Theos-Talk Archives (August 1996 Message tl00536)

Michael:

Here are some stray comments on the mind as the slayer of the Real, which
your comments provide me an opportunity to say a few words...

-- Eldon

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>> "The Mind is the Slayer of the Real.  Let the Disciple slay the Slayer." - HPB

>First of all one would question whether HPB sees this correctly. Unless it
>implies that the human mind, limited by its evolutionary brain-development,
>is not the instrument to assess reality.

Or perhaps we might consider if we understand the statement correctly? There
are many ways of considering this statement. Often a statement may have a
subtle meaning that is hard to make sense of, without considering Eastern
thought.

>I object to the word "slay" in the second sentence. To attempt to slay the
>mind is tentamount to failure. The mind should learn its place, become quiet
>when matters beyond its reach are involved. Then the disciple may hear the
>whisper of silence.

You seem to be approaching what I consider to be the meaning of the statement.
The mind "slays" reality when acting in the mode where it creates an external,
objective world. Reality is slain, because it is distorted and veiled through
this activity of mind.

When we speak of silencing the mind, it is the same as quieting the desires.
The mind can become out of control, and slay reality, and that activity of
the mind needs to be tamed. The same is true of desires, where we're told to
kill out all desire. It's not really killing out desire, but rather, in
both cases -- that of the mind and that of desires -- the unseating of them
as the controlling factor in our lives. That is, we shift the seat of awareness
or volition from desires and mind, kama and lower manas, to something deeper
within. We still think, we still feel, but both thought and feelings supplement
other manners of experiencing life, rather than being the dominant, driving
force in how we experience life.

How do we slay the mind? How do we kill out desire? It's not by stopping
thought, nor by stopping wanting to achieve things in the world. We slay by
*withdrawing our attention*, by starving them of volitional energy, by having
our seat of awareness, our first point of action, as arising from deeper within.

The mind is slain when it understands *for us*, but stops pretending to be us,
and stops as well fooling us with the notion that we are separate, independent
individuals, poisoning us with its selfishness and "what's in it for me"
motivations. The slaying comes from the death of it as an entity, the death
of it as the center of volition, the withdrawal from it of being the prime
mover in our constitution. Our thought life is as rich as ever, it's just that
we are no longer identified with those thoughts. We have realized that we
are not what we think, and the mind is "silenced" since it no longer takes
center stage.