The depth of human mind allows individuals to use it as a powerful instrument for examining the nature of reality and exploring the human potential. However, our perception of the world alters as soon as we gain more knowledge and experience.
The reality, therefore, is a complex set of acquired knowledge about information, as well as unique vision of an individual. It is logical, therefore, for people to cognize the world in different fashion because their attitudes and belief systems rely more on experiential dimension.
People should be aware of the importance to control and train our mind in order to understand the objective reality and become much happier. Our mind, therefore, is the major obstacle to become happy and achieve harmony with nature and the surrounding world.
Mind is the main mechanism that permits individuals to interpret reality, but the extent of objectivity and perception depends largely on the level of self-confidence.
Training mind reveals much more opportunities for humans to perceive the world. In particular, it blurs the boundaries of consciousness and expands our understanding of how world is represented.
According to Buddhist thinking, mind training “…is training in stability in order to “reveal the mystery” of the ultimate nature of reality, our own and that of other phenomena” (Wallace 80).
Buddhism also proposes two approaches to mind training – release and control. The latter implies being able to sustain attention on a specific object which is aimed at taking control of our actions and thoughts.
Focusing attention on a specific object allows an individual to establish priorities in case the attention is straightforward.
Foci of attention do not only change attitude, but also provide more information about the reality that was hidden due to the established frames of attention.
Mind training does not change our outlook or the mechanism we perceive reality. Rather, it can transform our attitudes, which does not imply changing our identity.
In this respect, physical and verbal conduct reflecting individual attitudes and perceptions should influence identity and, as a result, certain circumstances entail radical changes.
Maintaining the extent of spiritual engagement, but changing the mechanisms of interpreting reality is the key to training and controlling our actions.
The models of cognizing reality also depend on our understanding of what reality and experience imply, as well as how it transforms our consciousness.
Being aware of these concepts can induce the corresponding shifts. Therefore, mind and consciousness takes responsibility for the way perceive reality.
With regard to the above, it is highly important how human mind approaches specific realities, which is the ground of the Buddhist philosophy.
Cultivating mind is important for understanding how various processes affect our perception and attitude to the world. In this respect, faith and confidence are key factors affecting belief systems.
However, people believe in or accept something because they have confidence in it, but not because it is written in religious scriptures, or because a certain philosophical or religious movement accepts it.
In other words, human mind is not subject solely to rational explanation of the world. Many aspects lie beyond the reason and intellectual thinking and can be cognized by emotional faculties.
One way or another, blind acceptance is inadmissible because thinking process cannot capture the depth of the processes and activities.
There is an assumption that, in order to accept happiness, dissatisfaction is the first step to reach the goal. The idea is slightly congruent with Descartes’s deliberations on the concept of ambivalence and oppositions.
A person can conceive the concept of happiness and peace as soon as he/she realizes what it means to be upset, discouraged, and angry. All these aspects are also differently perceived and depend largely on the set of experiences an individual gains in the course of life.
Consequently, dissatisfaction, as the ground thesis in Buddhism, entails suffering and endless searching. Individuals should undergo suffering, sorrow, and pain to understand how happiness can be achieved. As a result, being happy means being liberated from sorrow and suffering.
Our understanding of happiness is strongly associated with the way our mind approaches reality. People can differently evaluate specific situations.
Some individuals might think that happiness is impossible to achieve unless they are bound by stereotypes and prejudices whereas others firmly believe that happiness is possible as soon they found the boundaries of their consciousness. Contextual reality, therefore, is largely constructed by the way we measure external processes.
The core sense of mind training does not consist in sustaining firm beliefs and attitudes about various concepts. Indeed, specific vision of reality is largely predetermined by the extent to which individuals focus on self-confidence and self-development.
Self-centered approach to perceiving reality often prevents from interpreting it in an objective way. The point is that people mistakenly think that craving is the key to achieving peace and happiness.
In fact, to perceive the reality as it is can be possible through denial and removal of the existence of sel. According to Buddhism, self-delusion is the main cause of unhappiness.
At the same time, human mind is capable of achieving happiness by interpreting reality in its own way, which is also a kind of self-delusion.
The human mind has the ability to interpret reality differently in the course of gaining experience and evolving. Deep reflection on the transformation of human mind and human consciousness are brightly represented in the Chinese philosophy.
In particular, the Chinese philosophers adhere to the evidence of existence of a specific pattern that shapes the ultimate reality and that stands separately from human perception.
Therefore, human nature has the capability of disclosing the reality of thing differently because of a set of factors shaping their vision. In this respect, reality can also be regarded as a combination of individual realities.
It is logical to assert, therefore, that reality cannot be perceived as an ultimate representation of things, but the one that is characterized by the presence of individuals.
The sense of belonging of the individual to the whole reality is closely connected to the spiritual dimension, as well as to the degree to which a person identifies himself/herself with the reality.
In addition, although the way we perceive things stands beyond the ultimate reality of things, human nature is still rooted in the ultimate representation.
Thus, individuals originally have knowledge of things and recognize the efforts to cognize the reality.
The fact that the mind is the precursor all conditioned things is justified because it predetermines the quality of our life, as well as our future actions.
The human mind is also the forerunner of all conflicts and misunderstandings because of the previously cultivated perceptions and concepts. Therefore, retraining and controlling the mind is the key to understanding and reconciliation.
False images and interpretation of the ultimate reality will not contribute to avoiding ideological confrontations. In order to cognize the ultimate reality, the Buddhist philosophers argue that individuals should know, control, and train their minds to liberate from existing stereotypes.
Moreover, asserting that human nature is inherent part of ultimate reality also seems logical. As soon as we become aware of the importance of training and controlling our mind provides new perspectives of setting our consciousness free.
There are people who live in the realm of ideas, image, symbols, and concepts. However, this world does not characterize the real state of things. This is where theory is distinguished from empirical experience.
Accumulating knowledge from practical experience can be valued because it contributes to resolving and understanding the essence of things.
Reluctance to understand reality can lead to conflict because the conditioned dimension implies abiding the things that are not actually presented as we see them.
Despite the fact that the reality exists independent from human mind, the conflicts and confusion will still be generated as long as humans stop distorting the ultimate reality.
In conclusion, it should be stressed that the human mind should not have ideological and stereotypical boundaries because it prevents them from perceiving objectively the ultimate reality.
However, because human nature originates from the objective reality, our belief system, perceptions, and attitudes should also be regarded as representation of this reality.
Therefore, people should focus on training, controlling, and cognizing their minds in order to avoid conflict and confusions, as well as achieve happiness and harmony with other people.
Work Cited
Wallace, Alan B. Buddhism with an Attitude: The Tibetan Seven-Point Mind-Training. US: Snow Lion Publications, 2003, Print.