HOW TO BREAK FREE FROM THE CYCLES OF YOUR PROGRAMMING
Updated: 11 hours ago
I have always been fascinated by the idea that the mind can be shaped at will in whichever direction we desire and influence our behaviour. The way our mind is organised has certainly an impact on our perception of reality, and we know that perception is essentially what dictates behaviour and the way we approach situations in life. What I find fascinating about this particular concept is that it points us to a very interesting possibility, which is that — our ability to be or become whatever it is that we'd like to be (or become) at any given time, is essentially dependent on the program that's currently running our minds. In other words, our mindset!
The mind is programmed through repetitions of various mental patterns that are formed over time from binary sequences like 0 and 1, like and dislike, good and bad, positive vs negative, true and false, possible or impossible, wanted vs unwanted etc. These mental patterns find their origin in the impressions (memories) we've retained from past experiences, as well as the influences of our environment on our perception of the world. I find that more often than not, we are the only ones standing in our way simply because of the way we have unconsciously programmed our minds to relate to reality, and so, we tend to respond to it inadequately.
But why does the mind need programming?
The program running in our mind provides us with a format or basis for relating to ourselves and the reality of our surroundings. Through a system of pattern recognition, our programming (paradigm) helps us make sense of the world around us by making it predictable (stable and structured), so that we can find the rhythm to operate within it.
As human beings, our programming was essentially designed to enhance our capabilities as we navigate through life, but instead, most of us tend to use it as a tool for our own enslavement. There often comes a time in our evolutionary journey when we begin to notice that our programming is doing us more damage than good and not serving our best interests. We can feel deep within ourselves that there is a need for a change and have this sudden urge to break free from our conditioning. But since we don't know how to go about it, most of us simply tend to ignore the call until things start to get out of hand, and we can no longer go on.
Getting through the limbo phase of self-transformation
Changing aspects of ourselves that we have been accustomed to for a long time can be a very uncomfortable process and a struggle for even the best of us. It is strange how the changes we try to implement will often feel like we are suffocating ourselves rather than fixing anything. The reason we feel this way is that the program that was once used to comfortably run in our minds is now feeling threatened by variations that are disturbing our sense of stability. This is the reason for the discomfort (resistance) we feel at this stage of the change process. Our program works at its best when it is stable and has some certainty or structure about the nature of reality, therefore, it is designed to resist the unknown (change). In the face of the unknown, the mind will desperately try to restore certainty by strongly clinging to what it knows and has become comfortable with over many years of repetition. It is at this point that most of us, unfortunately, give up the quest for self-transformation as the battle between the comfortable and the uncomfortable has become tough on the mind's desire for stability!
However, what is important to understand at this stage of the transformation process is that, all these aspects of ourselves that the mind desperately seeks to hold onto and not let go are essentially the ones preventing our 'being' from taking a different form and evolving into a higher state of consciousness (becoming). The degree of rigidity within one's mind is indeed a big factor in determining one's ability to be receptive to change. It is, in fact, because of the rigidity that we've developed in our minds through repeated patterns of behaviour that our inner being does not have enough room for change, adaptation, and therefore its own evolution.
Breaking the cycle by playing the “Being's Game”
Through many trials and errors, I've come to find out that the key to evolving beyond the cycles of our mental programming lies in our ability to let the intelligence of our inner-being (the presence within) take lead over the mind and influence its programming, as opposed to letting our programmed mind run the show and condition our Being's infinite potential to a predetermined pattern of behaviours.
The being is free-flowing (creative) and spontaneous in nature — it is forever in the present moment, which means that it is always growing, evolving and reinventing itself by the second. As such, it has this constant desire for novelty and naturally wants to break free from any paradigm that is hindering its evolution and, thus, expression by getting it stuck in a never-ending routine. Contrary to the being, however, the programmed mind is rigid in its functioning and can only operate within the confines of its conditioning. Like any other program, this mind only does what it is bound to do and can not act with spontaneity or freedom of choice (free will) because it has none. Since its sole purpose is to provide stability, our programming works at its best by sticking to its design and repeating the same pattern all over and over, until acted upon by some form of disturbance or variation.
"Letting the Being drive the mind and influence its programming is the new name of the game"
Allowing the being to take lead over the mind makes room for creativity (flexibility), which brings balance to the rigidity of our programming. Whereas, letting our programmed mind take lead over the being puts a restraint on the freedom of the being, thus, hindering our creativity in profit of stability. In our quest for stability (survival), our inner-being always suffers the limits of our mental conditioning, whether it is done consciously or unconsciously.
Beyond our need for survival, however, evolution made it so that human beings have become the embodiment of the universe's creative energy by essence. Unlike animals, what makes human beings special is that we have evolved to be conscious of our consciousness. This unique ability to be 'aware that we are aware' has then made it possible for the evolution of our own consciousness to also be approached as a rather conscious process. This means that as human beings, we have the unique ability to create and recreate ourselves consciously (at will) by freely focusing the mind in the direction we desire without having to stay forever bound to its cycles and repetitions, although they are integral parts of who we are.
Realigning the mind by giving it a new role, the role of the servant instead of the master, is surely the path to evolving beyond the cycles of our mental programming and reinventing ourselves whenever life requires us to do so.
Comments