Following up on the ideas introduced in the recent article “The Difference Between the Higher Mind and the Lower Mind,” today we see how to use our Higher mind’s strengths to still the habits of our lower self and take command of our lives.

A brief recap: We have a lower mind and a Higher mind. They both have a strong pole and a weak pole. The weak pole of the lower mind is reason, and the strong pole of the lower mind is desire. The weak pole of the Higher mind is intellect and the strong pole of the Higher mind is Will, as in the sense of spiritual will, not ego-will.

Our lower mind wants what we believe we want, whether it’s good for us or not. The lower mind rationalizes all kinds of things which may not be true, good, or useful. Intellect alone is insufficient to overcome a desire, but through applying our spiritual Will we can make conscious choices and steer our own boat instead of our lives being driven by unconscious or unhelpful habits. Once we master the ego-will, we are able to accomplish more than we ever imagined, without the lower self getting in the way of fulfilling our destiny.

What Good Does Your Action Serve?

All Beings want command over their lives and affairs. Those are the things which prod us to learn how to apply our will so we can make them manifest. Whether ego-will or Spiritual Will, we all learn to apply our will power to serve our ends. That leads us to ask what those ends will serve?

This is where we hit the rub of evolution itself, since energy being energy, it can be used for good or ill even when someone is working from their Higher mind (as they see it). Remember the Higher mind relies on intellect and what it believes is “spiritual Will.” However, if the lower mind has a grip on the personality, then even an abstract idea of some “intellectual good” can be corrupted by rationalized desires.

An evil magician and good magician use the same tools and energies, but the former uses it for ego gratification while the latter uses it to serve the greatest good possible in that particular experimental setting. Even a misguided magician can believe they are serving their greater good because they can rationalize why it’s good and needs to be done. As I gave you in the article about Willful Ignorance, Unconscious Behavior, Free Will, and Overcoming Abuse,

In a historical example, the Nazis believed they were agents of divine Will to better the human race. Even though this was a delusion manifested through horrific actions, they were operating off their sense of what their "higher mind" dictated. So even though they believed they had a high intention, their views of racial purity and the need to exterminate all they felt were inferior were obviously rationalized misguided ego separateness focusing the energy of ego-will in extremely cruel and abusive ways exemplified by unthinkable medical experiments and the Holocaust....

The Lords of Karma take note only of actions and results of those actions. The fact that someone is ignorant of the hurtful results of their actions is no excuse, since on subconscious levels they are entirely aware of the larger feeling field in which we all live, breathe, and have our Being. This is why all beings are totally responsible for what they do and do not do, regardless of their seeming inability to grow and move forward into less hurtful behavior….

In my book Saturn: Spiritual Master, Spiritual Friend there is an entire chapter devoted to Karma, Dharma, and how we can know the purpose of all karmic experiences and encounters from the angle of fulfilling some part of our higher purpose. We can understand how the assumptions of our family and cultural matrix leave blind spots where we may not know a rationalization is in play, and step outside situational assumptions and see things as they really are. If you haven’t gotten your copy yet, please go to the link above and get one. If you already have a copy, please take a new look at the chapter on Karma, since it will help you remember that your Higher Self is accelerating your evolution and understanding with every breath you take.

Countering Rationalizations

Training our minds to recognize rationalizations is a lifetime task. We have the rationalizations we know and those we don’t know. We have our own conscious and unconscious rationalizations, and throughout life encounter others’ conscious and unconscious rationalizations. That’s why we must train our mind to recognize rationalizations when they’re there, knowing that some are harmless and some are not.

Even when we have mastered our lower mind’s tendencies to rationalize what it wants and why it wants it through applying our Spiritual Will to keep our lives aimed at fulfilling our higher purpose, we still have to deal with others along the path of Life whose lower minds are much stronger than their Higher minds. This helps us sharpen our understanding of how the mind rationalizes and justifies any given act, feeling, or thought.

Because of the ability of the lower mind to rationalize just about anything, we have to train to be objective, viewing the assertion from multiple angles to see if there are assumptions or oversights in what’s stated or being done. These are perfect opportunities to become dispassionate in seeing things as they are within a holistic perspective rather than the narrow boundaries which are always there when ego rationalizations of the lower mind are in play. It’s good to be able to adapt when rationalizations are being made.

All of us learned certain rationalizations from our family and cultural matrix. Because none of us started out with perfect perception or knowledge, it took many years and experiences as our lower self learned that our ego-will had to give way to a greater “Will to Good.” This usually happened through experiences which put our ego through enough heat that we saw the need to change our thinking. And in dealing with others who also have rationalizations, we learned to see it both in others and in ourselves.

In learning how to surf the tides of Life, we must examine our desires and the desires of others to see why they exist and how they have been rationalized, if we are to understand which desires are selfish and separative and which desires serve the greatest good. And of course, every realization must be practiced and grounded in life so our understanding is based in direct experience rather than the mind with its imaginings.

Spiritual Will and intellect are great tools at our disposal when we have to deal with coercive people and situations, since they transcend the reasoning and rationalizations present in coercion. Once these are countered, then it is easy to get to the raw desire lurking underneath the rationalizations. Then, by applying our Spiritual Will on behalf of our highest good and the highest good attainable in the situation, we further the greater good, even when it means withdrawing from that situation.

Transcending Polarity and Dualism

All dualism arises in the mind. The Higher Mind and the lower mind are where the Higher Triad of Atma-Buddhi-Manas meets the lower triad of body, feelings, and rational mind. It is the frequency zone where Spirit meets matter.

The Higher Mind is an emanation from Spirit/Soul, while the lower mind is the least dense and freest part of the lower triad. They overlap in the frequencies of mind, where dense thought meets inspired imagination, and where logic and order compete with ideals and abstractions. In knowing the battleground of the mind, with its eternal compare and contrast, sequence and selection function within ever-changing perceptions, we can know when Higher or lower elements are at work.

As we learn to spot when the elements of the lower mind are at work, we learn how to apply our intellect and Spiritual Will appropriate to the situations we confront. That eventually makes us masters of any situation we find ourselves in, since then we can act or not act with infinite detachment, dispassion, discrimination, and generate the positive intention appropriate to our understanding.

Though this process initially requires consistent self-discipline of our lower minds by our Higher Self, we find over time that the rewards are endless. By striving to practice our Spiritual Will focused through the lens of intellect, we can move through life's dualities without becoming confused or disoriented by any internal or external dilemma, desire, or rationalization.

As we come out of the rationalized desires of the lower self into enlightened (Higher) Self-interest, we can shine the light of awareness in any situation we confront. Over time that creates patterns of referencing the Love, Wisdom, and Intelligence of our Higher Self, and eventually that puts us at a level of consciousness that is beyond the pushes and pulls of the denser planes of existence. The more we live that, the less suffering we'll experience, and the more shadows we'll dispel as we walk our Eternal Walk.

Reprinted on crystalwind.ca with written permission from Robert Wilkinson. Copying this article to other blogs is strictly prohibited. It is copyright protected. 

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