By Changing the Software of the Mind

 A Practical Message for our Time
By Leonard Perlmutter

“A problem cannot be solved on the same level at which it arose.” 
Albert Einstein

         Before the printed word, the ancients used icons to teach the philosophy of yoga science.  Nataraja, the “Lord of the Dance,” is depicted as having both masculine and feminine attributes symbolizing the Absolute Perfection in the merging of all opposites.  His cosmic dance powers the various seasons of creation, maintenance, destruction and liberation.  In this famous sculptural sermon, the Lord, in the form of Nataraja, exhibits infinite love and wisdom by crushing the dwarf of ignorance with His mighty foot.  The pain, wrought by Divine Providence, rouses Ignorance from his infatuation with the charms, attractions and temptations of the material world with which he has been playing, and calls his attention toward the raised foot of Nataraja --- symbolizing that true happiness can be experienced only by attaining a higher state of consciousness. 

          In the wake of 9-11, the ever-present threat of terrorism and a potential war with Iraq, it’s critical that we contemplate the meaning of the pain we’ve experienced.  How can we honor those who died, and what can we do to assure that such cancers will not grow in the human organism?

          For guidance, New York Times reporter Tom Friedman turned to one of his mentors, Rabbi Tzvi Marx.  The rabbi offered a Biblical analogy.  “To some extent,” said Tzvi, “we feel after 9-11 like we have experienced the flood of Noah --- as if a flood had inundated our civilization and we are the survivors.  What do we do the morning after?”

          Well, the Rabbi asks, “What was the first thing Noah did when the floodwaters receded and he got off the ark?  He planted a vine; made wine and got drunk.”  That’s right.  Noah’s very first reaction to the flood’s devastation and the many challenges he faced was to numb himself to the world.

          “But what is God’s reaction to the flood?  It’s just the opposite,” says Tzvi.  God’s reaction was to offer Noah a new set of rules to regulate and change previous human behavior.

          And this is where the analogy with our present situation begins.  After the hell and “deluge” of 9-11, we have two basic choices.  We can either numb ourselves to the world, continuing our habitual busy-ness, or we can become motivated to change the world. 

          If we choose to transform the world; to make it a safer, saner place for all to live peacefully, we immediately discover that we’ve got a major problem.  Why?  Because if we always do what we’ve always done, we’ll always get what we always got.  According to Albert Einstein, “A problem cannot be solved on the same level at which it arose.”  To heal our world, each of us must think beyond the norm.  The unimaginative, habitual recommendations to end terrorism offered by politicians, military strategists and television personalities may be well intentioned, but they will fail to bring about a creative and lasting resolution because both the “solutions” and problem are products of the consciousness of duality and separateness.  Effective solutions can only be found on a higher level of consciousness.

          When we examine the overriding consciousness of the planet, we discover that most human thought is limited by the concepts of time and space; a condition of our profound sense of separateness.  Space exists only when a subject perceives an object, and time is the way the mind deals with space.  Time is merely the space between two thoughts or objects.  Since its initial, blissful experience of nursing at mother’s breast, the human race has continued to compound its first, ignorant, dualistic perceptions:  I am  a separate entity; Mama is a separate entity, and objects and relationships bring me happiness and eliminate my pain.  Relying on this faulty software, we forever remain “outsiders.”  We never fully understand ourselves, and yet we try to know the external world.  Sadly, duality software inevitably gives rise to fear --- the fear that we won’t get what we want, or we might lose what we have.  Fear exists when we acknowledge someone else’s existence while forgetting our own true Self; not realizing the One unity in the diversity --- the One Absolute Truth . . . here, there and everywhere.

          But if human beings were willing to experiment with an updated software program of the mind, one which could help annihilate the space between the “subject” and the “object,” we’d begin to see every “other” object and relationship as part of the One Absolute Reality.  In every spiritual tradition, the sages explain that beneath all physical, mental, and cultural differences, there is an underlying Reality which is not different, nor subject to change, death, decay or decomposition.  When we become aware of that One Divine Reality, knowing that both we and the “other” are a part of It, who is there to fear, and what is there to fear . . . if there is only One Reality?  But as long as we view ourselves separate from “others,” including terrorists, we will experience fear.  And, sooner or later, that fear will invite danger.

          When you speak with another person, do you ever feel as though you’re speaking to yourself?  Probably not.  Most of us even willingly lie to others because we believe that they are different from us.  But Jesus the Christ teaches us to “love thy neighbor as thy Self,” not because it’s a morally sound idea, but  because on the highest level of consciousness thy neighbor is thy Self.  When we come to know this One underlying principle of all existence --- the Christ of which the early Christians speak --- then we will be free from our fears and we will stop inviting danger, including terrorism.  However, this is not work to be done by politicians nor governments, but by each individual mind; by each human being in the midst of our own personal relationships, knowing that the Self within is the Self of all.

          Since 9-11, we have wrestled with strategies to deal with terrorists without knowing ourselves first.  But it is impossible to  accurately know a world which constantly changes, with a mind which is constantly clouded.  To clarify our vision, we must free ourselves from the tyranny of time, space and duality.  Before we consider taking any action, we must have some knowledge of who “I am” who entertains the thought of taking this action.

          To experience the truth of a higher consciousness; to know the Self, we must be willing to update the software of the mind, for it is the mind which facilitates perception, discrimination, action and its resultant consequences.  The mind is our most powerful instrument.  It can be our greatest friend, but with the current software, it represents an impossible challenge.  Why?  Because it is the mind and its bundle of habit patterns which stands between us and the unbounded happiness we seek.

          Once a new software program is installed, one which enables us to recall who we are at all times and in every circumstance, we automatically gain access to the conscience --- “free, 24-hour, on-line technical support.”  When employed, this intuitive library of super-conscious, discriminative knowledge creatively guides our mind, body and speech for our highest and greatest good.  By consistently relying on the conscience for every thought, word and deed, the habits of the mind will no longer pose an obstacle to our vision of the world.  Instead, we will begin to see every one and every thing, including ourselves, as part of the Perfection of One Divine Reality having innumerable experiences.

          By relying on this new, unifying software, each of us can begin to think, speak and act in non-habitual, non-injurious ways --- because we will always be interacting with our Self.  As we become more accustomed to seeing the unity in the diversity, we will become increasingly capable of healing every relationship, putting an end to terrorism and transforming the life of the planet so that each of us can realize our fullest creative potential.

As we cannot think of our beginning or of the time when we did not exist, so we cannot think of the time when we shall cease to exist. Consciousness is the inherent essence of our being, and it is deathless. It was never born. The Absolute Reality that is birthless and deathless is beyond the process of beginning and dissolution. Anything and everything in this world that is subject to birth must go through the process of constant change, must decay and die. A plant is born of a seed. It grows, decays, and dies. So also birth is followed by growth, decay, and death. Our Atman is never born, it does not grow, nor is it ever subject to decay and destruction. Perfection belongs to our vital stuff. If we do not feel it, it is because of our lack of insight into the truth of our immortal nature. He who knows and realizes that he is divine, a part of the Absolute which is perfect, knows that he is the child of Immortal Bliss. Of course, it takes a long time, and ceaseless practice and patience, to understand the illimitable potentialities, in one's personal life, of our Atman. Most of us mechanically repeat the great truth that we are the children of God without knowing its deep meaning --- but once we grasp its true import, we tend to become perfect.
Swami Rama of the Himalayas


What you appear to be is the outer body; what you are is consciousness. Evil is the shadow of inattention.
Nisargadatta Maharaj


When you have achieved the consciousness that God is in you, with you and for you, that consciousness must reshape every thought, word and deed, and make you wish good, speak good and do good.
Satya Sai Baba


Our understanding is limited by the perspective of our consciousness and, in most cases, our consciousness is lens-like. It distorts reality by narrowing down the picture.
Vilayat I. Khan


The crisis is in our consciousness, not in the world.
J. Krishnamurti


There is nothing about any level of consciousness which is right or wrong, good or bad, pure or evil.
Ansari


A person is but consciousness. Even if a hundred bodies perish, consciousness does not perish. Consciousness is like space, but it exists as if it is the body. The infinite appears to be divided into infinite parts, with and without form. This is because countless particles of experiences shine within that consciousness.
Anonymous


A lake that is absolutely calm gives to you a perfect reflection. The moment it becomes disturbed in the least, the reflection is distorted; and if the agitation is increased, the reflection will be completely lost. Your consciousness is the lake.
James B. Schafer


The chief delusion of man is his conviction that there are other causes at work in his life than his own states of consciousness. All that happens to him, all that is done by him, comes to him as a result of his states of consciousness.
Paul Twitchell


The oceans surge, the rivers roll . . . in me, in me, in me.
The flowers smile, the zephyrs blow . . . in me, in me, in me.
Big fairs are held and battles raged . . . in me, in me, in me.
The mountains heave and Nature blooms . . . in me, in me, in me.
The comets fly, the meteors die; cold winds sigh and thunders cry . . . in me, in me, in me.
The foe contends, the friend defends; the mother sleeps, the baby weeps . . . in me, in me, in me.
Swami Rama Tirtha