The Right Mind

A common phrase to say about someone

who is crazy is: "They're not in their right

mind."

What is this right mind? What is sanity...

same question. We know psychosis is 

when someone sees their glass of water

as a glass of blood. Their perception is so

skewed that they can't see what's in front

of them as what it is. But there are many 

people that seem outwardly to be "sane"

that are not in their right minds. Ted Bundy,

for example, who hacked and bludgeoned

people to death, can be seen in interviews 

a rather charming person. Most psychopaths

are not serial killers. One study done, a 

test given to people in a wide range of 

occupations, to determine who had 

psychopathic tendencies, revealed that many

that tested positive were CEOs, politicians,

church leaders...in other words people in

situations where they could exert power and

control over others. These people may seem

socially acceptable, but they are not in the 

"right mind"...the mind that sees and relates

to phenomena clearly and accurately.

People in their right minds are not so self 

absorbed and self centered. They are 

interested in and sympathetic to the world

around them. They are not so concerned with

how everything affects "me". They don't dismiss 

the sufferings of others. 

In Buddhism, the ultimate right mind is the mind

of enlightenment. What are the characteristics of

that mind? Buddhism has many teachings about

enlightenment. One way of describing it is in 

terms of two qualities it has. The two qualities 

are "emptiness" and "compassion".

Emptiness means not being addicted to 

discursive mind, the part of mind that thinks. 

Ego, "self", is the obsession with "me", "this", 

which is fed and  maintained by thoughts and 

emotions; thoughts that have a lot of energy 

driving them. Wrong mind is to be obsessed 

with getting what we want, pushing away 

what we don't want, and ignoring the rest of it.

Wrong mind is the endeavor to solidify life into 

a  perfect state of pleasure and security...a 

goal that can never be reached. It is a complete

strategy of failure, but one that most humans

follow. Emptiness is the absence of this struggle,

absence of addiction to wrong mind strategy, 

freedom from discursive thoughts and emotions.

Compassion is realizing that suffering is 

universal. It begins to arise with freedom from

wrongmindedness. It is apparent in empathy

and sympathy. As we begin to turn away from 

"me", we begin to feel more clearly the suffering

of others. The more open and aware we become,

the more we cannot help but begin to feel

compassion towards others. It is said that one 

cannot attain the ultimate right mind for oneself.

It can only happen for the sake of all the others.

This is how the bodhisattva path arose in 

Buddhism.

So, right mind is emptiness of self centered 

mind for the sake of others. This is the ultimate

philanthropy. It is apparent in all true art.

Even people who are not in right mind experience

glimpses of it throughout their lives. Many times

these glimpses have the effects of distraction or

annoyance. Some experiences of right mind stick

with people their whole lives as memories; that 

moment long ago in a canoe on the lake, watching

the sunset in the west at the same time the full

moon was rising in the east....the first time we 

made love...that one thing our parent said to us

that we'll never forget. These moments of right 

mind permeate our lives.

Right mind is our native state of mind. We can't 

create right mind, but it is always available. This

right mind is the only thing that always seems to

be missing...slightly beyond our grasp..the itch

we cannot scratch. It is the reason why we 

meditate, do therapy, take psychedelics. It is the 

basis of all spiritual paths and perverted religions.

It is the universal right mind, the only thing we

truly share as human beings. We cannot loose 

this right mind, because it is innate to our beings.

We can't create this right mind for the same 

reason. Right mind cannot be produced, but it can

be cultivated. It cannot be evoked, but it can be 

exposed. Like a diamond covered with rock, the

impurities that cover right mind can be removed,

leaving only right mind.

The only problem is that there is an obstacle to

experiencing right mind: the aforementioned

addiction to wrong mind; discursive thoughts,

the self centeredness that cherry picks reality.

The most effective way to give up our addiction

to wrong mind is to go cold turkey, which is the

practice of meditation. Many people who try to

meditate get quickly discouraged...they come

face to face with their addiction, discursive mind,

and they see its power and momentum and

feel they'll never get the clarity and peace they

assume is the object of meditation. What they 

are actually experiencing when they see their

minds simply for the first time in meditation is

the jones, the withdrawal symptom for their

addiction. It's much harder, takes longer to get

off wrong mind addiction than it does 

methadone. There are no quick fixes like ibogaine

to eliminate this addiction. It's manual labor 

and it takes time. There is no easy way.

But even after people have been meditating for

a short period of time...say a few months...they

begin to see that after that hour of meditation,

squirming that the time is not up, forcing 

themselves to sit until the end of the hour, even 

though the phone is ringing, when they get up,

they begin to notice a slight freshness, a slight

wholesomeness they begin to recognize. They

begin to get a sense that meditation really is a 

good thing to do, beyond the hype. It's not much,

but it is something. it is a blade of grass of right

mind, beginning to reveal.