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A Psychiatrist Views the Mind’s Limitations
Why is it that we do not experience divine love and infinite consciousness? Let us look at how our mind, which can be a great strength, can also be an obstacle to the realization of our divinity.
I have observed the mind’s limitations directly in my practice of psychiatry. I find that the following list of limitations must be dealt with on our spiritual path, as well as in the psychotherapeutic process.1
• Duality
• Desire
• Aachment
• Six inner emotional enemies
• Defensiveness (distortion/deception)
• Projection
• Ego
• Unsteadiness (wavering)
• Psychiatric disorders
What an obstacle the mind can be to turning awareness inward to love! The mind is a bundle of desires, searching for sense gratification in the outer world, distracting us from the inner. Araction to sense objects leads to aachment, and aachment leads to addiction. Excite or frustrate aachment/ addiction, and we struggle with lust, anger, pride, greed, envy, jealousy, hatred, conceit, and ego, which blind our discrimination and awareness. If we feel threatened or vulnerable, we frequently counter against mental anguish with primitive defense mechanisms, such as repression and denial, and hence block out large segments of awareness. When conflicts and hurt are hidden from awareness, they are oen unconsciously projected onto others so we can blame others for
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