Mind creates reality. Our world, our attitudes, our feelings, our responses to this world are all reflections of what is in the mind. The mind is like a garden, we can have a tidy garden, we can have weeds and creepers, we can have undergrowth and overgrowth of plants, bushes and trees. We need to WATCH the garden and keep it tidy. We need to WATCH our minds and keep the mind neat and tidy.
Thought and Character
Character
Man is the Maker of Himself. Through regulation of his thoughts, or the loosing of his thoughts. Thought, word and deed give rise to character. A man behaves in accord with what he thinks, which is displayed in word and deed. This we call character. Integrity is the alignment of thoughts, words and deeds.
Our lives are lived in relation with or reaction to other human beings. When a person comes into your purview, a mental calculation is made; perhaps consciously, and certainly unconsciously. We assess the character of that other by many cues; clothing, appearance, facial expression, hair, and their vibes or energy fields.
These assessments form our mental evaluation of the character of that other; that can be of good character, charming character, despicable character, or even bestial character. We make these evaluations, and arrive at estimations of reliability, honesty, dependency and constancy of others by assessment of what they think, say and do. We assess both integrity and character thus interacting with another, accordingly.
But now, you may ask, what is character formed by? William Allen, in his little book, As a Man Thinketh, tells us that Man is literally What He Thinks. He has an aphorism, “They themselves are the makers of themselves“. Thought creates all of the conditions a man experiences, for thought is like a seed that is planted and sprouts, and the fruit is borne. Thoughts sprout into actions, both ‘spontaneous’ and ‘unpremeditated’. Allen put those two words in quotation marks, indicating that he was emphatic about the fruits of thoughts. We can liken thought to a razor sharp blade; the blade in the hand of a surgeon, and the blade in the hand of a robber. In the hands of one man, the blade saves life; in the hands of the other man, the blade can heinously kill.
Man is not an Artifice
Man is not a static creation formed by a pattern, mould or ethereal stamping machine. Machines perform a function and entropy when not used. Man is an ensoulment of flesh; man grows, right from conception in the womb of his or her mother. Once out of the womb, physical growth takes place. Fruit of schooling, self discipline and self awareness, man cultivates his mind and his destiny by way of his thoughts. Man cannot escape the law of cause and effect.
Nobility is the fruit of constant effort and endeavour to pursue good thoughts, godlike thoughts, and keep only good thoughts within. Cultivation of all that is good and noble bears the fruit of ennobling the human person. Life is a joy.
Animality and bestiality is the fruit of harbouring selfish and grovelling thoughts. Cultivation of such thought produces thwarted desire and pain, and destroys man.
Returning to the purview of the man who enters our daily ambit, we assign good and noble character to those with steadiness, soft and sweet speech, a strong mind and the presence of abiding values, evidenced by thought, word and deed. On the other hand, we assign bad character to those with untidy minds, gutter minds, those stonehearted ones, ever selfish and exhibiting only pleasure at satisfaction of desires. The selfish personality is the personality with wanting character, and often, bestial character.
The Way to Satisfaction
The human person is sometimes called the Master of the Household. The household is the house of the mind and body. How does man manage his household? We might say that a happy house has a wise master, a conscious and self aware master. Such a one would be master of the mind, and so we could call them a mastermind…
A sad household is a household of unsatisfied wishes. Perhaps desire, pain and suffering make the household sad, and keep the master of the household tethered like a donkey tethered to a well, forever walking around in circles, doing the same thing again and again.
To become master of the household, we should apply a magnifying glass to thoughts, and discover the Laws of Thought, via application, self analysis and experiencing the results of our thoughts. Thoughts are the key to every situation in our household. Literally, the rooms in our house are compartments of our life. Some rooms are dark, some rooms have the drapes open, some rooms are dusty and never aired, and some rooms are bright with sunshine yellow! Thought has created all these rooms, which represent different aspects of our human life.
So the Master of the Household needs to observe thoughts, control thoughts, and alter, change, modify, when thoughts do not serve our inherent dignity and nobility, and do not evidence peace, harmony and love. We need to dig deep into the soul to find the treasure untold, gold and diamonds, within. The fruit of such constant watchfulness within the soul is becoming the master of character, the moulder of our own lives and the craftsman of our destiny. For as a man seeketh, so shall he find; knock, and the door will be opened; ask, and it shall be given.
Digging Deep
Sanathana Dharma explains, “everything is reaction, reflection, resound“. This is due thought, which creates our world. We should trace the impact of our thoughts on ourselves, our household, our world. This requires observation within, and analysis. Observing thoughts in a detached manner is a new exercise for many of us. Thoughts need to be watched, controlled, and when they are not useful, we need to change our thoughts.
As character is comprised of thought, word and deed, action can be directed to these components. The WATCH is a useful metaphor here:
- W – Watch your Words.
- A – Watch your Actions.
- T – Watch your Thoughts.
- C – Watch your Character.
- H – Watch your Heart.”
Each time we look at our physical watches we can be reminded of this “Watch” acronym. “The watch we have may break some time or other but this “WATCH” is unbreakable.” It can become the simple basis of our lives upon which we can judge the rightness of our thoughts, words and deeds. “We can WATCH whether we are speaking good or bad; whether we abuse others or appreciate them. We cannot escape the consequences of our actions and they build up our Character. Everything has reaction, reflection, resound and comes back to us in some form or another.”
This WATCH, which is unbreakable, gives the user the means to monitor and trace thoughts; to change, alter, stop and mend the habitual thought patterns of the mind. One can manage the household, unmake and remake the rooms within. The donkey can be untethered from the well, the rooms in darkness can be unshuttered and the sunshine allowed in. It is said that 75% of time should be used in self observation, and in answering the question “Who am I”? This unbreakable WATCH gives the user the means to self observation and the wherewithal to make changes, simply.
