When do we train our minds?
When do we train our minds?
If a person is an artist, a sculptor, for example, when does he train in sculpting? When he carves, cuts out or polishes a material until it takes on the desired shape; when he chooses his tools and tests materials. That’s when he trains in sculpting.
Likewise, if a person is a musician, he trains in music when he plays, when he practices a new piece or an existing one, when he studies scales and metrics.
But what about the mind, when do we train it?
We train in sculpturing when we practice what makes it manifest better. We train in music when we practice what makes it manifest better. So, the mind as well: we train it when we practice what makes it manifest better.
We could talk about patience, which gives us clarity of thought even in the most adverse situations; we could talk of balance, which allows us to find the right measure between having and being; or of discipline, which allows us to overcome the obstacles in our daily lives and keep on the right path. We could talk about attention, which allows us to recognize and classify what happens within the parameters we have. And what about music or sculpture?
The sculptor also needs patience to accept the time it takes for him to improve; balance in his forms to create a harmonious sculpture; discipline to train and train until he reaches perfection; and attention to better assimilate the previous items.
Is there any area of human activity that wouldn’t benefit from these attributes as well?
So, when is it that we train our minds?
It can only be during the training in sculpture, music, mathematics, medicine, sports, cooking, studying… at every moment, in every occupation.
The mind is that which we have and always carry with us. Every occasion can be an opportunity for mental training. Even staying at home, on the internet, reading a text online, or even washing a cup, if we do it with the proper attention. In this sense, the difference between the philosopher and anyone else is precisely in the consciousness and willingness to train his mind at every moment. This way, we incorporate the elements of improvement that we can recognize much faster than if we had a passive attitude towards the world, and that, in turn, allows us to recognize new elements, and improve on the previous ones.
This depends on each of us. We can start right now, all of us, endless training towards a perfection that goes beyond the harmonious sounds of a musician or the harmonious forms of a sculptor. An inner perfection, a perfection of being.
Good training to all.
