Roger Harty: Why The Mind Loves Problems

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I SUPPOSE I should begin with a bit of clarity. What I mean by the mind is the ‘the thinking mind’ i.e. the part of the mind that is involved in the thought process.

So if the thinking mind is involved in the thought process then for its very existence it requires thoughts, otherwise it has no function.

Problems again by their very nature give us something to solve i.e. something to think about, therefore they give the mind a job – something to do.

On the other hand, imagine if we went through life without a problem. Then the thinking mind doesn’t really have a function and therefore is out of a job.

Now to carry this further I have to ask a question; Tell me an institution, person or organ that would willingly give up its job without a fight? The answer is obvious – None

So therefore if there isn’t a problem it is in the interest of the thinking mind to create a problem, otherwise it has nothing to think about and thus will be made redundant.

It won’t like that!! Who or what would like to be made redundant I ask you?

The average person has about 60,000 thoughts per day (if you don’t believe me—google it!), 90% of which are simply repetitive and superfluous. A serious amount of unnecessary wasted energy.

It is important to note that I said the average person, but what about someone whose mind is working in a dysfunctional manner for example severe depression, anxiety or panic attack. This mind could have 300,000 thoughts per day (very much a guesstimate!). Always exhausted with very low energy levels.

In my youth, in a time when computer games were just being introduced to the world, there was a game which one played in an arcade called Pacman.

The player controls a circular character (Pacman) which has a pie wedge shaped mouth to eat pellets (food) through a maze, eating Pac-Dots.

The more he eats the more gluttonous he becomes and the faster he moves until goes completely out of control.

Just like Pacman needs food, the thinking mind needs problems and the more problems it has the better it likes it as the supply is plentiful.

The thinking mind is now becoming dysfunctional (gluttonous) and it can even start to generate problems (food) even when there are no problems.

This can result in all sorts or unpleasant mental problems such severe panic attacks, anxiety and depression.

Just like calming Pacman down by reducing the food intake, it is also necessary to calm the thinking mind down by reducing perceived problems.

Note – The thinking mind doesn’t care whether the problem is real or perceived as long as it has a problem to solve.

The answer then has to lie in the area of some form of meditation where thoughts are removed from the situation.

Retraining of the mind is required – that is why we use the term – To practice meditation.

Important note; As mentioned above, the thinking mind won’t like this as it feels its job is being threatened — A turkey won’t vote for Christmas!

Next week I am going to write about; Why there are no problems in life.

2 Comments

  1. Mags Reidy Corcoran says:

    Roger love it. Well said n written. Keep going Ur brilliant!

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