mind is pond
clarified
bemuddled

multiple entry
populating the waters are the senses
info seeds and thought bubbles
they tinge freeze and boil
but the pond doesn’t move

mind is pond
it’s definition devoid
please don’t be the fish
watch them swim

observe
the stirring
without stirring

no interference
no end, and
no beginning

this is the beginning of it all
clarified and bemuddled

In my view one of the most freeing and individual human-centered takes on the development and potential of the mind was this dialogue from the movie Waking Life:

The main character is what you might call “the mind”.
It’s mastery, it’s capacity to represent.
Throughout history, attempts have been made…
to contain those experiences which happen at the edge of the limit…
where the mind is vulnerable.

But I think we are in a very significant moment in history.
Those moments, those what you might call liminal,
Limit, frontier, edge zone experiences…
are actually now becoming the norm.
These multiplicities and distinctions and differences…
that have given great difficulty to the old mind…
are actually through entering into their very essence,
tasting and feeling their uniqueness.

One might make a breakthrough to that common something…
that holds them together.
And so the main character is, to this new mind,
greater, greater mind.
A mind that yet is to be.
And when we are obviously entered into that mode,
you can see a radical subjectivity,
radical attunement to individuality, uniqueness to that which the mind is,
opens itself to a vast objectivity.
So the story is the story of the cosmos now.

The moment is not just a passing, empty nothing yet.
And this is in the way in which these secret passages happen.
Yes, it’s empty with such fullness…
that the great moment, the great life of the universe…
is pulsating in it.
And each one, each object, each place, each act…
Leaves a mark.
And that story is singular.
But, in fact, it’s story after story.

My Summation
| What does he mean to say? |
Can I say it less nebulously?
| Unlikely, but worth a shot… |
Here we go:

In the modern period our minds are freer, the sphere of mental activity much wider, while before the nail that stuck out got hammered down hard. We find we have more opportunities, more cognitive liberty nowadays; still we can get lost as individual exporers, but… Diversification is an effective strategy overall for humanity to break down previously invisible, previously unconsidered barriers.

So while individuals dig deep into an inner space, humanity as a whole proceeds to thin out the slabs of ignorance that have compressed and contained our minds for so long, like frenzied ants carving out new tunnels in an ever expanding hill.

In coming to know ourselves, digging our own tunnels, we are coming to know the cosmos all the better, that thing that connects us all. And despite the grandeur of our gradual enlightenment, the cosmos we know is but one, with a singular story, amongst many others — each with their own tales to tell. So unification is also a vital part of the story here…

Yes, I believe it means something very close to that…

“All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything. What we think we become.”

- The Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama

Happiness is a process that you continue to change,
in fact, you never use the same process twice.
All processes are defined by brain context,
which is defined by environmental and metacognitive context.

But is this all predefined by something beyond physical determinism?

That would be, in a word, mind.

Mind determines happiness in relation to brain context,
which is in relation to physical and metacognitive contexts.

In fact, it is your mind that sets the variables.
So much happens unconsciously,
it is difficult to track it all.
It must be felt and responded to as if in a movie.
One must imagine being in a movie that must continue to be entertaining for all those that are watching and acting in it.

It must be good for all players,
so it is your job to act your part,
whatever that may be,
and hope that you are allowed to move onto the next scene,
in which you are the star of the show.