Today, while listening to a video by J. Krishnamurti, I realised that the body has its own movement. Since I had breakfast some time ago, I have been feeling sleepy. Although I was keen to listen to the video, it was very difficult for me to concentrate. The body had its own movement. Similarly, the mind has its own movement too. Not necessarily; it will listen to the command of the intellect. It may be busy with its own movements, the memories of the past, or anxieties of the future. Most of the time, the intellect seems to have no control over the movements of the mind or the body. The body and the mind behave like a stubborn child, unwilling to listen to their commands.
Probably, intellect is the favourite child of the divine. It connects to the divine at the earliest when we listen to a Bhajan, read a spiritual book, or talk to a spiritual person; the intellect readily connects to that and develops an inclination to pursue the path of spirituality. However, the decisions are not under the intellect's control. Mostly, the intellect serves as a poor slave to the emotional mind, and the emotional mind dances to the body's tune. Finally, it is the body and its old habit patterns which rule either directly or through the emotional mind. It appears that the body acts as a storehouse for the emotional mind.
Does it mean that the intellectual pursuit of divinity has no value in reality? I feel that the beginning point is always intellectual curiosity. Once intellect feels curious to know the reality, it makes an effort to come into contact with those who have travelled the path, either physically or by reading their books. This opens up the closed intellect to new possibilities. These new possibilities appear quite contradictory at first because there are so many missing pieces, and however the intellect tries to arrange the experiences and understanding, it does not make sense. However, as one pursues the path with determination, there comes a time when experiences and understanding start to make at least some sense, and that is the beginning of a new life. There is no looking back for the intellect after this point in time
However, the journey is far longer than it appears. This understanding takes a lot of time to travel to the emotional mind and body. That takes time because there are so many conscious and unconscious layers of the emotional mind. Even the conscious layers of the emotional mind are so intricately arranged that it is almost impossible for the intellect to understand the emotions. The root cause of this complexity lies in the way we live from childhood onward. While perceiving and responding to situations, we rarely remain fully aware and instead react based on complex emotions arising from conscious and unconscious layers. This makes the entire thing very complex, and when the intellect tries to make sense of our emotions, it feels quite puzzled and helpless.
Recent research in neurology has shown that the unconscious mind has deep connections with our bodies, as if our bodies continue to interact with the emotional mind through bodily sensations. Specialists in trauma psychology say that the memories are stored in the body, and the body reminds the emotional mind about these traumas in the form of body sensations. These bodily sensations trigger the emotional mind, which is why it is very difficult to get rid of emotional memories.
It’s almost like getting rid of the genetic makeup. As we have seen, it’s almost impossible to eliminate the genes. Human beings can’t give birth to a monkey, and a monkey can’t give birth to a human being. Similarly, emotional memories are stored in the body. Sensations cannot be handled so easily by the intellect.
The only way out appears to be living in each moment with awareness. When we live every moment with awareness, rather than reacting to the situations, we observe. When we observe, the complexities of the conscious and the unconscious, emotional mind unravel before us. It gives intellect a chance to understand and work on these complexities. In fact, the very act of observation works like magic; we see our fears, insecurities, hurts, jealousy, ambitions, greed, and every other emotion with equal clarity. We see their futility, and that helps us to drop the unnecessary garbage we have been carrying for so long.
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