this is impossible. You are always You, and you have always been so. The problem is that you do not recognize this.
Too much concern with the mind People are usually looking for a mind without thoughts, but this is not freedom. When you meditate, the mind quiets down in order to see what is Truth. Once it sees this, and you know what the reality is, it doesn’t matter any more what is going on in the mind.
If the mind is not mature it does not know the value of JUST BEING. Once you recognize this — that “this was what I was looking for and I found it,” that’s the end.
This path is only for the mind that has a true desire for self knowledge. It requires self inquiry and self evaluation to first know whether you are a qualified candidate. You need a mature mind in the sense that is discussed in this material. A mature mind does not say, “I want to feel consciousness.” What does that mean? This is not about feeling, experience, practices, reconditioning, or acting in a certain way; it’s about being. A mature mind surrenders to the beingness.
Are you qualified? Are you capable of seeing the Truth and valuing it? Value what is. Is this valuable or not? Is this knowledge? When you have this knowledge then all questions drop. And it’s not like you say, “I have the answer,” but rather it’s that you don’t have any questions.
With special thanks to my dear friend Mr. Vic Shayne for putting together this message regarding the Mature Mind.
