Mind, in its own place and in itself, can create a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven - John Milton in Paradise Lost
The most extraordinary power and the gift of nature to humans is a developed mind. It separates us from animals and makes us formidable despite our physical weaknesses. It is the imagination of the human Mind and its ability to morph ideas from conceptualization to their materialization that has enabled us to walk on the moon, take gigantic strides in medicine to increase longevity, make available to the ordinary person what was unimaginable for the aristocrats a few decades back and have bought the entire world in our palm through the smartphones. Simply it is our Mind and how we use it that determines the quality of our life.
Let's ramble into the vagaries of the Mind with the help of a fable. A FABLE OF THE FANTASY VILLAGE, THE MIND
Once upon a time, there was a fictitious forest in a faraway land called 'Mind.' Sometimes the forest would, for no reason, slide from the apogee of success, happiness, and tranquility to the ebb of hopelessness. At other times, it would rise meteorically from the debris of failure to achieve unimaginable success. It is said that the different periods of prosperity and volatility in the Mind were caused by the advice the animals would take. If they listened to courage, the results were outstanding, while when they fell victim to negativity, fear, and hopelessness, there was misery all over. It was a fascinating place that was unpredictable and, as such, had its many ups and downs.
The forest was bestowed with biodiversity, a good mixture of habitats, ample water supply, greenery and vegetation, and fertile soil. In the recent past, the animals rejoiced their living experience and offered gratitude every day for the perfect echo system.
The animals in the forest had developed rituals (like constitutions or policies) based on the best practices of governing the Mind. The animal courts ensured that speedy justice was provided to all animals within 48 hours, and animal care hospitals were present in all the key locations. The leadership focused on animals' welfare and creating an environment conducive to creativity and growth. All the animals respected the rituals (constitution) as they understood their importance in maintaining their prosperity. They would certainly change it to keep it updated and serve the best interest of all animals. The forest was an emblem of success and prosperity.
It so happened that a group of monkeys who spent most of their time jumping from branch to branch, playing, howling, and chattering away thought about ruling the Mind so they could do more of their monkey business. They knew that the only way to achieve this goal was by introducing and magnifying negativity, hopelessness, and fear and keeping positivity and courage in the dark. The monkeys knew their chatter in the Mind would lead to worries, stress, and poor decision-making that would help them achieve their goal.
Their first move was to spread their types across the forest in high branches and ask them to chatter non-stop with non-factual and misleading information and stories. The monkeys would attract the animals by doing somersaults and jumps, and as the animals stopped to see their comical acts, they would chat away their negative narrative. Initially, animals were amused, but it became a habit over time. The animals were spending work time watching the monkey business and gossiping in huddles. Unintentionally productivity was affected.
Repeating the stories so many times makes them feel to be true. The monkeys crafted stories about animals from the neighbouring forest preparing to attack, catastrophic predictions of the coming times, playing breeds of animals against each other, and finding faults in the leadership of courage-the daring Lion, created a negative, hostile, and stressful environment in the forest. The Lion kept quiet for some time as he thought this was part of the democratic process he had worked so painstakingly to establish. He never thought that his able animals in the forest would ever accept monkeys to lead them. Alas, the Lion did not realize the implications of the monkey business.
The monkeys started by affecting the education system, discouraged questions and debates, took away the younger animals' imagination and drive, and replaced it with fear and hopelessness. The deterioration was slow initially, as not all animals followed social degradation. Some resisted it and raised an uproar against unfair dealings and business practices, poor judgments, acquittals, and praising and rewarding of the corrupt. While others quietly migrated to other forests. The Lion tried to coach the animals to rise against the monkey business, and during his talks, animals would cheer him but would soon forget and ignore it to make ends meet. The problem was that animals had given negativity, greed, and complacency a place in the Mind. The Lion who believed in the constitution was no match for the wily monkeys. The monkeys successfully replaced the Lion by using technicalities and the support of the border Gorillas to take control of the forest.
The second step was to use fear by bringing in the border Gorillas. The debates and free thinking were banned, animals with low IQs became thought leaders, and different perspectives were ridiculed and even punished to end any narrative other than the one that the monkeys and the Gorillas were spreading. In societies without free thinking and speaking, the inhabitants become mentally weak and lose out on the race of innovation, creativity, and development. The worst part is that younger animals with poor education systems, a subservience culture, and no questioning had underdeveloped thinking—a perfect environment for the monkeys and Gorillas but a pathetic state of affairs for the Mind.
The Gorillas conspired with the monkeys because they believed that they protected the forest, and as such, they had the right to the forest's resources. They should be in power along with the monkeys and not the Lion. The story of getting into power was the external threat. Make the animals fearful of other forests. The animals never questioned why we have so many Gorillas if we cannot avert an external threat. The real threat was from inside the forest from a demented philosophy of fear, negativity, and suppression.
Things started to deteriorate fast, and soon the monkeys used their most lethal weapon, hopelessness. The Mind was now in complete shambles. When hope is taken away, nothing is left. The mighty elephants resembled sheep, and the Tigers did not have a swagger in their stride and were relegated to eating grass. The small animals, like rabbits, who were cronies of the monkeys, could now scare the mighty wilder beasts. Without courage, a Mind is a dark place full of fear and regression.
Whenever some animal took the courage to ask the Monkeys about the dire situation, they would do a somersault and chatter more as they knew nothing else. Their accomplices on the branches would talk in a loud blatant way about the brilliance of their monkey leader and how impressive a somersault he made at the risk of falling. There were no solutions. Now, boars, buffalo, and elephants were practicing somersaults as hopelessness had taken away their identity. They forget their great heritage and inner strength. It seemed like the Mind was wretched.
Things continued for some time, and the monkeys enjoying their privileges with the Gorillas, thought everything would remain the same. But, when things go too far, Mind always has a way to get its glory back. The lion was quiet because it knew that the animals would have to realize the situation and seek inner courage to rise against the negativity, fear, and hopelessness to free the Mind of the monkey chatter. He realized that all his focus had been on blaming and criticizing the monkeys, which gave them undue importance. Ignoring someone is the worst revenge. He thought that he should rather focus on giving the young animals a dream, imagination, and hope to ignite their inner confidence and fire to bring about a change. He knew that to build communities and nations; you need a compelling vision to bring everyone together and bring out the best in them.
The Lion changed his focus, shared a compelling vision for the forest, and inspired and motivated the animals. The more the animals thought about the vision and the significant challenges to reaching it, the more they realized their folly. They knew the damage the monkey business had cost the forest. The animals were getting into the attitude and willingness for a change, and it so happened that one day they were all looking for water and reached a near-dried gorge, and they saw their image in it. The animals could not recognize themselves, and a flow of tears started to fall from their eyes. The flow was so strong that it felt that the tears could cause a tsunami in the semi-dried gorge. The tears were from the embarrassment of what they did to the Mind by following the monkey chatter. They resolved to change things as they knew that one could bring about a significant change in their lives and others by bringing about a positive change in themselves.
The change was not difficult; it simply required the animals to dispel fear, negativity, and hopelessness and to fill their Mind with courage, positivity, and hope. The animals gathered and asked the monkeys and Gorillas to stop the monkey business and leave the forest. The monkeys did their somersaults, and the gorillas tried to intimidate, but the collective power of the animals was too strong. Finally, the monkeys and the Gorillas could see the writing on the wall, and they left the forest.
Mind was now free of monkey business but in a very poor state. It took years to rebuild Mind to its past glory, but the animals were steadfast and courageous. They decided to hold their rituals (constitution) supreme, have checks and balances, and deviate power. The focus was on education, free speech, accountability, and eliminating the regressive narratives holding back progress. The latest innovations, knowledge, and thinking strengthened the Mind. Soon the Mind was competing with the best forests, and its animals were living harmoniously.
They wrote outside their forest, “Protect Mind with positivity, hope, courage, and knowledge or the monkeys will rule,” and “There is no room for monkey business in the Mind.”
Conclusion
Mind is the most powerful gift, yet it comes without a user’s manual. Those who can use it well enjoy peace of mind, while those who don’t fall succumb to continuous mental turmoil and monkey chatter. The yogic gurus define the mind as a vast expanse of darkness and awareness as a light. Where you put the awareness that the area of the darkness will be lit up, for example, if you put your awareness on Misery, you will get more misery. If you place awareness of the positivity, you will see some positives even in a bleak situation. Our awareness is the remote control of the mind.
You never come out of problems by dwelling on them but by thinking of solutions and executing them. Of course, there are no perfect solutions but the resolve to get out of the deep hole is the foundation on which a staircase is created by embarking on a solution and course-correcting it along the way. Hope, imagination, positivity, and courage are critical tenets to rule the glorious Mind.
The mind out of control is like a restless monkey. Jumping from here to there senselessly. You must learn to control it. To see the real nature of the mind.- Buddha.
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