How to purify the mind?

[Magnanimous]

Hello

Leo mentions that suicidal thoughts are caused by an impure mind (If I remember correctly). How do I purify it?

Also, do Eckhart Tolle's teachings - specifically the Power of Now - remove suicidal thoughts and/or purify the mind?

[Batman]

The best thing to do regarding thought is do realize they are not real, and to not believe them. You can use them for practical matters and planning, but don't let them dictate your experience. A thought is never the truth (relative or absolute), and not even a good representation of it.

Regarding Tolle - it isn't possible to forecast which practice will be best to help you with purifying the mind. The best thing to do is to try many of them and see what works for you the best. Usually, I would recommend the most direct method - sit and observe the thoughts. Then you can inquire: are thoughts real? what is the source of thought? who is observing the thoughts? why is there an internal chatter?

Consider that suicidal thoughts are not real, are not yours, and do not reflect you. They are an outcome of the conditioning of the mind, as means to reach a better experience (whether by getting the attention of others or by ending life).

This post does not serve as psychological advice. Suicidal tendencies can also be treated with psychotherapy, which should be considered as well. 

Edited April 19, 2022 by Batman

[Magnanimous]

1 minute ago, Batman said:

The best thing to do regarding thought is do realize they are not real, and to not believe them. You can use them for practical matters and planning, but don't let them dictate your experience. A thought is never the truth (relative or absolute), and not even a good representation of it.

Regarding Tolle - it isn't possible to forecast which practice will be best to help you with purifying the mind. The best thing to do is to try many of them and see what works for you the best. Usually, I would recommend the most direct method - sit and observe the thoughts. Then you can inquire: are thoughts real? what is the source of thought? who is observing the thoughts? why is there an internal chatter?

Consider that suicidal thoughts are not real, are not yours, and do not reflect you. They are an outcome of the conditioning of the mind, as means to reach a better experience (whether by getting the attention of others or by ending life).

Thank you, Batman

[RickyFitts]

Thought and feeling are intertwined, they're two sides of the same coin. So maybe try inquiring into what's driving your thoughts on an emotional level, and just allow those emotions to fully emerge and be felt.

[Vincent S]

1 hour ago, RickyFitts said:

Thought and feeling are intertwined, they're two sides of the same coin. So maybe try inquiring into what's driving your thoughts on an emotional level, and just allow those emotions to fully emerge and be felt.

@Magnanimous Beautiful insight I got this morning: Think with your heart. And feel with your mind. 
As long as we are stuck with thoughts in the mind, we are lost forever, and our hearts will through our feelings, send us signals of discomfort and discontent. 
And of course thoughts of suicide and wanting to end whatever is, might appear.

Through sinking in to the heart, and working with you unconditional and neutral space/balanced aspects. You can purify the mind of its patterns and unconscious loops. 
Power of just letting go, and be willing to drop everything to rest in your neutral loving heart, will filter everything you have consciously or unconsciously carried throughout your life, in form of traumas, programmings, environmental factors, beliefs, habitual patterns adopted by parents and other people in your early years up to early adulthood.  
  
Balance is at utmost importance, because we can easily drop out of balance by being too much in the heart space. We fall out of structure and become lazy and unwilling to move. And then the mind activates thoughts of guilt, shame, not good enough and so on. 
  
IMO, its all about learning what these things are and how they happen within you. And learning how to interpret and deal with these signals. It’s all a Balancing Act.  
 

Edited April 19, 2022 by Vincent S

[Gianna]

To purify the mind is to integrate each aspect of it with Truth. So yeah, I could see the Power of Now working (because Now=Truth). I think it would be a good practice for suicidality. However, usually suicidality is about not seeing a way out/feeling helpless. So what specifically do you feel helpless about? What is defeating you? Once you find that then find thoughts/evidence/truths that contradict those ideas, thoughts, beliefs.
 

I agree with @RickyFitts, separating out your thoughts and emotions to identify them and work with them separately is a good idea (to stop the cyclical pattern because they trigger one another). 

Edited April 19, 2022 by Gianna

[RickyFitts]

11 hours ago, Gianna said:

However, usually suicidality is about not seeing a way out/feeling helpless. So what specifically do you feel helpless about? What is defeating you? Once you find that then find thoughts/evidence/truths that contradict those ideas, thoughts, beliefs.

Love this perspective.?

[Magnanimous]

On 4/20/2022 at 9:22 AM, Gianna said:

 However, usually suicidality is about not seeing a way out/feeling helpless. So what specifically do you feel helpless about? What is defeating you? Once you find that then find thoughts/evidence/truths that contradict those ideas, thoughts, beliefs.
 

I agree with @RickyFitts, separating out your thoughts and emotions to identify them and work with them separately is a good idea (to stop the cyclical pattern because they trigger one another). 

The thing that's defeating me is what happens after death. But Leo said that if you purify your mind, and/or resolve what's out of whack with it - because he said that if you have a desire/wanting/needing/craving for it something is out of whack with your mind - suicidal thoughts/desires/needs/cravings won't arise anymore.

So how do I purify my mind and/or resolve what's out of whack?

Also - answer this question independently - will Tolle's teachings purify my mind and/or resolve what's out of whack?

Edited April 21, 2022 by Magnanimous

[Hawaiihealing]

Hawaii healing sound school is one the best institution for providing the sound healing instruments that clearly help to relax the mind. These tools are really essential and Some people experience deep healing during sound therapy as the sound vibrations open, clear, and balance their chakras and release stuck energy. Benefits can include improved sleep, reduction of chronic pain and blood pressure, lowered cholesterol, and a decreased risk of heart disease.

[Lenny]

@Magnanimous I think that Eckhart Tolle's teachings are very powerful and helpful for noticing the mind's arisings for what they are: energetic, random, habitual, conceptual, story-like "happenings" that boil up from our subconscious mind structure. Without our conscious mind's "choice",  "control" or "say in the matter".

You are reality and pure "being". In other words, you are "what is", here and now and only here and now, without images, ideas, stories, imagination, thoughts. These exist within you. Though, they cannot define you. That would be like a painting defining the canvas. No matter what the painting, or how intricate or detail, it can never be the canvas. The canvas is "before" and "underneath" the painting and the painting cannot exist without the canvas. But, the canvas can exist without the painting. 

Also, there is an important thing to recognise here: Leo saying that suicidal thoughts are "impure" can also be taken on and understood as a deficiency of the "thinker" or person/mind having the thoughts. We need to realise that we are not deficient in reality, this is just a thought that has arisen from habit (which may have been set in place from the mind's interpretations of our life). I have come to learn that the mind is not sufficient enough as a tool to define reality (that which I am), so I let it do its thing and try not to get involved. I "let it run" with thoughts of it being "impure" (not give it attention/entertain the thoughts) and thus the subconscious and "inaccessible" structure of the mind is able to "purify" itself. Strangely enough, not doing the "work" to "purify" actually does the "work" to "purify". That is why talking about the Self and defining reality gets "in the way" of spiritual "work", because the real work is to notice the unreality of the mind's associations and meanings. To realise that the "motion" of mind/thoughts into a process to complete/achieve something is imagination. 

Now, to answer your question: how to purify the mind?

The first step is to understand the implications of association. We can also break down the question to help us navigate the landscape of this thought: 

"How to" (possible associations: process, steps, desire to know, "I want/I need"): we can observe how the mind is engaging in a "desiring" of something. And most likely desiring that which is separate from itself. The mind says: "that which I desire/that which is desired cannot be found in here". But, it can only be found "out there" (through a searching or from the words of "someone else"). Notice also that this desiring to know can just fall away once attention has been diverted to something more immediate (your toast popping, a message from a friend or loved-one, etc.). If we always have something so immediate in front of us, then maybe these "impure thoughts" would never have a chance to arise. 

"Purify" (possible associations: to clean, to make "better", opposite of "unclean", opposite activity of a mind that is doing the "right thing"): this is an idea/concept, and one that is different for everyone (imagery, memory and subsequent association from/of unique and individual minds). How does it feel? Is it desired? Are "you" pure? Are you enough without having pure thoughts or a pure mind? Could the desiring of "purity" cause an "impure" mind? Can we get from here (association "impure") to there (association "pure")? These are powerful questions to ask ourselves.

"The mind" (possible associations: me, I, thoughts, images, separate entity creating "my" experience): this is also a concept/idea, created by "itself". The true "mind" is reality and is not separate from the universe. "It".. The "mind"/a partition/part of "reality" tends to "dream up" its "separateness" if the thought/energy is entertained or habitually "created" by us, as reality, as mind. 

There needs to be a point where you lose interest in trying to "purify" and see that it is an illusion, a thought (enlightenment is obtained by going the "opposite way" of the mind/thoughts [not opposite in direction, but opposite in dimension]). If you feel any tension or strong feelings/emotions during this point/understanding of the illusory mind, you need to also see this as being based in illusion. Cannot see the illusion? Is the illusion "stopping you" from "seeing"? this is an illusion also. Try to have an attitude of "it's ok" and acceptance through this process. You are a loved child of God. 

A cool meditation practise that I have found that is helpful is a "no words" meditation I developed for myself. Sit in a quiet place (doesn't need to be) and try to empty your mind/clear your thoughts and get to a "quietness" of mind. Anytime a language-based thought arises say to yourself "no words" and cut the stream of thought. Use your own creative power of will to stop word-based thought. You can also do this with imagination/images. Use your own creative power of will to remove all imagery, imagination and words during your meditation. Enter a state/attitude of discovery and child-like curiosity and lightness. 

I hope that this helps. Sorry for the massive rant lol

With love, Lenny