surface out of the mind and consciousness. Thoughts arising from
memory are considered as a type of wave, as is sleep, or daydreaming.
Even ignorance is viewed as a type of movement in consciousness. We
will look at these later, but the point here is that a great many forces
are constantly troubling the lake, muddying the waters, and agitating
the surface. We can see then that restoring our lakes to a state of
limpid, crystalline purity and tranquility is a huge undertaking. So we
should first look carefully at our consciousness, see what elements
combine to make it up, and analyze how they work together.The Inner Workings of Consciousness
Go into almost any bookshop, and you will see shelf upon shelf of
books on self-help, personal problems and growth, psychology, and
spiritual practices and paths. What very few of the books get to grips
with is the enduring problem at the core of the human dilemma, which
is our mind or consciousness-not only, that is to say, the nature of
consciousness but above all the way our minds function.
Imagine a manual for a motor car that discusses endlessly and elo
quently its bodywork, style, color, acceleration, comfort, and safety
features, but that never actually gets down to how an internal com
bustion engine works. From such a description no one could ever un
derstand, maintain, or mend their cars. Fortunately we can take our
cars to the garage where the engines are fully understood and can be
repaired. But to whom do we take our own individual minds to get
fixed? We can go to a psychologist for advice, but in the end we are
eternally obliged to fix our minds ourselves.
Yoga offers us very useful ways to fix the mental problems that
cause most of us so much suffering, but first we must understand yoga
philosophy's simple description of consciousness. I introduce the word
philosophy advisedly here and purposely place it in the same sentence
as the word simple. We have the idea that philosophy, which literally