“When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all your thoughts break their bonds; your mind transcends limitations; …”
Patanjali
Thoughts refer to any reasoning process in the brain, as well as any entity of the mind, such as ideas, dreams, goals, expectations, anticipations, perceptions, perspectives, inner principles, beliefs, principals, and more. In essence, we have created these contents in mind through years of life experiences.
The reasoning thoughts are simple to understand and can be examined by scientific neural studies; examples of these thoughts are thinking about solving a problem in engineering, physics, biology, etc. Furthermore, reasoning thoughts work with factual data and proved scientific methodologies; therefore, they are straightforward to explain and understand.
On the other hand, thoughts utilizing the mind’s contents are subjective, often non-factual, and possibly very complex. Such as one’s struggle to understand the concept of hope and love, dealing with the aftermath impacts of trauma, searching for the meaning of an adverse experience, trying to understand the reason behind the suffering, trying to accept or deny the existence of a supernatural deity, and many more.
Through years of life experiences, we have created a very complex and sophisticated web of virtual entities in mind. By virtual, I am using a placeholder for a concept opposite the real-world realities. For instance, the colour of a red flower is agreed upon by anyone who isn’t colour blinded. Therefore, the colour red is an observable and agreeable fact. However, your interpretation of an experience may differ from mine, two entities we both created in our minds; therefore, I would call these mental entities virtual.
I use the analogy of a network, framework, or web, for the lack of a better word, consisting of the entities placed on its nodes and edges; the edges connecting the nodes represent the relationship between these virtual entities. Each thought that comes to the surface has activated several of these nodes and their connections. For instance, you sit to meditate and start seeing a stream of thoughts of concepts and interpretations related to your relationship with a particular person; multiple entities are activated and connected simultaneously and displayed before you. You might have nearly the same thought but with a different interpretation next time.
Every node is constrained by other nodes to different degrees. Every thought is constrained and bounded by other concepts in mind. We have created these edges representing the dependency of each node on others. We have created these dependencies either purely intentionally and free of any outside influences, or we have adopted them from the environment, for instance, a child growing up believing that people of other colour are less intelligent based on the teachings of the people around and the media he or she was exposed to.
Dreams are collections of nodes bound and constrained by the rest of the framework. For example, I may dream of founding an organization to help people free from mental illness and depression. Still, I find my dream constrained by other beliefs in my mind, such as that I can’t even pay my bills, I don’t have good social skills, I don’t have access to influential and skilled people, etc.; how can my dream come true? My thoughts are bound and constrained by other concepts I have created. The web is too complex and crowded, with edges too strong to break. Every possibility is limited and chained by other limiting thoughts, and maybe non of them are factual but virtual and unreal.
The web of nodes and edges creates the mind. The mind, as a whole, is limited and confined by the rigidity of its constraints, which we have created. When thoughts break their bonds, they break the connecting edges from other thoughts or weaken them. For example, one’s dream of accomplishing something improbable breaks bonds from the childhood condemnations of their father, breaks the constraints posed by current financial situations, breaks bonds from the judgmental perception of their partner, and the person embarks on a new journey that had seemed impossible a few weeks earlier.
The thoughts break their bonds, and the mind transcends its limitations. The mind is nothing more than the virtual framework of concepts and beliefs—the complex web of nodes and edges. When the cascade of thoughts breaking their bonds is triggered, and the process gains enough momentum and strength, the entire framework of the mind transcends its limitations. The improbable becomes probable, possible, achievable, and eventually realized. The avalanche starts with a few thoughts and then impacts the entire mind system.
Imagine being an individual who is in the process of breaking the bonds and chains in the framework of their mind and increasing the degree of freedom for each thought. Next, imagine transforming the architecture of this framework by removing certain contents, adding new and constructive elements, and allowing trapped ideas to light up and be recognized and realized. Finally, imagine yourself undertaking such a journey of transformation.
Imagine communities of these freed and forward-thinking individuals such as you grow and expand across the globe and collectively give birth to previously believed impossible ideas. Imagine the thoughts on the collective mind break their bonds, and the collective mind transcends its limitations. Imagine the possibilities that could stem from one individual setting themselves on the path of freeing their mind of rigidity and bondage.
Individually we can transform and transcends our limitations. Collectively we can transform communities and provide havens for free thinkers and visionaries.
Payman Janbakhsh, Ph.D.