You have learned of your heart, son of God. Well done.
The kingdom of God is within us; not in our minds, but at our center. In learning how to live from the center of our being, it's important to observe the carnal mind and know it's nature and function.
1. The mind is
reactionary. Situations arise and boom!--the mind instantly has a thought and idea of what to do. This is great when you are driving a car or cooking supper or any repetitive task; however, it's usually not so good in interpersonal communications. When we follow the reactionary thought of the mind we are not walking in the Spirit. In observing the mind, we can see the reactions it makes and might realize that
we are not our thoughts. And we just might find space within to realize that we need not
react to everything; but rather that we can choose to
respond. Reacting is just re-acting, acting again the way we have before, Seeing the difference between reacting out of the mind and responding from the heart is key to our freedom.
2. The mind
replicates. In some ways the mind is like unto an organic computer, in that it only operates with what has been programmed into it (all the actions of your lifetime, plus generational programmings). And in this it is replicatory. It will
re-act and
replicate the past over and over again because that is what it is programmed with, your past experiences. If we follow the replicant thought, we walk not in the Spirit. And truly, until we awaken to this, we
experience very little of life first hand because we are usually too busy "experiencing" our thoughts about things and not the things themselves. Selah. (For those with ears to hear, the keys to the kingdom involve loosing content from ourselves so we need not have the same junk come up again and again; a renewing of the mind, or better said, a renovating of the mind)
3. The mind is not
in the now. God operates now, today, in the moment. As does our heart. The mind only deals with it's memories of the past and it's fantasies of the future. When we are centered in our minds, we miss God, for the
mind is enmity against God (Rom 8:7). When we be still and are centered in our hearts, we can know God, in the now.
Today, Now is the time, if you will hear His voice (Heb 3:7). When we are centered in our hearts, we can discover the mind of Christ within us.
4. The mind deals with the
names of things and not the things themselves.
The name of a thing is not the thing.
The word water will never quench your thirst. When you live in your mind, you have a relationship with the word God; you define salvation instead of work it out; you spend years thinking up a framework of theology instead of
experiencing the Life of God in Christ, now. The mind can only deal with the names of things and not the things themselves. .
5. The mind is
self-preservationist, self-survivalist.
I am right, you are wrong. I knock you down to preserve my self. I have it all together, no one else does. I look out for number 1. My self must survive at all cost. If I hear truth from another that is contrary to what I hold, a part of my self is shown to be a lie. My self must survive therefore I will not hear. I will put things on the shelf and deal with them later. My mind will react and try to lead me to run away, ignore, suppress, repress, lash out, begrudge, fight...anything for the preservation of self.
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We have all experienced wonder and beauty and truth,
pre-mind, pre-thought. Recall a breathtaking experience. You saw a painting, a sunset, heard a song, held an infant; something where the mind was silent and you didn't need to think about what you were experiencing, you just experienced the truth of the moment. The more we live from the heart, the more of these moments we have; and the more we live in the heart, the more we walk in Spirit, for the fullness of the kingdom of God is within us, apart from the reactionary replicant egoic mind.
The mind is an arena that we use for our purposes; we bring things
TO our mind. Solve for x, 3x+28=190. There, you brought something to your mind. How many cups in a liter? How do I get to Dallas from here? How do I fill out this form? We are not our minds, we are not our thoughts. We use our minds. We are it's master, not the other way around.
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How? The next time your mind is going all jibber jabber, yada yada yada....close your eyes and focus on your breathing. Notice how the mind goes quiet. In this you draw the focus of your attention away from the mind to the center of your being, your heart. Make your home in the breath and you can observe the mind. And you will discover that by focusing on your breathing, you withhold the energy that thoughts need for them to go a mile a minute. Where your attention is, is what you are giving life energy to.
And in making your home in the breath, you discover what
'poor in spirit' means.
Blessed are those who are being poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom. (Mt 5:3) Look up spirit and you will see that it also means breath. You can be centered in your mind or in your heart. Our habit is to live in the mind. Breath is the avenue we take to get out of the mind and into the heart. Focus on your breathing and focus on the center of your torso. You will find this quiet, still state, destitute and devoid of stuff (ie.
poor). And from this place you'll then be able to see the
rich state of the carnal mind, filled with all kinds of activity and thoughts and concepts and temptations.
The smart, rich man of self doesn't get to go to the kingdom within you. But in breath, as a little innocent and ignorant child, we may enter the kingdom within and discover the Life therein that we so desire.