The wicked mind, how it works,
Weaving webs of thoughts, sown with wild pictures.
The net it casts catches you right,
With every movement you make it gets more tight.
Squirming and turning you try to break free
But the harder you try the more impossible it seems.
Beyond the web of thoughts and words,
Lies serene, a beautiful world.
But caught by the mind, your vision is coloured,
Everything looks misty, crooked and disastrous.
A cloud of fear engulfs your soul,
Your heart wrenching cries muffled to a moan.
You know the way out, drop the thoughts that’s all,
But alas you’re caught within your illusory prison walls.
4 comments:
nice 1.. i guess 99% of d people on this earth r prisoners of their own mind..
well written.. and despite of being a poem, i understood.. so thanks (for keeping it simple)
thats one really dark web spun here :)...wonder if sometimes ignorance is really bliss? better to Exist under the shroud of these illusions, simply unaware of 'that' beyond (rather, within!) OR Live with faith but endure necessary pain of scraping against those 'prison walls'!
Prisoner of your own mind offers us a glimpse into the human mind, which though a wonderful and powerful tool if used rightly, is far from perfect and can be detrimental if used wrongly. The poem plainly and truthfully points out that compulsive thinking — a dreadful affliction that affects almost everyone today — prevents us from finding inner peace and joy. Accompanied by "mental images" the non-stop voice we hear in our heads can be self-defeating creating a false self that causes untold misery and unhappiness. However, we see that we have the power to free ourselves from these everyday harmful habits of the mind simply by stopping our thought processes or by choosing not to meditate on whatever happens to fall into our minds, helping us find genuine happiness and live a richer, enjoyable, and a more awakened life. If only it were that easy (freeing ourselves from our mind).
Rukma, It so happens that I'm currently reading The Power Of Now in which the author Ekhart Tolle likewise expresses similar views of the human mind, which according to him uses us rather than we using it. He writes "...virtually everyone hears a voice, or several voices, in their head all the time: the involuntary thought processes that you don't realize you have the power to stop. ... The voice comments, speculates, judges, compares, complains, likes, dislikes, and so on. ... Sometimes this soundtrack is accompanied by visual images ... The compulsive thinker, which means almost everyone, lives in a state of apparent separateness, in an insanely complex world of continuous problems and conflict, a world that reflects the ever-increasing fragmentation of the mind. ... Identification with your mind creates an opaque screen of concepts, labels, images, words, judgments, and definitions that blocks all true relationship. ... This incessant mental noise prevents you from finding that realm of inner stillness ... It also creates a false mind-made self that casts a shadow of fear and suffering."
However, Tolle says we can free ourselves from enslavement to the mind, by focusing on the now and being present in the moment so as live a truly fulfilling and an enlightened life. He writes, "...you can free yourself from your mind ... by "watching the thinker" which is another way of saying: listen to the voice in your head, be there as the witnessing presence. ... Instead of "watching the thinker" you can also create a gap in the mind stream simply by directing the focus of your attention into the Now... become intensely conscious of the present moment. ... One day you may catch yourself smiling at the voice in your head, as you would smile at the antics of a child. This means that you no longer take the content of your mind all that seriously, as your sense of self does not depend on it."
As always, a pleasure reading your blog, Rukma.
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