Consider this, old friend.
The mind will always remain the mind.
Its thoughts may change. Its inner weather patterns may shift. Its moods may rise and fall. Its beliefs, desires, fears, and expectations may change. But beneath all this movement, the mind continues to operate within the same familiar context.
Like a pendulum, it swings endlessly.
From past to future. From pleasure to pain. From hope to disappointment. From positive thoughts to negative thoughts. From wanting to having . . . and back to wanting again.
And we spend much of our lives trying to control the swing.
We replace negative thoughts with positive ones. We exchange limiting beliefs for empowering beliefs. We attempt to transform sadness into happiness, fear into confidence, and dissatisfaction into fulfillment.
And perhaps, for a while, we succeed.
But consider what has actually happened.
We have changed the contents of the mind without stepping outside the context in which those contents arise.
We have simply changed the channel.
A different thought. A different emotion. A different story.
But we are still watching the same television.
The Great Illusion of Changing the Mind
The pendulum swings to the positive, and we call it progress.
It swings toward the negative, and we call it a setback.
We become attached to one side and resist the other, never realizing that both belong to the same movement.
Even our attempts to control the mind can become another activity of the mind itself.
And so the loop continues.
Yesterday's regrets become tomorrow's worries. Today's happiness becomes tomorrow's fear of losing it.
The scenery changes, but the movement continues.
The Key Is Not Transformation . . . It Is Transcendence.
What if freedom is not found in making the pendulum swing toward the positive?
What if it is found in stepping out of the swing altogether?
To transcend the mind is not to destroy it, suppress its thoughts, or prevent its moods from changing.
It is to recognize that you need not be carried along by every movement within it.
Thoughts may still arise. Emotions may still appear. The mind may still travel between yesterday and tomorrow.
But you no longer have to travel with it.
You discover the silent Awareness in which the entire movement is observed.
And from that recognition, something extraordinary becomes possible.
You can use the mind without being imprisoned by its endless activity.
You can experience happiness without clinging to it and sadness without losing yourself in it.
You can allow the pendulum to swing without becoming the pendulum.
The Great Discovery
You cannot find freedom merely by changing the contents of the mind while remaining identified with its endless movement.
You must discover that which is aware of the movement.
Let the mind swing between past and future, pleasure and pain, positive and negative.
You need not swing with it.
Perhaps freedom begins not when the pendulum finally stops . . . but when you discover that you are not the pendulum.
And that, old friend, is the distinction between changing your state of mind and transcending your identification with it.
The unconscious person changes the experience within the loop. The awakened Being steps out of the loop altogether.
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