The Mind Is a Tool: Are You Using or Abusing It?
Summary
TLDRДуглас Джонсон, сертифицированный учитель йоги и одаренный музыкант, обсуждает в своем видео роль разума как инструмента. Он утверждает, что большинство людей злоупотребляет своим разумом, что является основой духовного поиска. Джонсон подчеркивает, что настоящая радость и мир не зависят от внешних условий, а находятся внутри нас. Он рекомендует практиковать сознательность и йогу, чтобы освободиться от ограничений разума и начать наслаждаться жизнью в настоящем моменте.
Takeaways
- 🧘♂️ Ум — это инструмент, который можно использовать как правильно, так и неправильно.
- 🙏 Духовность помогает использовать разум и мысли адекватно, а не злоупотреблять ими.
- 🕊️ В современной жизни многие люди неправильно используют ум, следуя за ним в поисках счастья и мира.
- 🌟 Счастье, любовь и мир не могут быть созданы разумом или получены извне, они уже внутри нас.
- 🧠 Разум — это машина для решения проблем, но не для поиска долгосрочной радости и спокойствия.
- 🌱 Духовные традиции указывают на то, что истинное понимание и радость находятся внутри нас.
- 🌈 Важно наслаждаться процессом преодоления трудностей, а не считать их бременем.
- 🌟 Счастье не зависит от внешних условий, таких как образование, материальное состояние или семейное положение.
- 🧘♀️ Практика медитации и йоги может помочь развивать осознание мыслей и умения не идентифицировать себя с ними.
- 🌐 Важно не откладывать счастье на будущее и понимать, что оно доступно прямо сейчас.
Q & A
Какое утверждение делает Дуглас Джонсон о разуме?
-Дуглас Джонсон утверждает, что разум - это инструмент, который можно использовать как средство решения проблем, но он также может быть злоупотреблен.
Какую роль играет разум в духовности согласно Джонсону?
-Джонсон считает, что духовные традиции и учителя должны помогать нам использовать разум и мыслить правильно, а не неправильно.
Что Джонсон предлагает для тех, кто испытывает трудности в нахождении собственного пути?
-Дуглас Джонсон рекомендует обращаться к различным духовным традициям и учителям и использовать то, что они предлагают, если это полезно.
Какой тип мыслей, по мнению Джонсона, является проблемным?
-Дуглас Джонсон считает, что мысли о будущем, которые задерживают счастье, являются проблемными, так как они не соответствуют настоящему моменту.
Что Джонсон говорит о том, как разум подходит к решению проблем?
-Дуглас Джонсон говорит, что разум - это машина для решения проблем, которая стремится найти новые ситуации и задачи для решения.
Какую метафору использует Джонсон для описания жизни?
-Дуглас Джонсон использует метафору игры для описания жизни, на которую нужно смотреть с правильной точкой зрения.
Что Джонсон рекомендует делать для того, чтобы наслаждаться жизнью?
-Дуглас Джонсон рекомендует задаваться вопросом 'Вы наслаждаетесь жизнью сейчас?' и находить радость в процессе преодоления вызовов.
Какой Джонсон считает ключевой вопрос для духовного путешествия?
-Дуглас Джонсон считает, что ключевым вопросом для духовного путешествия является 'Вы наслаждаетесь жизнью сейчас?'
Что Джонсон говорит о том, как разум относится к счастью?
-Дуглас Джонсон говорит, что разум не способен создать счастье, любовь или покой; эти состояния можно испытать только внутри себя.
Какой метод Джонсон предлагает для того, чтобы лучше понимать свой разум?
-Дуглас Джонсон предлагает начать практиковать миндфульнесс, включая медитацию и йогу, чтобы лучше понимать свой разум.
Чем, по мнению Джонсона, отличается современное общество от прошлого?
-Дуглас Джонсон считает, что в современном обществе у людей меньше реальных проблем, и поэтому разум ищет проблемы для решения, создавая иллюзии.
Outlines
🧘♂️ Интро и благодарность сообществу
Дуглас Джонсон, сертифицированный учитель йоги, благодарит свое сообщество на Patreon, которое поддерживает его финансово, позволяя проводить бесплатные беседы на YouTube. Он подчеркивает, что любой желающий может присоединиться к сообществу за символическую сумму и таким образом способствовать распространению знаний. Затем он переходит к обсуждению темы - разума как инструмента, который может быть и злоупотреблен.
💡 Разум как инструмент
Дуглас рассматривает разум как инструмент, предназначенный для решения проблем, но подчеркивает, что он также может быть злоупотреблен. Он утверждает, что большинство людей неправильно используют свой разум, и что духовность помогает людям применять разум и мышление разумом в правильном направлении. Он также отмечает, что нет идеального учителя или метода, и он сам черпает знания из разных традиций и учителей.
🌟 Ищем счастье в настоящем
Дуглас обсуждает, как многие люди откладывают свое счастье в будущем, но на самом деле счастье и радость могут быть найдены в настоящем. Он говорит о том, что в духовных традициях, которые он изучал, утверждается, что счастье, любовь и мир не зависят от внешних обстоятельств, а находятся внутри нас. Он также затрагивает, что в современной жизни у многих людей уже удовлетворены базовые потребности, но это не приводит к увеличению их уровня счастья.
🔍 Внутренний мир и духовность
Обсуждается идея того, что внутренний мир и духовность являются ключом к пониманию и восприятию мира вокруг нас. Дуглас говорит, что с помощью духовных практик можно очистить 'психологический беспорядок' и начать испытывать покой, любовь и радость в повседневной жизни. Он также затрагивает темы темные ночь души и того, как с ними можно столкнуться в процессе духовного путешествия.
🌱 Использование разума правильно
Дуглас подчеркивает, что разум - это инструмент, который нужно использовать правильно. Он говорит о том, что когда мы не имеем реальных проблем для решения, разум может создавать искусственные проблемы. Он также утверждает, что счастье не зависит от внешних условий и что мы можем испытывать его прямо сейчас, если правильно использовать разум.
🧘♀️ Практики mindfulness и их результаты
В заключении Дуглас рекомендует практиковать mindfulness, чтобы лучше понимать, как работает разум, и создать расстояние между мыслями и самим собой. Он говорит, что это позволяет осознавать, что мы не равны нашим мыслям и эмоциям, и таким образом избегать страдания. Он также утверждает, что через mindfulness мы можем найти в себе источник любви, радости и мира.
📢 Выход и призыв к действию
Дуглас заканчивает видео, призывая к действию, просящий зрителей оставлять комментарии о своих опытах и подписываясь на Patreon, если они хотят поддерживать его работу. Он также напоминает о важности взаимодействия с контентом, включая лайки, подписки и комментарии, и делиться видео с друзьями.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡миндал
💡инструмент
💡дя
💡проблемы
💡счастье
💡душа
💡существование
💡минденс
💡самолиз
💡внутренний мир
Highlights
Douglas Johnson introduces himself as a certified yoga teacher, ordained minister, and musician.
He expresses gratitude to his Patreon community for supporting his talks.
The talks are offered freely on YouTube, thanks to Patreon supporters.
Douglas emphasizes the mind as a tool that can be misused.
Spirituality is about using the rational mind appropriately.
Different spiritual traditions offer various methods for appropriate mind use.
The rational mind is a problem-solving machine.
Douglas questions the postponement of happiness until future goals are achieved.
He suggests that happiness is not dependent on external circumstances.
Douglas discusses the irony of modern life where basic needs are met, but happiness is elusive.
He challenges the idea that more possessions lead to happiness.
Spiritual traditions point inward for true happiness, beyond rational thought.
Douglas shares his experience of a 'dark night of the soul' and its impact on spiritual journey.
He emphasizes the importance of enjoying the process of overcoming life's challenges.
Douglas explains how the mind can create problems when not engaged with real issues.
He suggests mindfulness practices as a way to gain control over the mind.
Douglas invites viewers to share their experiences with observing their thoughts and mind.
He concludes by encouraging viewers to engage with the content and support his work.
Transcripts
hello welcome back if you're new here my
name is Douglas Johnson and I am a
certified yoga teacher at the advanced
500 hour level I'm an ordained minister
and a musician SL keron
artist and and today I wanted to chat
with you a little bit about the mind and
the Mind as a
tool before I do get into that talk
however as always I want to thank the
community that makes these talks
possible and that is my community on
patreon so they contribute financially
monthly on a regular basis and that
allows me to offer these talks without a
pay wall uh without any kind of
restrictions free on YouTube which is
how I want to operate so if you feel
called or inspired to uh join that
Community please check out the links
below uh and you can do that for as
little as a dollar a month there's
nothing extra at least not right now
this really is an opportunity for people
to
contribute um do some selfless service
or uh donation true donation where
you're not really getting anything extra
you're actually paying it forward for
people who may not financially be able
to uh access content like
this okay so we want to talk about the
mind I'm pretty sure I've done a talk
like this
uh in the past I've been doing talks
like this now for several years uh but
it it doesn't matter because every time
I talk about a subject I'm going to
bring a sort of different perspective or
fresh perspective to it that may
resonate more with you but the basic
idea that I wanted to share with you
is the mind is really a tool the
rational mind it's a tool and it's a
wonderful tool but any tool can be
abused and
misused and so I'd say the vast majority
of human beings right now are misusing
the tool of their mind and for me this
is really what spirituality is about
when a spiritual tradition or teaching
or teacher are doing their job well they
are helping us to use thought and the
rational mind in an appropriate way
rather than an inappropriate way and
there are many many means of doing this
there's not just one way um some will be
more effective than
others some will be more effective for
certain people and less effective for
other people and vice versa so it's
there's no from my perspective one you
know perfect teacher or perfect teaching
or anything like that I myself draw from
many different
traditions and teachings wherever I find
something useful I usually will pull
that in and start to use that both for
myself and to share with
others so the mind is really a uh you
could say a problem solving machine for
the most part a rational mind it likes
to find a novel situation A a problem
and then go to work on trying to solve
it by rearranging different pieces of
the puzzle so different things that we
find maybe people maybe you have a a
challenge uh and you're trying to think
of who would help you with this
challenge how could you get somebody or
persuade someone to help you with what
you're challenged by or maybe it is a uh
you know actual um problem with uh
devices or things that you have in your
life it doesn't involve people it
involves rearranging certain things
maybe in your house or whatever it is
maybe you're not happy the amount of
light coming in and you want to
rearrange your house to make it so that
there's more light and maybe you feel
better whatever it is so nothing wrong
with that the mind is very useful for
that kind of thing it in a sense is
interface for the game or the I say game
is a good word for it the Game of Life
which if we have the right orientation
we're enjoying this game so that's a
really good question to ask yourself are
you having fun yet are you enjoying
yourself and a answer many people will
give but I will challenge is well no not
yet I just
need insert whatever so if that was your
answer then I'm going to call you out on
that because that really isn't the road
that I found that actually leads to
Lasting peace and happiness that's a
future
orientation and in non-u spirituality
like we explore here on this channel
there really is no future there really
is only one time uh ultimately which is
now and so the question always is are we
having fun now is are we enjoying life
now so I get it there can be big
obstacles and challenges and things to
be overcome that's fine and we can
actually enjoy that process that's my
point okay so if you're saying well I
hit the pause button on happiness
because I need a romantic partner in
order to be happy I'm going to say that
that ultimately is not true and if you
go through life with that
perspective when you find find that
romantic partner temporarily you might
find that your
ego gets quiet but it'll be temporary it
will soon find something else to go
after so the rational mind is a problem
solving machine now the interesting
thing about Modern Life is a lot of our
basic needs have been met I'd say
probably for most of human history
hisory and perhaps even for most people
alive on the planet today because a lot
of people alive on the planet don't have
the resources that you and I have if
you're watching this video I'm including
you in a certain group okay you have
access to the internet you have access
to devices uh you've got streaming uh
you are in a kind of elite category of
human being but interestingly we find
that many people
who are not in that category who live in
poverty are happier than we are okay so
we tend to think oh well I've got all
this stuff so that must mean I'm happier
than someone who lives in a part of the
world where they live in poverty well
your assumption would be incorrect
that's not what the evidence shows us
okay so um again are we happy are we
having fun yet it's important question
because just because I have challenges
in life it doesn't mean I can't enjoy
overcoming those challenges in fact I'd
say maybe there's nothing more enjoyable
in life I don't want to say that
outright but just as a way of speech
that overcoming things is a very very
enjoyable part of life overcoming
challenges um so that is the perspective
we want to have that okay life has given
me these challenges and it's going to be
exciting and fun and interesting to try
and overcome those challenges versus
seeing that as some kind of a burden all
right so if I'm using my mind correctly
the tool of my mind then I'm applying it
to the kind of problems that it can
solve again like rearranging things and
trying to solve these small problems in
my experience what it is not so good at
is helping us solve happiness or solve
love or uh solve some of these bigger
things like lasting peace this is where
the spiritual Traditions that I've
studied always point us inward now the
mind can play a role in that I'm not
saying that it has no place but it
really only plays a role it it is a
rather um perhaps small role so the mind
can be used to point to something but
the thing it's pointing to isn't
something that we can really contemplate
or know through rational thought it's
something that simply is experienced
it's something that we simply know or
realize okay so it's not something that
I can talk at length about um describing
it to you or anything like that because
it doesn't really have any uh qualities
of it own it is formless nameless
shapeless it doesn't have a smell or a
taste it doesn't look like anything uh
again in some traditions it's called
nothingness or emptiness so how do you
describe emptiness other than in a
negative way like there's nothing there
okay it's the absence of form all right
so this is ultimately what this type of
ndu spirituality is really talking about
that I discuss here on this channel and
in my experience this if we really come
to understand it it's very liberating it
is brings us a lot of peace and joy and
this peace and joy are our Birthright
they are simply there and we don't have
to create that that's why the mind is
like trying to create
happy situations is trying to create
peaceful situations is trying to
rearrange uh things in a way that we
experience peace but my experience is
that these aren't things that we need to
go looking for they are simply here
within us they are here now and they are
things that we can experience at any
time um now granted if you are lost in
thought and you have not explored
the inner landscape it's not going to
feel like that it is going to feel like
as much as you want to experience love
peace joy that they simply are not
accessible to you and I understand that
so that is one stage or phase of a
spiritual journey that most people go
through they go through a period uh
usually toward the beginning where they
just feel completely cut off
interestingly this can happen in a dark
night of the Soul which in my experience
can happen later on as well so we might
start our journey that way and then feel
like okay I've got it figured out um I'm
experiencing consistent peace love and
joy in my life and then we have a dark
night of the Soul okay and then with
that dark KN of the Soul we find
ourselves well what happened to the
peace love and joy that I was
experiencing um so again I've talked a
lot about that at length um last year
because I was going through one so you
can go back and look at those videos if
you're curious about that I tried to
share as much as I could about that
experience but in general what you
experience once you first the way I
describe the path these days is waking
up and then cleaning up and as we clean
up our psychological mess if you will
uh we begin to experience longer and
more peace love and joy just in our
day-to-day life that's generally what
happens there can be moments where we
don't there can be again dark nights but
in general those will be the exception
rather than the rule whereas it seems to
me talking with most people average
people people who don't have a sort of
spiritual Mor Bing in their lives and I
don't mean
religious I mean spiritual for me these
two are different but people who don't
have a kind of spiritual moing in their
life they uh very often will experience
a lot of suffering and sometimes they
don't even know that that's what they're
experiencing they if you ask them they
might like oh yeah things are okay yeah
I'm fine but then you might find that
they're doing certain things their lives
like they drink way too much or they're
on a lot of uh mood altering medications
or perhaps they are uh have really
really um troubled relationships in
their lives so if you look under the
hood you might find that actually
there's quite a bit of suffering there
now it's not really not really that
interested in you know judging other
people or anything like that I really
highly recommend you focus on yourself
and your own Journey your own joy peace
love so again the question we want to
ask
ourselves uh from time to time is are we
having fun yet and that might seem like
a very
frivolous uh measure of a a spiritual
path many people want spirituality to be
very solemn and dark and require a lot
of suffering
um in my experience that isn't really
necessary or what it is about it is
about being able to live a human life
fully and completely and we have an
aspect of ourselves that is spiritual
that's why spirituality is necessary for
us to really access that and get the
most out of
that so if the answer to are we having
fun yet is no again some people will try
and say no but I just need to graduate
college no but I need whatever so again
I'm going to call those people out and
say that that isn't really the answer um
again it's not to say that you don't
have something really challenging going
on that might make your life
easier when it's resolved but in my
experience ease doesn't lead to peace
Joy and love a lot of times ease can
actually lead to quite a bit of
suffering when we have nothing to do
we're on Easy Street a lot of times this
is when people can get into things like
drugs and alcohol abuse and go off the
rails maybe eating too much all kinds of
problems so in my experience and I
believe the scientific data backs this
up um the answer to happiness is not
more stuff it's not more time it's not
uh having it easy anything like that
okay so again the mind is a tool and we
want to use it in the right way
so it may tell us that right the Mind
might say oh yeah yeah once you graduate
college and you're making your own money
and you have this and that then you will
be happy once the kids grow up and leave
the house and they're in college and
they're all married then I'll be happy
then I can relax then whatever again you
want to be on the lookout if you're
serious about this path for that future
orientation I will be happy when I will
be happy if okay so again what I teach
is you can be happy right here and right
now in fact that's the only time that
you can be happy what you're calling the
future is just
now when it comes it will be now okay
and usually if we put off happiness if
we're in that habit if we believe the
idea that I need things to orient in a
certain fashion for me to experience
peace or Joy or happiness then um I'm
not understanding reality and when
things happen to align just the right
way yes my ego will relax for a moment
but it will very quickly go back to
needing something in the future and this
is a large part of the inspiration for
today's talk the mind is a
problemsolving
machine and what I think is happening to
many modern people like you and I is
that machine has run a
muck we don't have that many real
problems
we're going to be fed we're going to be
sheltered we're probably going to live
relatively long amount of time the real
problems that we have are few and far
between and so I would argue that in my
experience what I see is when the mind
if we don't have awareness about the
mind in other words if we have not
practiced mindfulness if we're not
watching the mind if we're not if we
don't understand how the mind works and
what thought is
for then we tend to let the mind tell us
what we should be doing or what's going
to bring us happiness or what's going to
bring us joy we tend to believe the mind
okay so this is abusing the tool from my
perspective now we're trying to find
happiness out there by arranging things
in a certain way because that's what the
mind is good
at additionally when the Mind does not
have real quote unquote real problems to
solve then it makes problems okay it
will create problems so again for many
of our ancestors the big problem they
were trying to solve is how do I get
enough calories to survive another day
okay might be something like that how do
I find shelter to survive this
storm lots of things like that how do I
escape this dangerous situation with a
bear or some other deadly animal okay or
maybe another tribe a lot of life and
death like really serious situations
going on for a lot of us we feel a lot
of angst and anger and frustration about
politics about world affairs
about um you know rights of different
groups and I'm not saying that you can't
feel passionate about that and also feel
peace or Joy but in my experience there
tends to be a different quality to it
than what I see a lot of people going
through what I see and again I could be
wrong but what I see is a lot of people
are again they're using the the mind in
the wrong way they're listening to the
mind they don't know their peace they
don't know their Joy they don't know the
love that's coming from within them and
so they're trying to arrange the world
in a way that they feel peace love joy
contentment satisfaction and in my
experience you can't that's not the
nature of the physical reality it's not
really what it's for it's not its job
I'd say almost the opposite that
physical reality is probably designed to
challenge us um I think that's a lot of
what makes this experience of being a
human being very interesting for a
spirit or a soul or a Divine being okay
um so I don't really
think you know the mind again is helping
us navigate all this that's fine that is
not a problem but if we're looking to
the mind or to the ego to say okay well
how do I become happy how do I find Joy
how do I find peace in my experience it
doesn't come it the mind will not
produce answers that are effective it
will give you an answer it will but that
answer will not actually work it will
not actually scratch the itch if you
will and again what you'll find if
you're pay paying attention is you might
have a moment or two um a
short flash of satisfaction now again
when I say that it may just be a moment
it might be a day it might be a week it
might be a month it might even be a year
or two but what you'll find is whatever
that thing is oh I'm finally married
I've been dreaming of getting married
I'm complete you won't stay that way I
promise you your
if you're if you use the mind to
generate that then the mind because it
is a problemsolving
machine if there is not a problem now to
solve it will start looking for another
problem to solve because that's what it
is designed to do so it's a little bit
like having I don't know a chainsaw or a
lawn mower that's just running and going
a muuk and you've lost control control
of it and it's just cutting things up
and doing damage can a chainsaw or a
lawnmower be used constructively
absolutely no one would question that
absolutely it can but can these tools be
used in a way that's dangerous yes and
again from my perspective where I sit
what I see is most of modern humanity
meaning people who live like us who are
raised in a sort of Western culture
um we are using the Mind incorrectly
we're using the tool
incorrectly so how do we get a handle on
it well I would say start practicing
mindfulness there are many ways to do
that I'm not going to prescribe anything
in particular I will say meditation is a
great way to get into that um yoga if
you do it with the right instruction the
right person that can help get the get
you in the door I know some people at
least initially have trouble being still
and
meditating that's something I've talked
about in the past that really shouldn't
be a deterrent but I get it you may not
want to start there another practice you
can start doing is Yoga Nidra and so
these mindfulness practices do a couple
things for us one they allow us to start
seeing thought and the mind at work and
disidentifying with it creating some
distance because most people before they
do any kind of mindfulness practice they
think they are their thoughts they think
that's my thought that's my belief
that's my anger they identify with the
thoughts and the emotions so completely
they actually think it's them and they
suffer as a result with mindfulness you
can begin to create space where you
realize just because I'm angry it
doesn't mean I should be angry it also
doesn't mean I'm right just because I
have a thought about something or an
opinion about something that does not
mean that my opinion is correct okay so
this is huge for a lot of people maybe
you already know that but there are a
lot of people who go around not really
realizing that not being willing to
admit that so that happens and then
another thing that can happen uh is you
begin finding peace love joy inside of
yourself which is where the only place
you really can find it it doesn't exist
out there in fact ultimately in non-u
teaching there is no out there out there
everything is contained within the self
the true self and so if we're going to
find these things the only place we can
find it is within ourselves because
that's all that really exists the only
time we can find it is now because that
is the only time that actually exists
okay so as always everyone I hope this
was helpful reach out with any questions
I'd love to hear from you your
experience with observing your thoughts
observing the Mind observing these
patterns um please share them in the
comments below again you can help me by
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video with those who you think can get
something from it until next time
everybody thanks again Namaste and have
a beautiful beautiful day
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