Know Your Mind

Why the mind is not your problem—why it is your greatest instrument, superior to the external world, and worthy of reverence.

“Before speaking of freedom, one must understand the instrument through which the world is lived.”

We casually say, “My mind is the problem.” Yet this statement itself comes from not knowing what the mind is. The mind is not a flaw in human nature—it is the very power by which the world becomes available to us as experience.

The world and its limit

The entire world outside us—everything we see, touch, measure, and name—is nothing more than matter and energy. It is composed of the five gross elements:

• Earth
• Water
• Fire
• Air
• Space

Beyond these five, the world has no further category. Its forms can be countless, but its substance remains the same. The world is vast, yet it is limited to the gross.

What makes the human being different

The human being is not limited to the five elements. In addition to the body, we possess three inner faculties: mind, intelligence, and ego.

Now come to the mind

Many of us say, “Mind is a problem.” The mind appears restless because it is always thinking. But we must first clarify something fundamental:

Therefore, the right approach is not to condemn the mind, but to understand it. When we understand its nature, we stop fighting the instrument and begin learning how to use it.

The true hierarchy: world, senses, mind

The five senses are superior to the external world because it is through the senses that we experience the world. Without eyes we cannot see; without ears we cannot hear; without skin we cannot touch.

Yet the senses alone cannot complete experience. What the senses gather is perceived in the mind. It is the mind that recognises, holds, compares, remembers, and responds.

Know the majesty of the mind

The mind is not small. It is expansive enough to hold the whole world as experience. Mountains, rivers, cities, people, memories, plans, fears, and aspirations—everything you call “my world” is present to you only through the mind.

In this sense, the mind is greater than the world you struggle with, because the world you know is contained in the mind as experience. The mind is the inner space where the universe becomes meaningful.

In closing

The external world is a play of matter and energy. The senses open that world to us. The mind makes it into lived reality. Therefore, the mind is superior to the world—not by arrogance, but by the very structure of experience.

Do not call the mind a problem simply because it thinks. Thinking is its nature. Your task is first to understand its function, strength, and place. That understanding is the beginning of mastery.

The first step of inner freedom is simple: Know your mind.