Elections and the Mindstuff

I have talked to a number of people who said they got kind of obsessed with the elections and watching the news and keeping track of what was going on.  They all seemed to be relieved the elections were over.  This is the sort of situation where our sense of who we are gets blurry. Of course, the elections are important and they impact our lives in a real way . . . sort of. I say sort of because it’s not like the day of the election or even the inauguration, anything in my actual life changes. My day will be very much like the day before—any changes are pretty small and it would be hard to pin them on the president, congress, governor or any of the other folks that I don’t even personally know. Now, I want to be clear that I am NOT saying that we should all be apathetic because none of it matters. What I am saying is that it is easy to lose perspective on who we are and what’s urgent and where to focus our energy (elections and election coverage are just one example of this).

When my attention keeps going to a certain person, topic, situation, when my mind fluctuations are all churned up, I get confused. The last sutra said that when the mind is calm, the seer resides in his/her own true nature. This next sutra (1.4 vrtti sarupyam itaratra) says, “Otherwise, s/he assumes the form of the mind fluctuations.” I think part of how this works is that if I am able to direct my mind where I want it to go (i.e., choose where to focus my attention), then I realize that I am not my mind or thoughts—I am operating them. If I don’t have any ability to control my thoughts or attention, then they are running the show and I don’t have any sense of separation from them. In fact, most of us don’t like the idea of not being the one in charge, so I probably want to believe I am my mind, so that I can think I am in charge instead of being pulled around like a dog on a leash. 

If I can choose to watch the election coverage or not watch the election coverage, then I have at least an inkling that I am separate from the election coverage. If I am sucked into it over and over and all of my thoughts are about the election, then it becomes a bigger and bigger part of my reality and I have a harder time experiencing my self as something beyond that. I feel like I can hear people bristling up on this saying something like, “But the elections are really important.” Yes, the elections are important. I usually like to choose more mundane examples, but this is what I’ve been thinking about. You can try it with something else, if that seems easier. See what is happening for you with your sense of who you are in relationship to your thoughts and how much you are able to direct them.  Let me know.