Naughty mind doing its thing

[Porphyry Fedotov]

Hi everyone! Sometimes during self-inquiry, I get this thought that I'm artificially splitting my mind into someone who observes and everything else (although I couldn't exactly pinpoint who exactly is observing, I only notice that the act of observing is happening). This minor concern bears on the idea of modern psychology about schizophrenia, the mental disease of mind split into different personalities. I feel like I'm cultivating this stuff. 

Also, it's kinda funny because I don't know much about psychology and probably I got this idea from pop culture - and while I'm aware of it, this thought continues to pop up anyway. Should I just let this feeling be?

[Seraphim]

You are not supposed to be an observer in self-inquiry, who taught you that? I think your intuition is telling you this. There is no observer and no thinker/doer, that's the difference between self-inquiry and mindfulness meditation. In self-inquiry you are supposed to go from being in the mind to being in the heart with inner silence.

[Carl-Richard]

28 minutes ago, Porphyry Fedotov said:

This minor concern bears on the idea of modern psychology about schizophrenia, the mental disease of mind split into different personalities. I feel like I'm cultivating this stuff.

This a common laymen misunderstanding of schizophrenia. Schizophrenia has nothing to do with split personality. It's a psychotic disorder characterized by symptoms like hallucinations, delusions and other miscellaneous symptoms. What you're referring to is called "dissociative identity disorder" (DID).

Also don't worry about these thoughts you're having. Realize that the mind isn't a single object to begin with. It's a fragmented collection of impressions that come and go. There is nothing dangerous about observing this fact directly.

 

18 minutes ago, Seraphim said:

You are not supposed to be an observer in self-inquiry, who taught you that? I think your intuition is telling you this. There is no observer and no thinker/doer, that's the difference between self-inquiry and mindfulness meditation. In self-inquiry you are supposed to go from being in the mind to being in the heart with inner silence.

Self-inquiry is essentially about investigating what your experience is made out of. There are many pathways to that practice. If the thought of being an observer arises, then self-inquiry is about investigating that further. People often ask questions like "who am I?" or "where am I?" in order to provoke that investigation. That's only a question of method.

Edited December 3, 2020 by Carl-Richard