Consider these three as perceptive senses:
Emotions
Feelings
Thoughts
They operate together in the mind, and form much of our day-to-day experience of ourselves and the world. They operate when we are awake, and to some degree, when we are asleep and dreaming.
The mind, which is the field where thoughts, emotions, feelings, and memory are processed, rests on identity. Identity has different layers, some are fixed, some are malleable. For example, our physical characteristics are more or less fixed. We cannot change the color of our eyes, or our height. There are superficial identities, but indeed they are important because they help us to distinguish one person from another. If we all looked exactly the same, there would be no need for identity, and no need for creation.
Other identities are malleable and are based on our likes and dislikes. Our food, music, political, cultural, fashion, and philosophies all shape who we think and feel that we are.
Absolute and Relative Identity
Collectively, these interactive operations shape our perceptive experience. Identity infiltrates the mind to give it a semblance of a cohesive structure, and the mind uses thoughts, feelings, and their physical counterpart of emotions to strengthen the constructed identity.
These identities are what are called relative identities, because they change. Even fixed ones, like our height, will change over time. Absolute identity is, according to the Yogic traditions, identity with consciousness, with the aspect of our self which is the witness, is pure seeing, and which always observes.
When we begin to examine the foundation of relative identity, we can see that it has no cohesive structure but is a changing collection of perceptions and ideas. If we can sense the freedom inherent in that, a sense of an unbound “I”, that there is no definite “I” other than the power of seeing, of observation, then we are moving inwardly towards the path of wisdom. If we become afraid because of the illusion of a cohesive self, then we are gripped by abhinivesha, the fear of extinction.
The mind is our greatest friend or enemy
In chapter six, verses 5 and 6 of the Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna says to Arjuna that the mind can be a friend or a foe and to make friends with the mind is to make sure that it does not become a foe. Through the strength of the mind, we can elevate our minds, so we should not allow our minds to become dispirited, or pull us down in any of the ways that we often do—through comparison, being envious, feeling less than others, etc.
How do we elevate the mind?
Because the mind is a perceptive field, we can strengthen the five parts of perceptive experience, and this will impact our self-perception. These are:
- Body
- Nervous system
- Sense organs
- Interoceptive sense
- Memory
We strengthen these through
- Movement
- Breathing
- Relaxation
- Meditation
- Service
Practices that focus on these five aspects will change how we perceive ourselves and the world, as perception is the active principle of yoga that determines how we act, feel, and change.
Yoga suggests that we change our perception, and then our perception of the world will shift with it. If we want to shift an identity that is held in the world, such as an injustice of some sort, or improve education or health services, or restore the environment, the changes will be longer lasting if we embody that perception shift first. Otherwise, it’s just lip-service.
The world, according to Yoga, is not a fixed entity, it is not a discrete object. The world is an appearance of phenomena that come and go. Individuals are appearances of phenomena, too, and we are shaped by and are expressions of karma, genetics, time, culture, and location. These factors have not changed for thousands and thousands of years.
What has not changed is our ability to be present or not be present. By using the five parts of perceptive sense consciously in spiritual practice—the body, nervous system, sense organs, interoceptive sense, and memory—we strengthen the habitual state of the mind to be present, and not be distracted.
In such a habitual state, it is easier to form a relationship with absolute consciousness rather than be at the whims of relative identities. The mind becomes a friend, and it becomes easier and easier to lift ourselves up, when the inevitable circumstances arises that knock us down.