The Unconditioned Mind

“Beyond all ideas of right and wrong there is a field. I will meet you there.” – Rumi

The pure, true nature of our mind is unconditioned. Awareness cannot be conditioned. It is eternal, always aware of itself and free from any pattern.

The mind is always reacting to situations; when this reaction comes from a mechanical pattern, we call this the conditioned mind. When the response comes from you, the true you, then you are awareness acting from an unconditioned state of mind.

The unconditioned mind is the observer that observes itself, it is awareness being aware of itself, the catalyst for transformation. “The full, unmediated perception of fear is the solvent in which it is dissipated”, said Krishnamurti. Mindfulness Exercises is a conscious choice that requires dedication, clarity, and the disciplined intention to live a different kind of life – beyond conditioning. When we can observe what arises without judging or comparing, we are building the “muscle” of the observer. When we allow our images, thoughts, conversations, feelings, body sensations, to pass through us, through our awareness, then suddenly in that instant, the awareness becomes aware of itself. The undonditioned mind is this unlimited, undisturbed awareness. It is a state of being, the result of that conscious choice that we made, our own infinite nature.

Through the continued practice of mindfulness, we start recognizing our old patterns, as well as the emotions as they appear. They come and we learn to let them go without attaching to them. When an event is mindfully observed, something very interesting happens: we call it the “point of choice”. We become aware of what the situation internally brings with it, and we mindfully choose how to respond. We stop mechanically reacting. We become aware of being aware. This is the way to free ourselves from the prison of the conditioned mind. This is, actually, all that it is: an unconditioned mind, pure infinite awareness, the indescribable freedom that doesn’t know any boundary or conditioning.

“The more mechanical you are, the more society will appreciate you because you will be less dangerous. No machine can be dangerous. It never goes out of the way: it never disobeys it never rebels, it is not revolutionary. No machine is revolutionary; it cannot be. All machines are orthodox: they obey, they follow. Society tries to change you into a mechanical thing. Then you are more efficient, less dangerous, reliable, responsible. Society creates a mechanical device around you: that is the conditioning. And it allows you only certain outlets and closes certain things completely. It chooses some fragments from you and approves them, then rejects all else. It says that only a part of you is good and the other parts are bad, so deny those parts. Society doesn’t accept you as a whole, as a unity; it accepts only certain parts. Hence, the conditioning.” – Osho

Awareness is infinite. It always was, is now, and always will be. The opportunity is before us now. Do we as the human race, embark on transforming the species out of the conditioned state, or do we do nothing? Every person has the individual ability to respond in each and every moment. It is a choice. Do we choose to free ourselves from the mechanical habitual social and cultural obligations, to open, expansive thoughts of how the world can be, not what it has become? Every person can vote with their intention and commitment to evolve beyond the conditioned mind – to pure Awareness. What will you choose?

“Most fundamentally, all conditions, no matter how imperfect, are perfectly what they are: the bed is perfectly unmade, the milk is perfectly spilt. I don’t mean morally or pragmatically “perfect” – as if it would be just perfect to tear a shirt or start a war – but that all conditions are utterly, thoroughly themselves. In this sense, whatever is the case – from dirty diapers and everyday hassles to cancer and plane crashes – is the result in this instant of the perfect unfolding of the entire universe. Try to see that unfolding as a vast, objective process in which our personal wishes are as consequential for it as a patch of foam is for the Pacific Ocean. In this light, perfection and imperfection vanish as meaningful distinctions. There are only things in their own right, in and of themselves, without our labels of good or bad, beautiful or ugly, perfect or not. Then there is no anxiety about imperfection; there is only simplicity, directness, engagement – and peace.” – Rick Hanson, Phd.

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