ichill

If the "concious" mind is in control, then try an do the following; become angry, become really sad, become jealous.... Its impossible to do these things, because your mind is not in control of it.... Think of the "unconscious" mind as the seed and the "conscious" mind the flower. What gives the seed its potential? I do agree that the "conscious" mind has its part to play in the re-seeding process, however if the seed contains potential, and it unfolds as such, the "conscious" mind is really acting out this potential. Mind and consciousness are often seen as one, but it is separate, and must not be confused. If the mind is a flower, then what sees it? There must be something seperate from the mind, because you are aware of your mind, I.e. the thoughts that it produces. Another example is this: If you can observe a dog walking past you, you know that you are not the dog. If you can see a pencil in your hand, you cannot be the pencil. Similarly, if you look at your hand, and it is chopped off in front of you, the YOU still remains. So, if you can observe "things" and you feel comfortable that they are not you, then why not view your thoughts the same way? If this is so, then you cannot be your thoughts, as they are "there" and yet YOU are "here". Try and be still for 5 minutes and stalk your mind. Where do all those spontaneous thoughts come from? Is that you? If it is, then i challenge you to turn them off....The sooner we realise that something much bigger is at play here, the sooner humanity will find peace.

If the sub conscious mind determines the content of the concious mind, and you accept that the conscious mind is where you are aware of it, then who is the one that is aware of it? Surely this is the biggest question? This would suggest that control is indeed an illusion.

Hi Ophiolite, It is always a privelage to make the acquaintance of an Expert. It struck me when reading Iamwhat?'s comment to you about being scared....I was wondering if you could provide me with a simple answer to this question; "Where are you?" Now, before you answer this make no mistake.... What I am asking here, is not your relative position to things (and places) i.e. the known....but your absolute position in terms of ALL that IS. You might as an example explain that you are in your car, and further that you are, in say New York and that New York is in the USA etc. Eventually you will arrive at a point where you would not be able to give any reference, as you do not know where you are. Here is the crux of the matter; Fear is an inherent part of being a human, and the fact that we do not even know where we really are is most probably the second biggest reason that we are afraid. The first being, that most humans do not even know who they are. Imagine waking up one morning and not knowing where or who you are? You dont have to imagine this, as this (most probably) happens to you every day....you just are not aware of it. Moreover, the very fact that this is a "normal" condition for 99% of the population, one would probably say that it is Normal - how ludricrous? I was wondering if you (as an Expert) would be able to help me answer this very basic question (and possibly address the "scared" comment - I am sure that you have no fear...) , as I suspect that the correct answer to this question might solve all the problems posed in this forum, especially the Bullshit ones? Any ideas?