The Mind and God

Most of us are not even aware,  most of the time, that we have a mind. A mind. A mind!
It filters every life experience more thoroughly than the liver filters the blood. It determines the very quality of our everyday lives. And we tend to ignore it and let it do whatever it's doing.
But we can pay attention to it; and learn to control it somewhat. I can notice how my mind interprets and handles things. The "you" that can notice how your mind operates is a very, very important aspect of "you". It's the "you" that shapes the will.  It's the you that has the ability to connect with the God of this universe (or with the "Universe" if you're an atheist.) Or more correctly, it's the "you" that can discover your unending, inescapable connection to the Universe--to God. Where can one go to escape God/Universe? To ask the question "Is God, or is God Not?" issues from a place that is outside  what we might call the run-of-the-mill mind: what the zen master called the "Monkey Mind", only focused, as it swings through the forest, on the next vine or the next limb. When you realize that you have a mind you can do something with it. Otherwise, you are flowing in the river of your thoughts with no outside awareness of what is carrying you along---or where!

Meditate for a moment on the fact that we did not create, nor do we even understand our minds. Our mind is a gift that has been given to us. Think of all that has come out of the mind of man, the evil and the good. Think of all that is being manifested in the world because of where we focus, knowingly or unknowingly, our minds. What if we focused our minds on loving each other, as Christ has commanded us? What if this became a conscious process, transcending impulse and instinct? What if we came to understand that our enemy is not a human or group of humans, but rather certain aspects of our individual personalities; that, as one man said "The line that separates good from evil runs through the heart of every human being?" And that our main work in life is to overcome the darkness within our own self--that part of us that is not loving, and therefore not good?  What if we made that goal--loving people, being thankful, graceful, kind and generous, fair and responsible--our primary devotion in life? And then we were careful not to let ourselves get distracted for too long from that goal--that way of being.  Could we not then, at the end of our days on this earth, have a deep sense of peace about how we spent our lives? Could we not, indeed, walk in peace every day, knowing that we have found the true Pathway of Life? That there is absolutely no better way that we could be spending our life energy?
This is exactly what Jesus has commanded us. And He even promised to give us His Spirit--the Holy Spirit--to empower us to attain that goal; to transform not only our minds, but our hearts. If you can find a  better way of being in the world, for God's sake live it! But if you can not, in order to be truly honest, you should bow to Jesus, because He accomplished this.