Mind means past. Usually, mind has no idea of the present and cannot have any idea of the present. The mind only means that which has been lived, known, experienced, the accumulated past. It cannot have any contact with the present; it will have that contact only when the present is no more present and has become past. And life moves ahead. We live in the present and we move in the future, and mind never lives in the present and always clings to the past. This is the dichotomy and the greatest calamity. This is the knot that has to be released in order to live the sacredness of this experience.

In its nature mind hesitates, it is indecisive, it is either/or. It is always in that space of “to be or not to be.” If we really want to grow, mature, and to know what this life is all about, we may choose to commit. To involve by getting committed to life, and not remain a spectator.

Life is for those who know how to commit, how to say yes to something, also how to say no to something decisively, categorically. Once we have categorically said yes or no to something, then we are ready to dive deep into the ocean of knowing.

It is always good to be reminded of the nature of our mind. The mind is a mechanical instrument. It is a robot with its own utility; this is the way the mind functions, we learn something; when we learn it, in the beginning, we are aware and present. For example, if we learn swimming, we become very alert, because our life is in danger. Or if we learn to drive a car, we become very alert. We must be careful about many things, like the steering wheel, the road, the people passing by. When it is dangerous to commit a mistake, we become aware. But the moment we have learned driving or swimming, this awareness will not be needed anymore. Then the mechanical part of our mind will take over, and our body will respond with reflexes wired in our brain to the outside environment without our conscious presence.

So our mind is skillful; it is a very beautiful machine, it functions well. Science together with all our so-called progress in knowledge has not yet been able to create something so sophisticated as the human mind.

The mind is simply a miracle, but this mind loves the nonessential; it is always hungry for gossip and judgment, for something utterly useless, and it listens so attentively to that, and when the mind has taken possession of our whole being it becomes the Ego mind, Ego is the state of utter unawareness and the only way to release it is through the remedy of watchfulness, healing, and meditation.

Then by and by we start reclaiming territories from the mind. And the process may be difficult but exhilarating, very enchanting and thrilling. It will bring new joy into our lives. When we reclaim territory back from the robot, we will be surprised that we are becoming a totally new being, renewed, that this is the new birth our mystics and teachers of the past were trying to teach us since the beginning of time. We are all seeking the new birth of the SELF away from the grip of the primitive MIND.

My friend, if we try to watch our own mind, we will find a deep treasure hidden there. Whenever we calculate and whenever we start living mathematically, whenever our life becomes just a business, just a logic; we lose love, we lose the quality to share; whenever we lose the quality of giving wholeheartedly for the sheer joy of giving, we may choose to be aware more of the hidden treasure awaiting within our mind.

Remember, the parents, the teachers, the neighbors, the friends, all are continuously giving shape to our lives whether we realize it or not. If we look into our mind closely, we will find many voices together; our father is speaking, our mother, our brother, our teachers, our professors. But one thing will be missing, it is our voice. Our voice has been completely repressed by other voices. Layer upon layer, people have lost track of their own voice, of their own self, of their own face. So many masks have been conditioning our state of being without our permission.

The mind is what we have. No-mind is a state of watchfulness, that’s what we recommend through meditation. And from no-mind blossom flowers of unselfishness, of Love, of compassion, and sharing.

When the human mind becomes anxious, it creates questions and then supplies the answers. The questions are meaningless; hence the answers are more so. But because we fabricate questions, we cannot be at ease unless we find the answers. Therefore, we go on finding answers and creating questions. If we see this whole nonsense of asking questions and answering them, we may find that we are carrying on a monologue with ourselves. Even if we are asking and answering, it is the human robot that has accumulated so many opinions that are asking and answering. It is just a hide-and-seek trick used by the same mind. It makes no difference who is asking and who is answering.

The human mind questions, and the human mind answers, it creates such a mess of answers and questions, but not a single question will be answered through that method. The questions remain where they were always. If we can see this whole demonstration of questions and answers, if we become aware of this whole nonsense as if in a flash of lightning, then we can laugh at the absurdity of the human mind. And the moment there is laughter, we transcend the human mind completely. Then there is no question, and then there is no answer. There is only love. There is no purpose, and there is no cause. Living itself is enough.

Past and future are two aspects of the same coin. And the name of this coin is mind.

With Much Love&Gratitude,

Ziad