Dear Friends,
Here is a transcription including a lot of my own thoughts of a small chapter of Amoda Maa Jeevan's Book, How to find God in Everything.
Ignoring the pure physics of our mind and body, I believe that depression is caused by our identifying with our thoughts. Whenever you excessively focus on an unwanted, negative thought for any length of time, you will be sowing the seeds for depression.
Amoda talks in this chapter of the Sky Mind. Thoughts are like clouds in the sky. They come and go. You could focus on a nasty looking cloud or widen your perception by taking in the whole of the visible sky, which includes brilliant blue and other colours. If you could just watch these clouds without judgment and fear whether they bring bad weather or just a shadow, you would be more at peace with yourself. For clouds, substitutes your thoughts. You are not your mind, you are much more than that.
Amoda thinks that the ten percent of our mind that we habitually use is the domain of the ego, whereas the other 90 percent is the kingdom of Heaven. The former is shackled by its identification with linear thought. The latter is s free and limitless as the open sky. Just as clouds drift by and yet the sky remains unchanged, so do our thoughts come and go and yet who we are remains. We tend to play it small, believing what we have been taught about three-dimensional reality. But beyond the material realm is a world so dazzingly beautiful it would blow our small minds. Beyond that which appears and disappears is the infinite intelligence (read God) that orchestrated the whole show.
Nothing is separate from this divine power. It just seems to be that way when looked at through the myopic lens of small mind. We are so much more than just a head on legs! Scientists cannot really prove that we use only 10 percent of our brains. Perhaps the 90 percent of mind that science cannot find is not confined to a space-time location. Perhaps is is just like the sky, everywhere and nowhere all at once. Sky Mind is the vertical dimension of infinite potential, the space within which miracles happen.
Perhaps, if we could recognise that thoughts are just bits of energy that come and go, we would not identify with them. The past does not exist, except in the Mind. The future does not exist either, except again in the Mind. Only the present moment is all we will ever have.
I shall post a prayer/poem by Helen Mallicat separately, because of space restrictions. My thoughts are with those who suffer from depression and anxiety.
