What are you doing at this very moment? As you read this word … this sentence. Are you conscious of it? How do you know you’re conscious of it? What is consciousness anyway?

For hundreds of years, physicists and philosophers have sought to find and understand at least one theory that will give a good description and explanation of our universe. And of our mind. They are still searching.

They prefer to simplify it. To find a theory that have simple principles, an elegant form, balanced, with aesthetics, which, hopefully, makes precise statements. Not possible.

Mathematicians would probably have a better chance at this. Lets just say, its not possible just yet. They are still searching …..

Consciousness could be regarded as the accumulated position of conscious experiences, which is, essentially – the mind. These experiences could be referred to, as one prominent theoretical physicist, Page calls it – sensations. Yep, sensations! Where what we call a “mind”, is nothing but a heap or collection of different perceptions, united together by certain relations.

So, the “self”, or what makes “you”, is nothing more than a bundle or collection of different perceptions. These perceptions, biased or otherwise, formulate from conscious experiences. However, the mind, may also have unique neuronal pathways, whereby the conscious experiences or sensations are arranged in strictly defined sequences, which makes you – YOU.

Your mind makes you, uniquely, you. No one else can be you. Just you.

Your unique mind makes you think certain thoughts, which are conscious responses to not only external but internal stimuli. They happen that way, all the time, unless you, become “mindless”.

What, I hear you say? Mindless? What do you mean? How do you mean?

Mindless.

Ponder on that one for a little while.

A long while, if you prefer. Become increasingly conscious of it, mindless, that is. Become conscious of where your thoughts are taking you. Do you have a few thoughts running through your head at the moment or do you have countless thoughts firing through your mind? Is it in any particular sequence? Is it based on your cumulative conscious experiences to this point in your life? How do you know that? Questions, questions and more questions.

Ponder on that thought for a little while longer: Mindless.

To become mindless, one must firstly, theoretically, understand, true consciousness or ‘presentness’ or what the mind is. Some people refer to “being in the moment”. This is quite difficult to apply in reality, because every individual’s reality is a collection of biased, sequentially, strictly defined, neuronal pathways, unique to the individual or “you”.

So, it follows that, the mind or consciousness could be interpreted in a way to be, a by-product of the functioning of the underlying physical structures of the brain (or hardware), and that mind is confined entirely within the brain’s processes.

Put simply, consciousness could be defined as :“awareness”. You could refer to an earlier blog of mine regarding this topic, on awareness called : “What can you see that lies behind your eyes when you look in the mirror”. Essentially, I tried to elaborate on the first “A” of my philosophy to personal development throughout life – my Tripple A Approach to personal development.

A more complex definition for animals with a brain include: “thoughts, sensations, perceptions, moods, emotions, dreams, and awareness of self”.

Just like life itself, consciousness seems to be one of those things that is easy to recognize but very difficult to define. It has been debated by philosophers in the West since the time of ancient Greek civilization over twenty five hundred years ago.

Eastern culture and philosophers have been wrestling with it for much, much longer and seem to have a better handle on it although still not nearly complete. So, back to being mindless. Knowing what we know now, even though it is of a meagre kind, I will try to simplify the mind in this formula:

Mind = conscious experiences = awareness = sensations = accumulated perceptions

We have some idea, now. Some. Just a snippet of what ‘mind’ is. Lets let the physicians, mathematicians and philosophers continue searching for a more definitive answer.

So, what is mindless and how do we achieve it? You may be thinking you know the answer right now. Well, Paul, its simple, you may be thinking … uhmmm … just ‘not think!’. Yes, that is a plausible position. Matter of fact, I believe, it is a very plausible position. So much so, I have written an earlier blog on it: “Unthink to Think”.

Have a read of it. I give some ideas as to how to unthink. It is obviously not exhaustive, but gives you a pathway to enhance your own thought processes or awareness.

Every day you’re alive, you’re experiencing the 86,400seconds of that day, only YOU can experience, that is uniquely – you. You consciously and unconsciously experience everything that becomes a part of you, of who you are. Everyone has there own joys, their own stresses, their own thoughts. Essentially, their own lives.

Adopting what I wrote in ‘Unthink to think”, may just get you closer to experiencing what it feels to be mindless. Being mindless, even just for a few seconds, even better for a few minutes could and should, theoretically and practically, help you manage your energies in times of great uncertainty and stress in your life.

Try it. Become mindless. Don’t just think. Do.

A great thinker once said that “Knowledge is Power”. With all due respect, I don’t fully agree. Knowledge is not Power. Knowledge is potential Power. APPLIED KNOWLEDGE IS POWER!

I think it was Bruce Lee, the philosopher, who once said that “Knowing is not enough. One must do. Willing is not enough. One must Apply”.

So, apply.

Experience what transpires. Experience the sensations. Experience Mindlessness. Experience, you.

Until next time.