Puppet Master

The five senses are the windows or bridges to experiencing the world of sights, sounds, scents, tastes, and tactile sensations around us.  Yet, what of the world of thoughts and feelings within us that cannot be grasped through the five senses?  What about the mind and the heart?  I find the mind is the home of thoughts or opinions.  While the heart is the home of what is known and felt as timeless facts.

Imagine a puppet master’s strings connecting all of your five senses to your heart.  The tendency of an untrained mind is to cover what is already known within the heart with illusions.  A trained mind remains in touch with the heart, not allowing for anything to cover it.  So, who is the one in control of your heart or senses?  Could the pains you feel within your heart or mind be avoided?

The senses themselves are only conduits or channels for the world to be experienced by the mind and felt by the heart.  You can’t be controlled by your TV.  But you are definitely conditioned by what you consume from it.  “You are what you eat,” as they say.  So the experiences we favor, we choose.  And what we choose conditions what we are.  So, who is the one doing all that choosing?  Well, in an untrained mind, who the HELL knows??!!  This is the reason why we must Practice.

Practicing, as I understand it, will bring about the hearts ability to do what makes us happy.  Achieving such an excellent and pure state of happiness is the very foundation of noble discernment.  That can cut the puppet masters strings all together!  This does not mean we cannot still experience the world.  On the contrary, this is true freedom!!  This is the only time we can truly experience the world without being controlled by it, or have a need to control it.