The illusionary theory of mind...

Front matter

THE ILLUSIONARY THEORY OF MIND

By

WILLIAM ARTHUR COLUNGS

Chapter I

Is consciousness '"you," Spirit Man ? Consciousness talks and says, "I can." Consciousness speaks on "my mind and soul." Unconscious man has no goal.

Consciousness is the Man. (If not) We see ourselves — we have forgot.

Consciousness seeking itself to find, Speaking my spirit, my soul, my mind.

Man in His Own Created Mist.

After many years of study and careful consideration of this subject of the mind and its power I cannot agree with writers on the mind nor with the theory of the all-wise ''I AM"; I find nearly all writers agree that our real self is spirit, all wise, and perfection ; and the large majority of readers accept the statement as truth. We can see by such a statement that the real man is Spirit and must be Infinite. It is impossible for an Infinite, All-wise Being to gain in knowledge. Why does such a being need to use mind or thoughts when it knows intuitively? Here we get a glimpse of the Illusion.

Viewing this subject from all sides we can see that such a being does not have to use this something called mind. If we admit the existence of mind we cannot realize one's self, and the supposed mind seems to be a separate intelligence living in the same body. In such a state we say all kinds of unconscious things and our unconsciousness is the power that binds us; for when a man speaks it must be the spirit' that speaketh. When I say, "I will concentrate my mind on the I, or myself," it must be the spirit or myself which made a statement.

But I, myself, am supposed to be All-wise, and therefore do not have to use mind; I, myself, do all of the thinking, so the I Am simply talks of concentrating this supposed mind, and in reality the mind is my own concept, my own creation, which seems to be a reality, and the mind does not exist outside of myself. It is plainly seen that the spiritual is all there is; but the average man cannot think it is himself that speaks, judging from the perfect spiritual self.

The great I Am we read so much about thinks it might be the mind, or the soul, or the brain, or something outside of himself, and in this condition there is very little progress. We cannot realize ourselves, and we are in a divided condition, which shows that we are not all-wise in such a state. It proves that I Am is self-deluded, self-limited and self-bound. When the I Am says it has a mind, it must be an unconscious expression, also an illusion, and ..a self -creation; and as long as we use this supposed mind to center on ourselves there cannot be any realization of ourselves. In this condition we cannot be what we will to be, for we are unconscious of ourselves, and therefore cannot manifest our existing powers ; but we expect the powers to come from the mind, without creating them, trusting to the illusion, using our own words on ourselves, and cannot realize it.

We are self-hypnotized, and only when we can realize our self-induced state can we relieve ourselves; for we are powerful to attract conditions and things we do not want nor like, and when we recognize pur powers of attraction we can use our forces in the right direction.

If we can discard the idea of developing a strong mind, and see the mind only as our spoken word, and discard the idea of developing will power, or developing anything — in that state we would be more like perfection.

A perfect spiritual being cannot develop mind power or will power — a perfect being cannot be added to ; but if we have used our powers in the wrong direction, and do not know it, is it possible to use them right until we recognize our mistake? We do not know we have any powers to use, because we do not know what substance we use. We think we have the power to attract things that we like and want, but such is not the case, as the forces or power does not exist to us, because we do not know what we do. As Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."

It looks very clear to me that the spiritual self (if I may use that term) must be all the Will, Mind, Sickness, Sorrow, Happiness, Seeing and Hearing ; for when the intelligence has passed out of the body all of these illusions disappear. We make our conditions, either for poverty or riches, happiness or sorrow, and all the rest of our undesirable conditions. To realize our divine nature and powers is to spread roses in our paths instead of thorns. When the spirit goes out of the body all thoughts and mind go at the same time ; thus it is plainly seen by the advanced student that we are self-deluded, and in such an unconscious state we make our own destiny, whether good or bad. We must try and see ourselves as one which is spirit, having divine possibilities and can become wise through experience and by becoming conscious of our powers. We are what we are conscious of; we are not as we desire, or wish, or think, as we have no knowledge of any powers we can use consciously to attract the things we desire most.

If they had such knowledge, the millions of people would not live in poverty ; if they were conscious of any knowledge or power they could use to attract the things they desire most, they would use it for their happiness and prosperity.

When we suggest adverse thoughts, such as "I am growing old," "My memory is failing," "My eyes are growing dim," etc., we see the effects of unconscious powers aroused to produce those conditions in the body.

We produce in the body the state we are unconscious of; that is the reason we find it a very hard task to remove a pain. We are conscious of pain, but how we produce it we do not know, and we cannot remove it consciously. We must be careful how we speak, feel and act; and if we put enough feeling in our words they become alive and are either liberating; or binding on ourselves. It seems the spirit Ourself is incased in iron bands of its own creation.

It can plainly be seen from these statements that there can be very little progress so long as we rely on the mind, or think we have any connection with it, for the spirit is not able to realize its own powers.

The spirit assumes by centering something it calls mind on itself, it cannot awaken itself into a realization of itself. Such are the teachings advocated, when it is plainly seen that the I Am, or spirit, is doing the centering act of the supposed mind, showing the illusionary condition. In such an unconscious state it cannot manifest any power, because it relies on the mind to arouse, awaken or produce the feelings or power. The spirit does not act or feel or try to manifest its divine possibilities but by expecting the mind to be strong ; it is self-limiting and self-binding, expecting powers from where there are none without creating them.

If I try to influence with the mind, I have no knowledge of myself, and do not rely on myself but in my supposed mind. It seems very plain to me it is only thoughts or words of the spirit, Ourself, we use our own words on ourself and call them mind. And in such a condition we cannot speak positively or commandingly, because we are unconscious of ourselves, and thereby lose our force or powers. We must learn

n to speak consciously from our spiritual self — the one that is talking— and the I Am would become powerful. To become conscious of ourselves we would be in possession of knowledge and power. We must try to live in the consciousness that we are spirit, manifesting in a fleshy body of our own creation, for the body is the reflection of our consciousness. The very act of concentration is binding, for the I Am is doing the act and does not know it. If a man can speak consciously from his true nature he does not need the illusionary method of concentrating his mind.

We find by this method that some people have developed strong minds, and others weak minds, showing *that by acting through the mind it is a slow process for development, for the spirit is not conscious of its own acts; so to speak commandingly and positively, direct from our own true nature, without actingthrough the mind, would be the proper method, trying to realize out powers and drawing from the great universe, which is all the power there is. Thus we would cause our words to become, alive, speaking from a conscious spirit, which would be all-wise when it would realize the same or its divine possibilities, drawinghealth, happiness, knowledge and power from the great infinite, universal supply and becoming conscious of the act of drawing and of our growing in wisdom and power.

When we awake to the fact that we make our own conditions, we can see that we can rise above any material condition that surrounds us, and we are spirit, and our consciousness of ourselves is all the power that we manifest in drawing material things. Fear is our enemy; the thing we do not want is unconsciously drawn to us, and it proves we have no power to help ourselves. No one would attract undesirable conditions; desiring the opposite or best things for them, none would attract sickness by desiring health. If there is an attracting power within the physical body of man it is not known. When we understand ourselves we can build a perfect body.

We must try and recognize our perfection always, by speaking of it, until we become conscious of this attractive power that is so often spoken of by different writers. Then we could vitalize our body and charge it with powerful spiritual influence that could be felt by others coming in contact with us. So we can make ourselves over by living and acting and feeling that we are spirit and possessing the power to be what we want to be. If we were all wise, we could not develop anything, but we would possess the thing we want. The more consciousness, the more the power, and we would make our body perfect ; for as a man is conscious, so is he in body and also spirit; for it must be the spirit that is the real man that does the thinking, and the spirit can say what it pleases. But when the spirit becomes conscious of its divine nature it will be all-wise and powerful, for it shows very plainly that we develop this something which we call Mind, and we give this supposed mind its intelligence. The mind is just as we make it, and the maker of this supposed mind gave it its power. I quote a passage from a work entitled "Light on the Path." You will find these words: 'Those that ask shall have." Though the average man asks perpetually, his voice is not heard, because he asks with his mind only. According to such writers we have to make the mind before we can use it : then we ask with the mind instead of with our direct intelligence. The I Am is asking through the illusion called Mind ; therefore the voice is not heard. This shows the illusion and the unconsciousness of man and the writers of such bosh.

It is plain to see that to trust to this so-called mind for power is to fail. Try to hold your mind on a thought, and then ask yourself where this thought comes from. The man or spirit, or the great I am is all- wise and powerful, thereby does not have to use mind. The man or spirit controlled by mind would not become conscious of any thing. To control oneself is to control the mind in the act. In fact, the mind has no powers than the spirit is supposed to impart to it. and it does not exist outside of the I Am : this supposed mind is spoken words of the spirit. By not recognizing the mind it would not have any power over us. We must remove all such illusions and clear our conscious- - : then we will be more cognizant of our acts, and we will live in a clear atmosphere, and our words and consciousness of ourselves will show us our mistakes.

This mind theory seems to be the stumbling block chat stops us from becoming conscious of ourselves ; every reasoning person can see that he does not know himself, and it is impossible to progress but slowly. Xo matter what we do or feel or act. the recognition of self is so slow that it sometimes seems that the human family must go to its grave in a dark condition. There is something wrong. We have tried the different known suggestions and teachings with very little satisfactory results — and we seem to long for the power to be strong to influence and draw the things we need ; but we can say they do not come that way. Assuming that the mind exists outside of self, this theory is very deceptive, and there will be a slow recognition of self. As long as we use this illusion on ourselves we fail to awaken into a recognition of ourselves.

Just think of a spirit using something it calls mind to awaken itself, to show the unconsciousness of the man or spirit. In such a condition we cause unconsciousness and thereby limit ourselves and annul our powers. How is it possible to ask with the mind ? How is the distinction made? The real man is supposed to be spirit, and we can see the man asked ; but the writer of "Light on the Path" says he asks with mind only. In other words, he asked with his mind instead of his intelligence, when it was himself that asked. It shows very plainly that such teachings are not easy to understand ; in fact the riddle of the universe is much easier.

It appears very plainly to me that there is no such thing as mind. I am Spirit or Intelligence assuming the existence of something we call mind ; my words are consciousness instead of the puzzling riddle called "Mind." It all shows the mixed state of both man and the writers. Has the mind any power or intelligence more than the Spirit imparts to it? They say, "You must concentrate your mind/' "Develop your mind," "make your mind positive" ; in other words, the I Am must make the illusion of its own mind before he can use it. And then the theory says the spirit is ruled and governed by its own creation. The mind becomes so strong that the spirit cannot control it. This shows the wonderful power of the illustion— it gets stronger than its maker. What a puzzle to understand. When I say I have a mind I recognize the supposed mind, and if I find it hard to control, in what condition is the I Am? It cannot recognize itself, and the illusion seems to have its own way, when in reality the I Am, or spirit. is at war with himself, showing the unconsciousness of man. But when we affirm in our unconscious condition "I am spirit," "I am power, I can control myself," we progress slowly. The adverse suggestion, "I cannot control myself," "I am so nervous," "I fly all to pieces," etc., we find in such statements that we arouse powers unconsciously and we experience the results. So the I Am is able to liberate or bind itself into happiness or misery. If we are all-wise and powerful we could not develop power by the act of concentrating the mind, but we could become conscious of powers, which shows we are not all- wise and powerful. Concentration means a recognition of something we do not possess, or else we have no knowledge of our great power of attraction. If the Spirit, the Man is all-wise it could not desire anything, it would possess the thing. An infinite, all-wise being cannot be added to. The better way is try and manifest and put into operation the powers that exist.

If we are not perfect we can never become perfect by concentrating the mind. Concentration is a lack of faith, trying to draw to ourselves something we possess, if the all-wise and powerful statement is true.

If we have not done the best for ourselves, recognize it, and we would have the power to do the opposite and best thing for us. We suffer for our mistakes here ; and now, by recognizing our mistakes, we would grow into a consciousness of our power to do the right and best thing for us without dealing in or with the mind.

I have read lots of theories concerning the conscious and sub-conscious mind. The conscious is supposed to govern us in our awakened state and the subconscious when we are asleep. What becomes of the Spirit, the Man ? The two-mind theory attempts to show that the two minds are all that are necessary for intelligent action and movement of the body. And may I ask what becomes of the two minds after the spirit or intelligence has passed out of the body ? Who or what does the centering act of the supposed mind? You must center your mind on the I Am. Who is the You? What distinction is made between the YOU, the Mind, the Soul, the I am ? If we develop a supposed strong mind the I Am does the directing instead of the You. when in reality it is the spirit assuming the existing mind. We place more confidence in this supposed mind than we do in ourselves. We find it a hard task to control our mind sometimes. But if we control ourselves the mind is controlled also. By what has been said concerning the supposed mind it proves it does not exist outside of ourselves. It is plainly seen it is the spirit's own words reacting on itself by the spirit recognizing it. and that is the reason it is so slow a process to quit our habits — in trying to control the mind. The habits we would like to become master over do not exist in the mind but in the man, the I Am. by admitting their existence. The better way is not to recognize the mind ; do not give it a place in your consciousness. Ignore it absolutely, and see the habit existing in yourself; see yourself creating it; do not allow it to come into your consciousness. By so doing you will destroy the undesirable habit and it will not trouble you. But if you recognize the mind, and the habit in the mind, it lives in yourself, the I Am, and is created by the I Am, yourself. If we believe we have animal passions, hard to control, we create them. Trying to control them, there is not anything existing in the mind having power over us. It is impossible to kill these animal passions and desires when we are creating them by fighting to control them. Non-recognition is the proper method, for as a man is conscious, so is he. It is impossible to become master of ourselves by trying to control the mind, for the habit exists in ourselves by recognizing it. In trying to control the mind to be free from habit or undesirable thought, we are conscious of the thing we wish to be free from, and the undesirable thought must exist first in ourselves; then we transfer our thought to the illusion, and think they exist in the mind.

In "Light on the Path" I find the following words: "The mind may recognize truth, but the spirit cannot receive it." You will find the statement on page 30. What is the meaning of such a statement? It seems to show the mind has an independent power, which is intelligence, existing outside of the all-wise I Am or Spirit. Again, this same writer says, "the spirit within you is all-wise and powerful, and the all-wise spirit cannot recognize truth or receive it, but the mind can."

It is impossible to understand such teachings, and yet this is claimed to be "eastern wisdom."

Most students of psychology view the mind as something which the spirit can use, and they are trying to make or develop a strong mind to use when they care to influence any one, and they rely on the mind instead of themselves.

This same spirit, according to most people, is all-wise; then again it is considered very ignorant, for it cannot receive truth, but the mind can. Under such conditions man cannot understand himself, for when he tries to find himself with the aid of the mind what does he discover? The supposed mind and body. But he never recognizes himself as spirit doing the act. Things we do not know anything about cannot exist in our consciousness, and we have no knowledge of the infinite. So in that state we make our own Gods. We cannot recognize the infinite, so it cannot exist to us. The Bible and writers agree that the body is the temple of the spirit, and that the spirit dwelleth within. There is only one spirit — that you and I are part of the all. Is it possible that some parts are ignorant and others wise? Why are we different if we are all one spirit? How many people understand themselves? Why is it so hard a task for man to know himself? When we concentrate our minds on ourselves we never locate the center intelligence; the spirit, ourself, always escapes us. We are never conscious of our true spiritual self, and we are not any better off.

It must be that the I Am is trying to locate himself, and in such an unconscious state it is impossible to find himself; for he does not know it is himself making such statements. So in such an unconscious state very little progress toward real intelligence is made. Christ is supposed to have been a master man, and I never understood him as concentrating his mind to accomplish his works. He spoke the living word, and spoke with a consciousness of the indwelling spiritual self, clear of the illusion of the mind. Christ never spoke of his mind being strong; he could see himself as one — a central intelligence — and not live in the illusion of being divided into separate parts of intelligence and powers. It is impossible for man to try and influence with the supposed mind without himself being attracted to the person or thing he is trying to influence; for the feelings, thoughts and desires he would like to transmit to the other party live in himself, and we become self-influenced. By adverse thinking we may attract and become. We have the power to be what we would like to be when we guard our feelings, thoughts and desires, always live in our ideal of what we would like to be and refuse to talk of and become conscious of the things we do not want : for, as a man is conscious, so is he.

Fear is a mighty, invisible, unconscious power within the individual, and it very often prevents us from reaching our ideals. So we use our powers in the wrong direction, and we get the things we fear. We can readily see that most people do not understand the powers they possess, for most people have the things they do not want, as the things we fear come upon us. Like attracts like; misery loves company; happiness follows suit. We can have either, for we have the power to choose and attract when we understand ourselves. Then we can consciously use our forces in the right direction.

In concluding this chapter I ask some questions and make some statements about the mind and its workings, or the illusion and its supposed powers, in line with the teaching's of different writers and teachers, that the spirit within man is all-wise and powerful :

QUESTIONS.

1. If the spirit within the physical body is all-wise and is perfection, what can it learn from material experiences ?

2. If the mind acts of its own volition, is it possible for the mind to become more powerful than the spirit?

3. If the all-wise spirit uses the mind on itself, does the spirit do the suggesting- to itself through the medium called the mind?

4. Does the mind exist outside of the spirit (ourself ) ? If so, what benefit could a perfect being derive from it?

5. Does the mind suggest to the all-wise spirit that it is all-wise and powerful ?

6. Does the spirit direct the mind and give it its powers and knowledge? If so, what benefit is the supposed mind ?

7. Does the spirit suggest to itself through the mind by stating it is spirit?

8. What is the meaning of controlling- the mind? Is the mind more powerful than the spirit ?

I ask these questions to make my ideas plain to the reader. To use the unconscious "mind" causes unconsciousness in the individual, and we cannot derive any benefit from its use.

There is no one who has any definite knowledge concerning the mind, and we can see that it does not exist outside of our own concept. We make our minds and also our Gods, but that does not prove their existence and cause them to be living reality.

CHAPTER II. Concentration

Judging from the ideas expressed by different writers — and I would be safe in saying all agree on the concentration of the mind and all agree they have a mind to concentrate with — I am safe in saying those people will not agree with me when I say the mind is shown to be only their conception of the mind and that mind has no existence outside of one's own concept.

Most people who have been reading books on mind "powers" and "thought force" and trying to develop powers by dealing in the concentration of the mind, have been sitting in a passive condition, trying to make a strong mind and trying to center it on some one or something, and they believed they were using some invisible power outside themselves ; that the mind would impress or transfer the power and be the means of the desired end. These same writers say, "look within for power, for the spirit within you is all-wise and powerful." If such is true, why does an all- wise spirit need to act through a mist called "mind" when it possesses the thing desired ?

If you will open the "Gnani Yoga," turn to page 150 and you will find these words : "Spiritual evolution does not mean the growth of the spirit, for the spirit cannot grow ; it is already perfect."

If such statements are true a perfect being could not benefit by concentrating the mind or trying to obtain knowledge outside itself. The act of concentrating is a recognition of something which we do not possess, and a perfect being could not desire anything. What is the meaning of "you must sit and center your mind on the I am or all-wise spirit" ? I would like an explanation concerning the you — the you do the centering act of the supposed mind. It shows very plainly the parties interested in awakening the all-wise spirit — the you and the mind — have the allotted task of awakening the all-wise, perfect being. It looks very doubtful, according * to these writers, that the all-wise spirit would forever remain in its dormant condition had it not been for you and the mind; but with the aid of these outside agencies the all-wise spirit is awakened from its ignorant state. And what could cause an all-wise, perfect, allpowerful spirit to become so overpowered has always puzzled me — that it needed the You; and this party named You must use something it calls mind and must suggest to the all-wise spirit all kinds of absurd things ; calling in a loud voice, you are spirit, all-wise and powerful. Such are the formulas advocated. And it seems we are all deluded by those theories. When we assume the attitude of concentration we recognize our deficiency and thereby we defeat ourselves in that unconscious state ; for as a man is conscious, so is he. So, to concentrate for anything, is to have in our consciousness the power to defeat ourselves, because we cannot realize our existing powers, and by concentrating we would keep in our consciousness the desire for something we do not possess, showing the spirit is not all-wise.

May I ask what keeps us from becoming conscious of one's self? How can we gain any knowledge by talking to ourself and assuming that something or some one — the mind or soul — or some one else outside ourself is doing the talking? So it can be seen that concentrating means we are trying to develop latent powers — making a strong mind, strengthening the will and adding powers by concentrating for them. So we read, "As a man thinketh, so is he." When we concentrate we must be thinking of something we do not possess.