Meditation is the exercise of
mind. First of all, we should, therefore, study the mind deeply in order to
make Meditation a wholesome and convenient exercise.
There are three humours in the
body of man i.e. Vatt (Air), Kaph (Phlegm) and Pitta
(Bile) which are said to determine a person’s mental and physical qualities.
Desire for gratification, Avarice and Anger are the manifestation of Vatt,
Kaph and Pitta respectively. The vitiation of these humours
causes a disease known as Delirium. There are mainly four instincts i.e. anger,
pride, deceitfulness and avarice. Each of them determines a person’s mental
qualities to the extent of its presence in him. They also affect his inborn
qualities such as right way of thinking and self-control. The effect left on
man’s intrinsic qualities is so minute that it cannot be discerned easily.
Fear, affliction, hatred, envy and desire for the gratification of sensual
pleasures are subordinate instincts. Subordinate instincts are comparatively
less powerful and they do not affect man’s intrinsic qualities directly so much
as they affect his physical and mental conditions. Our life is based on
multifarious activities. Where there is an activity, there is excitement or
stimulation which can be divided into two categories — mental and physical. The
suppression of physical outbursts as well as the non-suppression of mental
actions leads to diseases; hence we should exercise restraint on mental
activities. Once mind is controlled, the possibility of the excessive
derangement of the three humours in the body is ruled out. If mind is pure, no
diseases like anger can crop up.
A mind is the complex of
cognitive faculties that enables realization, thinking, reasoning, insight, and
opinion, it is a feature of human beings, but it may also apply to other life
forms. The main question regarding the nature of mind is its relation to the
physical brain and nervous system — a question which is often framed as the
Mind-body problem, another question concerns which types of creatures are
capable of having minds.
Whatever its relation to the
physical body, it is generally settled that mind is that which enables a
creature to have subjective knowledge and intentionality towards the
environment, to perceive and respond to stimuli with some kind of activity, and
to have a consciousness, including thinking and feeling.
Which attributes form the mind is
much debated. Some people argue that only the "higher" intellectual
functions form mind, mainly reason and memory. In this view the emotions —
love, hate, fear, joy — are more primitive or subjective in nature and should
be seen as different from the mind as such. Others argue that various rational
and emotional states cannot be so separated, that they are of the same nature
and origin, and should therefore be considered all part of the mind. In
practice, mind is frequently synonymous with thought: the private conversation
with ourselves that we carry on inside our heads. One of the key attributes of
the mind in this sense is that it is a confidential sphere to which no one but
the owner has access. No one else can know our mind. They can only understand
what we consciously or unconsciously communicate.
Broadly speaking, mental
faculties are the various functions of the mind, or things the mind can
"carry out". Thought is a mental effort that allows human beings to
make common sense of things in the world, and to stand for and understand them
in ways that are important, or which agree with their needs, attachments,
goals, commitments, plans, ends, desires, etc. Thinking involves the symbolic
or semiotic mediation of ideas or data, as when we form concepts, engage in
problem solving, reasoning and making decisions. Words that refer to similar
concepts and processes include consideration, discussion and imagination.
Memory is the aptitude to
preserve, retain, and subsequently recall, knowledge, information or
experience. Imagination is the goings-on of generating or evoking novel
situations, images, ideas etc. in the mind. It is a characteristically
subjective activity, rather than a through or submissive experience. The term
is theoretically used in psychology for the process of reviving in the mind
percept of objects formerly given in sense perception. Things that are imagined
are said to be seen in the "mind's eye". Among the many realistic
functions of imagination are the ability to plan possible futures (or
histories), to "see" things from another's perspective, and to modify
the manner something is perceived, including to make decisions to respond to
what is imagined.
Mental contents are those items
that are thought of as being "in" the mind, and capable of being
formed and manipulated by mental practices and faculties. Examples include
thoughts, concepts, memories, emotions, percept and intentions etc.
Understanding the relationship
between the brain and the mind — Dualism holds that the mind exists
independently of the brain, materialism
holds that mental phenomena are identical to neuronal phenomena, idealism holds
that only mental phenomena exist.
The timeline of human evolution
spans some 7 million years, from the separation of the Pan genus until the
emergence of behavioural modernity by 50,000 years ago. Of this timeline, the
first 3 million years concern Sahelanthropus, the following 2 million concern
Australopithecus, while the final 2 million span the history of actual human
species (the Palaeolithic). Many traits of human intelligence, such as empathy,
theory of mind, mourning, ritual, and the use of symbols and tools, are already
apparent in great apes although in lesser sophistication than in humans.
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