As part of a total system of physical and spiritual development, a program to develop the mind must be included, as the mind controls the body in many respects. The mind (and emotions) are how sensations are interpreted and the facility that generates and controls actions. Thus, as the middle point between body and spirit, the mind must receive the same sort of development that the other parts do.
There are several activities and exercises that can help to develop the mind and emotional parts of a person.
- Record and contemplate your thoughts and emotions. Keep a journal of them, reviewing each day and writing and thinking about it.
- Record and contemplate your dreams in the same way. Write them down immediately upon waking.
- Do a specific set of exercises upon waking and before sleep. For a summary, see the essay “A Yoga Routine”.
- Read and think about selected passages from the great religious texts. Meditate, concentrate and contemplate on their meanings, the issues that they represent and what they mean to you.
- Perceive your thoughts and emotions as you have them, but as a dispassionate observer. You also need to experience them fully as they appear and disappear. This is a dual task and there must be no conflict-each thought and emotion must be simultaneously experienced and observed.
- Limit and control your emotions and thoughts. Damp the ferocity and impact of them as they appear in you. Let them dissipate without leaving a trace in your mind.
- Begin to control your thinking and feeling “wrong” thoughts and emotions-judgments, insults, covetousness, hate, fear, anger, irritability, timidity, prejudice, vanity. Limit your thinking and feeling to “good” thoughts and emotions-happiness, joy, love, calmness.
- Begin to control your speech. Speak only when you have something important to say. Don’t impart unnecessary or useless information.
- Take some time every day to still your thoughts.
- Periodically review your actions and take stock of your “good” and “bad” actions.
These activities will give you control and allow you to begin to develop the more subtle sensations associated with spiritual perception.
Also helpful is this variant of the Buddhist “Eightfold Path”
Right:
| · Thinking | Admit only significant ideas and thoughts. Learn gradually to separate the important from the unimportant, the real from the unreal, the eternal from the ephemeral, the true from the false. Listen to what people say with inner quietness, refraining from approving or disapproving judgment and from criticism. In this way one arrives at the habit of forming opinions that are not influenced by sympathy or antipathy. |
| · Intention | Cultivate steadfastness. Make resolutions only after full consideration of even the most insignificant points. Avoid thoughtless acts and meaningless ones. For every act have sufficient reasons. Do no needless thing. When convinced of the rightness of a resolve, abide by it unfalteringly. |
| · Speech | In speech with others, say only what has sense and meaning. Make your conversation thoughtful. Do not be afraid to be silent often. Try not to use too many or too few words. Never talk for the sake of talking, or merely to pass the time. |
| · Action | Make your actions as far as possible harmonious with your surroundings. Weigh all actions carefully so that the eternal may speak through them, so that they may be good for the whole and for the lasting welfare of others. |
| · Livelihood | In the management of life, seek to live in conformity with both nature and spirit. Be neither over-hasty nor idle. Look upon life as an opportunity for work and development, and live accordingly. |
| · Effort | Do not attempt what is beyond your powers, but also omit nothing for which they seem adequate. Set before yourself ideals which coincide with the highest ideals of a human being; for example, the aim of practicing such exercises as these in order to be able better to help and advise one’s fellow human beings, if not immediately, then later in life. One can also say that this exercise consists in making all these exercises into a habit of life. |
| · Mindfulness | Strive to learn as much as possible from life. All experiences have something to teach. When opportunity offers one should handle a situation more wisely than previously. Experience is a rich treasure, and one should consult it before doing anything. Watch the actions of others and compare them with the ideal – but lovingly, not critically. One can learn much from observing others, including children. Aim to remember all that one has learned in this way. |
| · Concentration | Each day, at the same time if possible, turn inward and take stock, test one’s way of life, run over one’s store of knowledge, ponder one’s duties, consider the aim and true purposes of life, reflect on one’s own imperfections and mistakes. In short, distinguish what is significant and of lasting value, and renew one’s resolve to take up worthwhile tasks. |
| · Knowledge | Learning from what the world is whispering to you in the stillness of your heart. Seeing things as they really are by direct experience. Discovering the truths written behind your perceptions of the external world. |
| · Enlightenment | Letting the work you have done before resound within you. Move in to the dark stillness withing to experience what cannot be experienced in the outer world. Rising to experience the spiritual worlds. Encountering your Holy Guardian Angel. |