It is said that our world is created by our mind. For most of us, this sound far fetched. How can the trees and mountains be created by our mind? Likewise, I find it hard to comprehend this statement too.

That is because, we have not seen our mind.

But lets take this a notch down and try to understand it from our unenlightened level. When we are relaxed and happy, the world seems happy too. And if we are in an extremely good mood, minor hitch no longer trouble us. We may find that situation amusing too. Like when I ordered an ice cappuccino without whipped cream and somehow they got it wrong. I was not irritated and said, “why not taste the cream today”. The staff was glad and I got to enjoy my coffee without drama that day.

If our mind is besotted by worry of people harming us, then our world becomes portentous. We imagine all sort of bad situations and we are wary that everyone around us has an ulterior motive. When we live constantly in fear, isn’t that a life similar to a prey in the animal kingdom? Why would we want to condition our mind like that?

I knew a practitioner who was like that. She went around sharing her “concerns”. And if you don’t share in her anxiety, she would chasten you for being oblivious to the danger. “You better wake up!”

It seems like she is the only person wise enough to discern danger whereas everyone else is asleep. In our last encounter, she was screaming in exasperation because we didn’t agree with her worries.

Someone asked her why she was screaming and she retorted. “That is Dzogchen!” I still cannot fathom how screaming in exasperation in the temple is Dzogchen. Something seemed off. When I heard her quoting Dzogchen as a reason for unruly behavior, I became concerned. I prayed that wisdom will lighten her mind from fear one day.

There was another practitioner who was overly obsessed with the “unseen”. She claimed that her third eye had been opened and could see spirits. Yet she seemed to be clutching to mortality. On one hand she was fearful of the spirits and on the other hand she boasted about her mantra knowledge that keep her haunting at bay. She proudly informed me that she had not slept well for the past 3 years because ghosts would visit her at night. She needs to “fight” them and keep them out of her home….

“Do you wish to open your 3rd eye? I can help you”

“No thank you, I am afraid of ghost” I answered and she nodded with a smirk. I saw her with really terrible dark eye circles and she looked so tired and troubled. I don’t think that is fun.

Again it doesn’t make sense to me. It seems like she enjoyed her haunting experience while fearing it at the same time. One cannot be enlightened if one is troubled by fear and ego.

One irony about people craving for 3rd eye experience is that they crave to see ghost? Why don’t you want to see the Deva? I think that would be more enjoyable, right? Instead of aspiring to associate with ghost, why don’t they aspire to associate with beings from a higher realm? Like angels etc?

From the above scenarios, I think our mind truly influence our world. We can train our mind to be kind and see the world as kind. If we enjoy worrying, then our world will be full of worries. If we want to be haunted, then beware of haunting. Be sensible and practice wisely because we create our own world.

May all be well and happy.