What makes the mind a battlefield?

Kinfonet Discussion
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QOTD full excerpt:
“Why are we influenced? In politics, as you know, the politician’s job is to influence us; and every book, every teacher, every guru - the more powerful, the more eloquent the better we like it - imposes on us his thought, his way of life, his way of doing things. So life is a battle of ideas, a battle of influences, and your mind is the battleground. The politician wants your mind; the guru wants your mind; the saint says, do this and not that, and he, too, wants your mind; and every tradition, every habit or custom, influences, shapes, directs, controls your mind. I think that’s pretty clear. It would be absurd to deny it. It is a fact.”

the QOTD seems so adamant and wondering what is it now?
Is it the idea itself or the way we deal with it?

It doesn’t seem to be the idea itself! Facts are much debated, look at politics, the legal battle, the ecological battle but changed that the fact itself that has already been passed or still ging on. Even this statement can lead to a battle whether it is correct or who has expressed the most eloquent or correct interpretation.

How beautifully the full text continues with:

"You know, Sirs, if I may deviate a little, I think it is essential to appreciate beauty. The beauty of the sky, the beauty of the sun upon the hill, the beauty of a smile, a face, a gesture, the beauty of the moonlight on the water, of the fading clouds, the song of the bird, it is essential to look at it, to feel it, to be with it, and I think this is the very first requirement for a man who would seek truth. Most of us are so unconcerned with this extraordinary universe about us; we never even see the waving of the leaf in the wind; we never watch a blade of grass, touch it with our hand and know the quality of its being. This is not just being poetic, so please do not go off into a speculative emotional state. I say it is essential to have that deep feeling for life and not be caught in intellectual ramifications, discussions, passing examinations, quoting and brushing something new aside by saying it has already been said.

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Cheetahs can run really fast, Elephants have really long noses, Humans can believe anything.

Belief is our super power (along with communication and imagination) I make my beliefs real, and I make them part of myself.

Unfortunately, many of my realities are contradictory & confusing.

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I agree, we are so much influenced and confused by people and things around us, that we lost the true connection with the nature. One must spend time alone with the nature and feel with heart and mind.

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To be clear the quoted text is K’s and not mine.

The question is also if whether we could with the same feeling and heart looking into this statement?

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Isn’t the message here, that the brain/mind needn’t be influenced by anything? The in-fluence enters the mind and takes root there. The ‘influence’ then resists its opposite and becomes a source of conflict? It becomes the authority. Is ‘putting one’s house in order‘, being aware of the ‘influences’ that one has accumulated?

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Yes, partly - and also why my influences are the only correct ones.

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‘Good’ influence, ‘bad’ influence… from the point of view of freedom for the brain / mind any influence that has assumed a place of authority in the mind limits and narrows it?

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As it appears to me, you have passed by the beauty of the text.

It is as if you are explaining the brilliance of young a leaf in dawn with the refraction of sunlight and its movement by the wind.

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I think the reason that K is open to the ‘quality of the being of a blade of grass’ is that he was not ‘influenced’ by the explanations of the scientists. His questioning “why are we influenced” struck me.

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Cont.

And I saw for the first time how in its ignorance the mind allows itself to be influenced by this or that; Hitler, Trump, Buddha , Bohm, Krishnamurti etc…it all keeps one from a direct connection with Nature?

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And here we are, caught in discussions…

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It may be that is your state of mind, perhaps my wonderment at the quoted text, nature and also the teaching has not yet been expressed clearly enough.

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You made your “wonderment” quite clear. What I’m suggesting is that one who communes with nature would have no use for a discussion forum like this.

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If you are talking to the trees and in complete wonder at the humanity on this forum - is your house in order?

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So “why are we influenced?” Why do we seek it? We are taught as children what / who is a good influence and what / who is bad…I learned about this thing called ‘enlightenment some where along the way and I wanted it. As if I could add it to my modest achievements! I welcomed the influences that might bring me nearer to it. ‘Paths’ to it. To ‘become’ it. A chosen direction…to attain this exalted state! To have security, to ‘escape’, end the fear, the suffering etc…

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And it is also abundantly clear that a huge dialectical skill is being performed with this response.
Indeed no use for such a discussion not here not anywhere.

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First of all, What is mind? Our mind is influenced from the point of birth. If a child do not scream, you are not going to do something.

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We need less “dialectical skill” for dialogue in this forum?

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What is the motivation for applying a dialectical response, and where does it usually lead? (what are the consequences)

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I thought all my responses are “dialectical”.

What are the consequences of dialectical response?