through the release and realization of our own potential. Freedom is
the innermost desire of all our hearts. It is the only desire that leads us
toward unity and not separation. It makes possible our aspirations to
love and be loved, and on its farthest shore, touches that union with
infinity that is the ground and the goal of yoga. If infinity seems a long
way off, let us not forget that when, by an act of effortful intelligence,
we remove our feet from the warm bed to the cold floor, we have taken
our first step.
By now we have made a quick tour of mind, ego, and intelligence,
which together form consciousness. There is much more to be said, and
more, with this model as a guide, which you can discover for yourself.
Consciousness is greater than the sum of its parts, and I will talk about
this later. I have mentioned some of the defects inherent in mind and
small-self (I-consciousness), but not yet those of intelligence. Our first
job is to awaken and vitalize intelligence before we look at what can
go wrong. (Patanjali called it sattva-suddhir--purity or cleansing of the
intelligence.)
Now I want to describe how mind (and the senses that inform it),
ego, and intelligence collaborate (or not) in a trivial everyday situation.
We have the model in our mind's eye of consciousness as a circle di
vided into three intercommunicating segments. This is static, which the
world certainly is not, so we shall launch a challenge to consciousness
in the form of an external sense object. This will be a very large tub of
vanilla ice cream.
You have arrived home late and tired from work. On the way you
stopped off for a pizza and so are no longer particularly hungry. Once
in the kitchen, as if by magic, you find yourself opening the freezer
door. Inside sits a tub of vanilla ice cream.
The following sequence of events takes place:
- Your eyes (sense organs) light on the ice cream, read the label
(vanilla), and carry the information back to mind for decoding and