What exactly is the mind and where is it located ?

[Marblehead]

But from what I know about life, Life is all the Yang abilities combined and limitless with the ability to oppose ( yin ) itself. and it does just that.

But sometimes we've gotta' rest. That is called "returning" to Yin.

[Stosh]

_{I equate the yang and yin thing with practical thermodynamics rather than a polemic about life opposing itself or promoting itself.}

_{Because life always promotes itself , sometimes by resting.}

_{This self promotion of life is one certain thing one can call 'natural'.}

_{An unnatural act would then be one which , due to illusion or confusion , fails to be beneficial to the living thing.}

_{Taking this view , and applying it to TTC or Chuangtze is what renders in large part the meaning I attribute to the works.}

_{Ever notice how little on TTBs has to do with the life of critters , ecology , life modes, evolution , or any given kind of animal at all?}

_{Ironically I see a new thread , praising all the nature stuff here.. well it aint the life sciences I grew up with.}

Edited July 24, 2014 by Stosh

[Michael Sternbach]

Good answer! This seems to imply that both wake and dream awareness are both conscious , both the result of subconscious calculation which we are unaware of because its "non linear". Now if a person can compute a threat and physiologically react before they are conscious of it, what would be the need for awareness at all?

Could direct awareness of subconscious ever happen?

 

Stosh,

 

During the dream state your brain wave frequencies will be mostly in the alpha range, in fact not that far removed from waking consciousness. However, as we all know, dreams are typically rather chaotic - this is because they are not bound by the logic of the rational mind but reflect subconscious non-linear, associative processes. Certainly your awareness is moving in a psychological zone closer to the subconscious during dreams.

 

Conscious awareness doesn't necessarily stand in contradiction to instinctive behavior; nature wisely looked to it that when we happen to touch a turned-on hotplate we withdraw our hand reflexively rather quickly! The linear functioning of the conscious mind is just too time-consuming to handle such situations. But this doesn't deprive the conscious mind from its real purpose. Without a doubt, the latter does make us a very successful species in many ways. Indeed, the expansion of awareness seems to be what all of existence is longing for.

 

Which ties in with your final question: Could direct awareness of the subconscious ever happen? This is a tricky one! The conscious personality or ego emerges from the subconscious but needs to shut out lots of internal and external data in order to maintain its stand. A lack of "linear boundaries" is synonymous with confusion, even psychosis. Certainly the conscious mind can learn to tolerate more such data input, in a step-by-step process, most of all if it sees the meaningfulness of this information. This is the aim of many meditative practices.

 

Ideally, the conscious and the unconscious mind, the Yang and the Yin, the Sun and the Moon will exist in a balanced state of unison at the end of a process of inner Alchemy.

[Stosh]

Very interesting , well said , thanks.

[TaoMaster]

sometimes we wake from a dream and realize oh snaps it was just a dream and it was you who produced the whole dream and only you know about it

 

you can know that when your body dies, you return to 1 with all life again and then you realize oh snaps, it was just a solid lifetime and it was you who produced the whole thing and its only you who knows about it .

 

everyone and everything is here becuase you put them here.

 

do you know you are projecting dream images when you are dreamimng ? sometimes

do you know you are projecting solid life reality while you are living? sometimes

 

• the simpilest+ explanation is ALWAYS the most likely to be true+.
• so
• the most complex- explanation is ALWAYS the most likely to be false-.

 

taomaster

LOD, its more than a spectrum with 2 poles

[TaoMaster]

[Stosh]

 

sometimes we wake from a dream and realize oh snaps it was just a dream and it was you who produced the whole dream and only you know about it

 

you can know that when your body dies, you return to 1 with all life again and then you realize oh snaps, it was just a solid lifetime and it was you who produced the whole thing and its only you who knows about it .

 

everyone and everything is here becuase you put them here.

 

do you know you are projecting dream images when you are dreamimng ? sometimes

do you know you are projecting solid life reality while you are living? sometimes

 

• the simpilest+ explanation is ALWAYS the most likely to be true+.
• so
• the most complex- explanation is ALWAYS the most likely to be false-.

taomaster

LOD, its more than a spectrum with 2 poles

Only what happens happens , so that which one calculates as "likely" may happen but that doesnt mean that it is the way things are going to come to pass , the same term 'likely' infers that the situation may not turn out as you predicted.

Predicting wrong is either due to prejudice on a persons part, they prefer one answer over another, or, there may not be enough information collected, to make a good prediction.

[goldisheavy]

frist lets see what the traditional defition as definded in a dictionary .

 

take a look http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mind

 

Let's ignore the dictionary. I'll give you a better definition: the mind is a capacity to know, to experience and to will. These three capacities are actually one single holistic capacity but I split it into three aspects for explanatory power. Thus, there is no knowing without willing, no willing without knowing, no knowing without experiencing, no experiencing without knowing, no willing without experience, and so on. Any combination of the three aspects is a good contemplation of the mind.

 

Since the mind is a capacity, it's not a "part" of a "human" being the way the dictionary claims. On the contrary, what look like parts are the specific aspects of of specific cognitions, which are the function of the mind, and thus are not the mind which is a capacity and is not anything specific.

 

do we really have a mind ?

 

The mind exists unconditionally. Technically no one and nothing has the mind. But the mind can have all kinds of cognitions. To say that people have minds is like saying ocean waves have their respective oceans. This is nonsense, but at the same time, you really could think that each wave has equal claim on the ocean and can be regarded as the center of the ocean without being the center in any objective sense.

 

or do we just create thoughts and vanish them when we no longer need them around.

 

When thoughts vanish they still exist in the mind as latent knowledge.

 

Where is this so called mind located ?

 

The mind has no location because location is a type of cognition.

 

In the brain ?

 

No.

 

Do thoughts come from the brain ?

 

No, they do not.

 

or do they come from life , the spiritual being ?.

 

Thoughts come "from" the mind. Of course saying "from" implies the mind is some kind of origin from which thoughts depart, and this is wrong. Instead, the best way to understand thoughts is to say that thoughts are aspects of the mind's current condition (or volition). The mind's condition doesn't depart from the mind to go elsewhere. It stays right where it appears and when it disappears it simply returns to a latent state.

 

im not gong to ridicule , bash or supress anyones answers so please feel free to be uninhibited

 

How nice of you.

[Marblehead]

It seems I have lost my mind. Can't find it anywhere.

[silent thunder]

well... i certainly don't mind.

but does it matter?

[Marblehead]

Only if it's matter over mind.

[Gerard]

Where is this so called mind located ? In the brain ? Do thoughts come from the brain ? or do they come from life , the spiritual being ?.

 

A: Not in the brain.The brain and head are just the heavenly mirror of the internal organs. Your thoughts are the result of their combined action.

 

Location: Not in this physical plane.

 

You need to find it out by yourself. Intensive meditation in seclusion or semi-seclusion might yield the answer.

 

Buddha and Plato grasped the mind. The latter didn't provide a more extensive information because I feel it is too confronting and people wouldn't be able to understand him anyway.

 

Here's a background reading on this subject (very philosophical and rough but it will give you an idea. It doesnt really describe about the mind's whereabouts and what is really doing/going through). The Ox Herding tale is OK but it doesn't really happen that way either because as I said this process doesn't really happen that way...sorry if I sound too vague. It is better if you find out by yourself as the reality can be very distressing.

 

My advice on this: don't pursue enlightenment direcly because it won't happen that way simple because the real process is not happening in this plane and because it is 'beyond your control.' Just cultivate your energetic body (and mind) on a daily basis making sure you remain grounded all the time to prevent burnout. Enjoy the path rather than being obsessed about the final destination.

[BaguaKicksAss]

In the heart apparently.

 

But Canadians (westerners), we think it's in our head.

 

Or so I was informed this evening .

[Perceiver]

Science has not located the mind.

 

There has been found no gland or brain center that with certainty produces the mind.

 

Therefore, you cannot point to the mind and say "there it is".

 

It is believed to be "in the head", but we cannot ascertain that this is true.

 

It is an interesting point.

 

We can keep on searching for the mind or we can regard the search as complete: The mind cannot be physically found. Doing the last thing may be the key to understanding a great deal about reality.

[Marblehead]

Maybe there really is no mind?

[GrandmasterP]

Make a fist with your right hand and cock your thumb so that it forms a peak atop the clenched fist.

Rest that thumb peak in your belly button and lightly flatten your fist against your body.

Now stretch down your little finger as far as it will go.

Picture a latitudinal line running across from where your little finger touches.

Picture a longitudinal line running down the front centre of your body bisecting the bridge of your nose and navel.

Locate the intersection of those two lines by touching the spot with your right index finger.

Your mind resides one 'fist-depth' behind that finger tip and it is the same size as your clenched right fist.

Easily found but very difficult to 'locate'.

 

Hope that helps.

 

Edited August 5, 2014 by GrandmasterP

[Marblehead]

 

Hope that helps.

 

Sure, that helped a lot.

 

(No, I am not going to play with my belly button.)

[Stosh]

Since when is lower Dantien mind?

[thelerner]

Since when is lower Dantien mind?

I was under the impression that the Greeks and Romans considered the mind in the stomach region. They didn't consider the brain as a thinking organ.

 

Since I feel my thoughts in my brain is it placebo? If I was Roman would I feel my intellect in my gut? Would that have any advantages?

 

 

Probably needs double checking

[Marblehead]

Probably needs double checking

Let us know what you find out, Okay?

[dawei]

Since when is lower Dantien mind?

 

search lower dan tian and enteric nervous system

[GrandmasterP]

Since when is lower Dantien mind?

 

It isn't, in the same way that our stomach isn't food.

HTH

 

[Stosh]

I was under the impression that the Greeks and Romans considered the mind in the stomach region. They didn't consider the brain as a thinking organ.

 

Since I feel my thoughts in my brain is it placebo? If I was Roman would I feel my intellect in my gut? Would that have any advantages?

 

 

Probably needs double checking

I read something a bit different , that

the Greeks associated the head with reason, wisdom,

The chest with will, and courage ,

and the abdomen with appetite temperance .

 

If they had experience in battle , Im figuring that they would have had a good idea about the effects of trauma to the head and did understand it had something to do with thoughts. So I disregard that other idea (which I also heard).

[Stosh]

search lower dan tian and enteric nervous system

 

That theres nerves in the gut , fine , that the brain interacts with body ,, fine

That one visualizes three energy centers as having physical locations ,,fine

That one sees mind associated with energy centers , fine

But if yall are saying you really believe that the nerves of your intestines are where your mind resides ..

y'all are mixing 'philosophical' constructs into a melange.

[woodcarver]

I am the space and reality is my mind. I often think differently, though