Five Faulty Habits of the Mind
The mind is not our friend. It robs us of the peace of the present moment; it hinders our experience of the presence of love that surrounds us at all times; it constantly finds ways to “hook” us with negative emotions.
The mind has its own agenda: It wants to be right above all else. It thrives on the approval of others. It wants to change everything it can, to control every detail of life. It doesn’t perceive our own best interests.
The mind is structured around specific habits, faulty habits that deny us of our innate peace and happiness. Becoming aware of these faulty habits lessens the mind’s negative impact on us:
Faulty Habit #1: Judgment
The mind judges everything, classifying information it receives through the five senses. The basic classification is binary: good or bad. If we like it or if it conforms to our moral code, it’s “good”; if it doesn’t fit our definition of morality, it’s “bad” or “evil.” Watch out for labels like “good” or “bad.” The mind loves to take the moral high ground, using judgment as a tool to look down on others, giving itself a false feeling of importance. Only an omniscient being is in a position to judge someone else.
Faulty Habit #2: Projection
The mind projects its own shadow onto others. It takes its own faults, shortcomings, and moral defects and projects them onto other people so that it sees its problems “out there.” As long as we project our moral defects, we don’t have to work on them; the mind would rather keep things as they are. Our projections also justify our resentments and grievances toward others. Projection is a clever, yet destructive ploy of the mind.
Faulty Habit #3: Positions
Like judgments, positions are built on duality—this, not that. When we take a position, say a political position like being a Democrat, we instantly create an illusory opposite, like being a Republican. Now, we’re rooted in a set of beliefs that often turn into moral laws, developing opposition toward the “enemy.” Most of the mind’s positions are unconscious: these positions are so fundamental to our model of the world that we aren’t even able to question their validity. When we hold positions—consciously or unconsciously—we see things in black and white instead of realizing the relative degrees and levels of reality in between.
Faulty Habit #4: Attachments
The Western mind believes attachments are important. We are told that if we don’t get attached to the things we love, we won’t care about them. Yet, all Eastern teachings demonstrate that attachments are at the root of suffering—that peace is discovered when we let go of our attachments and aversions. The mind gets attached to things, projecting specialness and importance onto objects and people, claiming them as “mine.” Once the mind forms an attachment to something, it immediately fears losing it. Once attached, it projects its source of happiness onto the thing or person. Then, all is lost because once we project happiness outside of ourselves, we are destined to chase a quality that is only found within us.
Faulty Habit #5: Thoughting
Psychiatrist David R. Hawkins draws a distinction between thinking and thoughting. While thinking is deliberate and focused on a task, thoughting describes the predominant activity of the mind—aimless, unfocused, and repetitive. The mind does everything in its power to stay active, believing that if it doesn’t stay busy it will get bored; and boredom equals death. Notice how the mind engages in useless games, playing back events, ruminating on past mistakes, and anticipating future events. These mental games serve no useful function; they simply rob us of the peace available only in the present moment.
Watch out for these faulty habits of the mind. Catch the mind in the act. Doing so repeatedly will automatically lessen the persistence of the mind’s faulty habits, improving your life experience and facilitating spiritual growth.
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Shakespeare Quotes – Nothing Either Good or Bad, but Thinking Makes It So
We are working against countless years of evolutionary history my friend and looking forward, it seem we have a long way to go. When we look closer at the above tendencies, there is a reason why the caveman deep with in us can’t shake these habits. Some where back in time, this little man had a rough life. Can we blame him for being a little freaked out? Dodging predator in the high grass harkens back to Vietnam Vets having nightmares of jungle war fare. These cat dealt with this on a daily bases with sling shots.
In sum, our little friend from Vietnam Thich Nat Hanh has a pretty good remedy , just stop thinking so much. Be frugal with your thoughts.
Thanks for your comments, Konrad. Indeed, the two-million-year-old self has a lot of ancient programming stored within it. Undoing these programs generally takes lifetimes.
Gratefully, there seem to be numerous emerging “mind technologies” and practices to help us undo these ancient programs with greater ease and less time. Courses like A Course in Miracles and the 12-Step movement, for example, help us transcend the animal brain.