Thoughts And Thinking In Mystic Minds
Ali Ansari
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Long, long ago the brains of our hunter-gatherer ancestors having invented vocalised speech, which enabled them to exchange, pool and pass on life-saving and life-preserving information and knowledge discovered subvocal speech, the stuff of thought.The purpose of language, its raison d'être, was to speak and exchange practical information with those on whom one depends. Why did the brain take to subvocally talking to itself ? What purpose does one's constant internal dialogue with oneself serve?
Fanita English, a psychological theorist and psychotherapist, has proposed a schema of intrapsychic drives in the human mind consisting of, what she calls, Survia, Passia and Quiesca. She conceives of them as three goddesses that may either operate harmoniously and support well-being (if properly balanced) or cause trouble (if one of them inter feres and conflicts with the other two).Verbal thinking, an offshoot of vocal speech, is driven by both Survia survival needs, and Passia expressive and creative needs in the mind. If verbal thinking becomes excessive or obsessive it may conflict with Quiesca, or quietude, a basic biological need, and disturb not only the mind's peace but distort the mind's vision of reality .
Fanita English's theory has helped me to place in perspective the emphasis in eastern philosophical and spiritual teachings on quietude, or cultivating quietude in one's mind. Sleep, as a biological need for quiescence, is built into the brain and body's operation to preserve health and balance. But beyond this, the many powerful meditation techniques offered in yogic disciplines or Buddhism help us, if properly understood, to detach from thought and self-concern, and prepare the mind to tap a source of energy and peace that is built into the very fabric of nature.
It is not surprising that mystics throughout the ages have considered inner silence to be the bedrock of spiritual understanding. When, many years ago, i read Jiddu Krishnamurti's pithy statement, `the thinker is the thought', i stopped in my tracks and reflected, only to realise that my reflection was in thought, and thought, Krishnamurti said, was like a cat chasing its tail. Thinking is good for practical purposes. It does not solve existential problems. On the other hand, it causes confusion and delusion in the mind, obscuring the direct apprehension of what is.The personal self arises in thought and creates the illusion of thinker. The inner world of the personal self traps consciousness, making it whirl around like a vortex inside the great free flowing stream of existence. To be free, to liberate awareness from the petty world of self, is to merge with the stream. It is not easy . Because language and thought were so important in our evolutionary history it may take many years to learn and master the right use of thought and to achieve the end of suffering that thought causes. But sometimes this may occur in a sudden flash of clarity .
Returning to Fanita English's schema, it is easy to be so taken over by Survia and Passia that the only experience of quietude in one's life comes from a few hours of exhausted sleep. But this is a `non-experience', since in sleep consciousness is absent. In the mystic mind, quietude is the permanent stage upon which consciousness quietly witnesses and enjoys the dance of the two goddesses, Survia and Passia. Perhaps, for this reason Fanita sometimes refers to Quiesca as Transcia transcendence.
Fanita English, a psychological theorist and psychotherapist, has proposed a schema of intrapsychic drives in the human mind consisting of, what she calls, Survia, Passia and Quiesca. She conceives of them as three goddesses that may either operate harmoniously and support well-being (if properly balanced) or cause trouble (if one of them inter feres and conflicts with the other two).Verbal thinking, an offshoot of vocal speech, is driven by both Survia survival needs, and Passia expressive and creative needs in the mind. If verbal thinking becomes excessive or obsessive it may conflict with Quiesca, or quietude, a basic biological need, and disturb not only the mind's peace but distort the mind's vision of reality .
Fanita English's theory has helped me to place in perspective the emphasis in eastern philosophical and spiritual teachings on quietude, or cultivating quietude in one's mind. Sleep, as a biological need for quiescence, is built into the brain and body's operation to preserve health and balance. But beyond this, the many powerful meditation techniques offered in yogic disciplines or Buddhism help us, if properly understood, to detach from thought and self-concern, and prepare the mind to tap a source of energy and peace that is built into the very fabric of nature.
It is not surprising that mystics throughout the ages have considered inner silence to be the bedrock of spiritual understanding. When, many years ago, i read Jiddu Krishnamurti's pithy statement, `the thinker is the thought', i stopped in my tracks and reflected, only to realise that my reflection was in thought, and thought, Krishnamurti said, was like a cat chasing its tail. Thinking is good for practical purposes. It does not solve existential problems. On the other hand, it causes confusion and delusion in the mind, obscuring the direct apprehension of what is.The personal self arises in thought and creates the illusion of thinker. The inner world of the personal self traps consciousness, making it whirl around like a vortex inside the great free flowing stream of existence. To be free, to liberate awareness from the petty world of self, is to merge with the stream. It is not easy . Because language and thought were so important in our evolutionary history it may take many years to learn and master the right use of thought and to achieve the end of suffering that thought causes. But sometimes this may occur in a sudden flash of clarity .
Returning to Fanita English's schema, it is easy to be so taken over by Survia and Passia that the only experience of quietude in one's life comes from a few hours of exhausted sleep. But this is a `non-experience', since in sleep consciousness is absent. In the mystic mind, quietude is the permanent stage upon which consciousness quietly witnesses and enjoys the dance of the two goddesses, Survia and Passia. Perhaps, for this reason Fanita sometimes refers to Quiesca as Transcia transcendence.
