Theos-Talk Archives (August 1996 Message tl00567)

>> "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 can only agree with the first part: "The Mind is the Slayer of the Real".
The second part appears to me a play of words, an aphorism. I wonder whether
one has to steep to considering Eastern thought.

>. That is, we shift the seat of awareness
>or volition from desires and mind, kama and lower manas, to something deeper
>within. . 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.
>

I agree entirely.

>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.
>
I agree again but cannot live with the word "slay". It is the wrong word for
a fine truth.

Michael