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The Stages of the Mind
Written by Jerry on November 21, 2009 – 2:17 am -The Stages of the Mind
For our purpose here, there are three unique stages in the mind that depict how it’s functioning at any given time. Some meditation experts and psychologists may define many more levels but, I want to keep it simple, short and useful for you.
One: The Normal Mind
In the “normal” state of mind, your mind is working in many directions – which means it’s bouncing from one idea and thought to the next. In fact, this is really an abnormal activity for the mind because it needs to focus on fewer ideas if it’s to be successful in dealing with daily life.
Stimuli from all around you are constantly coming at your mind. When something new stimulates your mind, it moves from its previous thought to the new one. Although you feel like you are completely in control of yourself during this, you probably aren’t.
You have very little control over the way that you behave and think during this "mind bouncing." Not only do your thoughts move from one thing to the next thing quickly, but your body begins to speed up too. Your emotions will follow soon.
An example of this type of brain activity can be as simple as seeing a child playing. If you see the child while you are driving, your mind goes from control of the vehicle to the child. She’s cute, playing and riding her bike. Then, your mind moves to thoughts from your own childhood. You feel good and smile at the happy memories.
Of course, it doesn’t always play out so innocently. You can go through these same thought and emotional processes with negative images too.
Consider if that child was a teenager, doing something that they shouldn’t be. Now, you might start wondering about your own children and what they are doing that you don’t know about. And, your emotions are now fearful and tense.
In a negative situation, you are likely to become distracted by the thoughts bouncing through your mind, which then directly impacts the way that you drive your vehicle. Perhaps you run a red light or, you narrowly miss a car accident.
As you can see, in your "normal state" of mind, your emotions as well as your physical being are brought into play. Each plays their own role in the outcome of this "mental event."
Often, stress builds up during this process and since it’s our “normal” state of mind, they pile on over time. You can find yourself unable to concentrate on anything for more than a few seconds and, over time, you can have trouble balancing your everyday life.
For the most part, your “normal” way of thinking may be creating a quiet havoc in your life.
Two: Concentration
Concentration is the first state that leads to meditation. But, don’t confuse concentration with meditation. It’s something very different.
During this second stage of mind, you can begin to get control of your thinking. When you learn to keep yourself in this mind frame, you’ll improve the quality of your life considerably.
In concentration, your goal seems simple but its actually quite difficult to master. You need to concentrate on only one thing or object.
To be successful, you need to keep your mind focused on that one thing and not be distracted by any thoughts or external events that happen to pop up. Focus on it, without allowing your mind to wander. It’s not as easy as it seems.
During concentration, the problem is the mind’s ability to trick you back into its “normal” state of being. By moving away from the actual concentration topic and focusing on another, it pulls you back.
For example, if you need to concentrate on a report for school, you could be sitting down thinking and working. You’ll allow your mind to focus and relax on the topic at hand.
Then, you think of what your teacher had to say about the report. That leads to thoughts of what your friend said next to you while the teacher was talking. Within a matter of minutes, you are thinking about something completely different than the topic of your report.
The result is that you are distracted so much that you are back at the “normal” stage of thinking, having accomplished little in way of concentrating on your report. This is just not going to work.
Now you must use your awareness to realize what’s just happened. When you can realize that you’ve been distracted and that your mind has fooled you, then you can come back and actually concentrate.
This is part of the cycle of concentration. It looks sort of like this:
Normal State==> Concentration==> Distraction==> Normal State==> Awareness==> Concentration==> Distraction….
When you can master the art of keeping your mind focused and concentrating, you’ll experience a new level of thinking. You’ll be able to relax more and you’ll be able to actually feel better about your life. That’s an amazing feeling!
Three: Meditative State
In a meditative state, the third stage, you enter a completely different realm. Now, you are able to fully concentrate on the object or thought without falling for any type of distraction. Here, distractions seem to just disappear.
This is the stage that you are striving for because it really can offer you a new outlook on life. In many ways, you’ll be able to focus so much that you can better understand yourself. You will begin to reshape your emotions and make better decisions.
During concentration, your mind is concentrating on the object of focus in a minimal way. Distraction breaks the stream of concentrative thoughts. This means you must become aware of the problem and to go back and change it.
In a meditative state, this is no longer the case. Now, you are keeping the ongoing stream of thought moving. There’s nothing breaking it and nothing that is able to pull your mind from it. This is the ultimate experience in meditation.
Consider this. If you think about just one topic, over and over again, anything and everything connected to that topic will come to you in one form or another. Let’s say that the word that you use is that of love.
If you think of love in a meditative state, you concentrate on that one word which leads to other terms connected to love. You love something, you love someone, different types of love, and so on. Eventually, you have connected in practically every way possible to love. You physically feel it, you emotionally feel it. You have thought about it over and over. And, eventually, you have connected everything you can to love.
When you have achieved this state of meditation, you’ve elevated yourself to a whole new level. You’ve gone far beyond the simple level of concentration. Now, you have entered the important stage of meditation which is called contemplation. This part of the final stages of meditation is the very best level of consciousness that your mind and body can enter. In a sense, you "become" what you meditate upon.
Although it takes some time to achieve this level of understanding, the end result is well worth it.
Never Stop Exploring Life!
Jerry L Saunders, RM
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