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Mind and the Mental World THE world of the mind is a vast field, even vaster it seems than the
physical world. The physical world extends, science tells us, to millions of
light-years. We may say practically, it is an infinite extension and mind is a
thing which surrounds, envelops this measureless extension. Mind surpasses the
physical on another count, that is to say, in respect of speed. A material body
at its best travels at the speed of light, that is to say, in a second it goes
about 200,000 miles (a little less). But thought does not meet any obstruction
in respect of distance; whatever the distance, it reaches its goal immediately,
it does not take account of time. Perhaps because of its expansiveness and its
speed, a Vedic Rishi sends up a prayer to it not to be so elusive, not to go
away too far but to return and dwell in its home. Evidently the Rishi speaks of
gathering and collecting together the dispersed uncontrolled thoughts and
settling them in an ordered way in his consciousness. We must note, however,
that mind and matter are two different categories and have different dimensions.
Material space is not the same as mental space and the speed of light and the
speed of thought are not commensurable. The mental world, the world of thoughts, is a
world in itself It is autonomous. It moves in its own way with its own laws. We
human beings, we believe that it is we who think, that is, produce or create
our thoughts. We are the makers of our notions and ideas. But in reality it is
not so. Thoughts, ideas, notions, all movements of the mind are self-existent
realities. They go about or flow on like the waves of a vast sea. Human beings
are mere instruments, receptacles that capture or seize some undulations of
this vast ocean. Man is man, that is to say,
Page – 190 a mental being, because in him the brain has developed to such an
extent and in such a manner that it serves as antennae or as an aerial to
receive vibrations from the mental world. Indeed the ordinary human mind is a
sort of crossroads where all kinds of thoughts from all places meet, cross one
another and make an ideal market place. In fact, an individual does not possess
any thought-movement which can be called his own. He only catches a contagion.
And like a contagion thought-movements pass from one person to another although
one may think or feel that the movement is one's own. In order to have one's own thought, in order
to think by oneself, a long process of education and training is necessary. A
growing personal individual consciousness is the first requisite and for that
one must do what the Vedic Rishi I spoke of sought to do, gather the thoughts
that one has, collect them, sift them and try to have a control over them. One
must develop the habit of admitting certain thoughts and rejecting others.
Thoughts that are useful, that carry light and peace fulness and happiness,
are naturally those that are worth accepting. Those that are of a contrary
nature should be pushed out. This is an exercise that develops the individual consciousness
and the individual will. Furthermore, one may try to recognise
thoughts that are of a different category, that do not seem to belong to the
accustomed level of consciousness but carry a vibration that is of elsewhere,
in other words, thought-movements that filter through and come down from higher
ranges of consciousness. It means an elevation of consciousness, your being
rises into higher realities. The true individual, the being who is capable
of living and creating independently, is formed of a stuff that lies in these higher
regions. It is only when one has found one's individual
self seated in the Divine centre secret behind, organised around the centre all
lesser movements, marshalled them according to an inner law, that one becomes
master of one's environment and creative in the true sense of the word. Mind is a force, thought and energy but that
can be truly and fully effective when it is organised, directed, that is to
say, it becomes then a guided missile. In an ordinary mind the
Page – 191 thoughts are, as I have said, dispersed, they go about in all
directions, to all objectives and therefore their efficacy is at its minimum.
It is like light. Light-energy becomes immensely, incredibly powerful when it
is concentrated, gathered towards one point. It is in this way the light-ray
nowadays is trying to replace the surgeon's knife. Usually when we think of a person or a thing,
our thought-vibration reaches its object but because the vibration is diffuse –
not polarised – it touches or just brushes its object very faintly without
almost any reaction from it. An organised, truly individualised consciousness
has its thought-movements too, so organised and controlled and directed that it
moves with a clear and forceful momentum. A mental vibration, a thought-movement
becomes fully dynamic, totally effective, however, when it gets its support
from the vital. The vital too in an organised and individualised personality
loses its capriciousness and lends its support to the directing consciousness.
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