RETRO: THE SENSORY MIND

Don’t confuse the mind with the brain. The brain is the physical organ, part of the body, which serves as the control room for the mind. Brain changes the subtle energy of the mind into biochemical and neurological events that move the body. Of course the quality of the mind’s expression is greatly influenced by the condition of the brain. It doesn’t matter how sophisticated your software program is – if the circuits are damaged that program will not run properly.
We call the third dimension of the personality the sensory mind because it collects, organizes, and interprets sensory data. The sensory mind is a busy, noisy place filled with sensory stimulation, emotions, wants and desires, habits and feelings. Its primary job is to interpret the world around us, and to create a personal sense of reality, the context through which we view the world. The sensory mind makes meaningful patterns from sensory input. It does this through four power functions:

1. Perception –

Two people sitting in the same room, having the same experience, will see and interpret that experience in highly individual ways, and will not always agree as to what really happened. A favorite story of mine:

In the clubhouse, three umpires were discussing the pending World Series game. The youngest, proud of being selected to participate in the World Series, bragged to his colleagues: “ I never worry about mistakes. I call them as I see them.”
The other two umpires started laughing, and the middle-aged umpire retorted: “ Well, you are still a little wet behind your ears. I call them as they are!”
The old umpire smiled and looked out the window.
“What are you smiling at?” the middle aged umpire finally asked his elder.
“Well,” said the old wise one. “It seems as if there are two here who are still little wet behind the ears. They are what I call them.

A particular event in our life can be good or bad, exiting or dull, awful or wonderful. We don’t actually describe the actual event but what that event means to us.

2. Language –

Language is the tool we use to create meaning. Once we use language, we are stuck with the consequences of our interpretations. Much of the unhappiness that we create for ourselves happens because we don’t realize the impact that our language has, nor do we know how to use language as a tool to help ourselves.

3. Emotions –

The interpretations we make determine our emotional reaction. In turn, our emotional reactions distort our perceptions, interfere with thinking, lead to conflicts and create disease. Many of feel victims of our emotions and yet we alone create them. We need emotional energy to succeed in life. Our emotions stimulate, challenge and motivate us to accomplish what we want. But all this depends where we channel our emotions.


4. Habits –

Whether we use our emotions to help or to hurt ourselves depends a great deal on our habits, the fourth function of sensory mind. Habits are the most deep-rooted and pervasive functions of the mind. We express our entire personalities through habits. It’s easy to see the enormous impact habits have in your life. Try shifting a habit when you get dressed tomorrow morning. As you put on your slacks, stop, and put the other leg in first. Most people fall over as they alter this simple, almost meaningless pattern of behavior.
Habits dominate the three outer levels of the personality – sensory mind, energy, and the body. We have habits of driving, eating, walking, and talking. How we react, feel, whether or not keep our muscles tense, even how we think are all regulated by the power of habit. All our skills – typing, playing cricket, managing, building a fire – are determined and controlled by habit. The friends we choose, the work we do, and the clothes we wear are all controlled by habit. Of course there are other factors involved in behavior, such as the power function of the mind, genetics and the environment. But habits provide the structure of what we think, what we do, and how we react. Habits allow us to live skillfully and usefully. Habits can also kill us.
As we shall see later, habits are the power behind our skill. But we didn’t consciously choose most of our habit, and many of them are destructive because they feed the three dragons of the mind. However, if we know how to take control of the powerful function of the mind, we can build habits that help us create a healthy body and mind instead of chronic conditions of stress, unhappiness and disease.