The Limitations Of The Mind - Open Talks

In this Episode, Navid guides us to see how many of us misuse our minds. When we become too obsessed with our minds' limited and rational version of life, we miss out on all the beautiful dimensions of life that are eternally beyond the mind's reach.

Transcript

Hi everyone and welcome to another episode of the Open Talks with Simran Meditation.

In this one I would like to share with you my most valued insight that I ever gained through my years of meditation and discovering the underlying dimensions of this existence.

So the insight that I value the most,

That has been the most profound and life changing for me,

Is the realization that my mind is only a tool.

Let me explain.

I grew up and learned from the Western world,

From the modern world,

To approach life through my intellect,

Through my thoughts,

Through my mind,

To understand everything,

To name everything,

Label everything.

And that is how I believed life should be lived.

So I started approaching every aspect of life through my intellect,

Through my mind,

Through my rationality,

With thoughts.

I started approaching play,

Love,

Sports,

Everything I started to look at through my mind.

And the more I looked at life through my intellect,

Through my limited mind,

The more mechanic and dead it became.

To a degree where I believed that life was only a mechanic,

Random,

Material,

Pointless existence.

And little did I know that that mechanic,

Pointless existence that I saw was only my mind's version of life.

Because that is what the mind sees.

The mind is a pattern recognition device.

It is a calculating device.

It is a scanning device.

It is not made for telling you what life is or who you are.

So if you become obsessed,

Like I was,

To look at life through your intellect,

Through your mind,

You will see a very poor and deprived version of life.

You will see the mind's limited version of life.

And in that version you will not find love,

Peace,

Freedom,

Spirit,

Playfulness.

Because all of those aspects of life are eternally beyond the mind,

Beyond the reach of the limited pattern recognition device,

Beyond the intellect.

I think you can see this for yourself.

That those moments where you felt the most intense love,

Your mind was blown away.

And for some people in the opposite direction,

When their mind was blown away,

Either by meditation or a substance or a dance,

Then the intensity of the underlying love was revealed.

And the same goes for peace.

The most peaceful moments of your life have been in the absence of mind.

That's why it's called peace of mind.

And the same for freedom.

Those moments when you danced your ass off,

When you felt totally unleashed,

When you felt careless,

Open,

Those moments were also in the absence of your intellect,

Of your mind.

And if you have had experiences,

Revelations of the underlying spirit of existence,

Those moments are also usually revealed in the absence of the limiting mind,

Intellect and thoughts.

So to sum this up,

The magic,

The mystery,

The playfulness,

The spirit,

The unconditional love,

Peace and unconditional freedom too,

It is all already here.

It is a substrate of this existence.

And it is only when we exclusively look at life through our mind that we will believe that they are not here.

And we will start searching and we will feel a sense of lack.

And we will feel that something is wrong in this existence.

But there is nothing wrong.

It is only because you forgot your goggles on.

So that is the most valuable advice I have to give on the character level.

Thank you for watching.

Thank you for listening.

And I see you shortly in the next talk.

Namaste.

Reviews

Pleasing voice tone. Clear articulation. Easily followed rational. Well presented.

Thank you, Navid, but I have to say this is not my experience in life. I have always felt, since I was a child, that mind and intellect are a facet of my overall experience of life, and that it incorporates freely with my body and emotional and intuitive experiences. My mind is a tremendous source of humor and appreciation, as well as analysis and interpretation. I don’t feel my mind has limited or deprived me, but has been one of many resources for checking life out and enjoying it.
Certainly, everybody is unique and comes from unique circumstances, and I feel that everybody’s mental-emotional toolkit and perceptual strengths are unique. This makes it very helpful when people like you and the many teachers can describe and share their own informative insights and offer access to more freeing and joyful ways to be. Thank you for sharing yours!
Donna

It is so good to hear you again, Navid. I am grateful for your Teachings at my beginnings here. Wishing you well always 🙏🏽✨️💚☀️

Amazing, Amazing Amazing revelation on how to look at life, and have it explained so beautifully. Thank you

Smiled and nodded all the way through. Thank you! Your voice is so soothing.🙏🏽

Really enjoyed not only the message but the tone with which is was given.

Yes! Thank you for such a great description of both the strengths and limitations of our beautiful minds.

Always enjoying your deep meaning meditations. Namaste 🙏

Insightful and true.
Thank for these powerful insights that I have saved and will listen to and remind myself to live by. Thank you, deeply.

Shifts my perspective toward non-striving and peace. Thank you.

Grateful for some words that have been missing in my vocabulary: playfulness and mystery

One thing that is patently clear to me now… is the minute I try to “ understand” this…. With the mind…. I have gotten lost “in it”.
As a teacher of mindfulness meditation…. I see I need to more encourage focus on “ what” or “who” is aware …of awareness. And certainly the activity of nonjudgmental awareness…of what one is aware of. There is soooooo much here (not) to consider. Thank you for sharing these life supporting insights. 🙏🙏

This is so true, especially of the west. I wish my son could hear you.

The mind- a tool, a scanner. That’s good! Thank you.

Beautiful work. Thanks for sharing. My younger sister recently passed away unexpectedly and I was wondering about your thoughts on death and connection with the afterlife post mortum as spiritual guides. Can’t wait hear more:)

Amazing 👏 🙀 😯 🫂 🤗. Thank u for sharing with us ❤

These talks are a beautiful reminder to the only place I need to focus my attention, thank you, thank you for your simplicity Navid 🙏

Thankyou for putting this experience into words. This was the most significant truth to learn that our minds are only a tool!
☮️

loved it, helped me to recenter and loosen the grip of belief in my thoughts. thank you navid as always

Amen.