conditioned mind

This overlong Easter holiday prompts reflection on the conditioned mind, collective consciousness and the collective unconscious too .... so many layers of delusion and still no firm evidence of where mind is located ... if consensus reality is right, then shared memories and shared stories are maybe outside of brains, in other dimensions, pulled into individual consciousness according to cues, filtered through our uniquely structured receiving apparatus, in the brain and also maybe other parts of the body too ...

The Easter story was strong in my childhood, and whilst the Christian story was lightly held at home, this was more than compensated at school, with daily assemblies and regular religious teaching. Sometimes the whole school decamped to the local church for more intensive brainwashing, from full-time professionals, wearing special robes and often speaking in hypnotic droning voices ... they also turned up at weddings, funerals and christenings .... all in all the story was implanted quite strongly ... the alternative Easter story was less pervasive in early childhood, before advertising really took hold of television, promoting the consumerist message which is eclipsing the Jesus story ....

Meanwhile, on social media, other heroes are investigated, to remind us of human frailty ... Jesus himself quoted as lamenting on the cross: My God, why have you forsaken me? ...allegedly ... sources for this period vary somewhat .... anyway, the momentary doubt is understandable in the extreme circumstances ... after Jung's pasting a few days ago, Gandhi gets the treatment via stories of his less famous contemporary Ambedkar ... the point being that the message is the thing and not the messenger, though, paradoxically, a messenger embodying their message seems more authentic and makes the message more powerful ...

An old friend posts a story illustrating the pitfalls of wealth ... his own experience confirming the dangers ... the pilgrimages perfect opportunities to observe simplicity in action, along with compassion ... the third of the three treasures of the Tao, patience is a work in progress here .... the other two fairly well embedded ...

The work of cleaning up the conditioned mind continues ... mainly by examining the thoughts as they pop up and trying to identify where they came from ... Spring Cleaning for the brain ... or wherever it is they reside ...