Activities of the Mind

We have already discussed that at the level of the mind the Great Arcanum of Magic, in its lower aspect, manifests as a pentad, since to the four “basic” properties – the elements – a ‘fifth element’ is added — free will, the space in which the mind’s life unfolds. We noted that from a certain perspective such an approach also applies to the macrocosm, and then to the four points of the Cross of Elements a fifth, central point is added — “aether” or “primordial matter.”

Viewed this way, five main activities can be distinguished in it, five modes of functioning and the corresponding “five wisdoms,” as they say in the East, which constitute how it manifests. It is precisely to these five activities that what can be called the “stream” of the mind is reduced, which gives rise to personalities in the cycle of reincarnation. In other words, the mind becomes actualized only by manifesting its activities, just as matter becomes real by manifesting the properties and interactions of its elements.

At the same time, the activities of the mind, during a proper, harmonious cognitive act, unfold sequentially, and the complete manifestation of them all, the mind’s full traversal through their cycle, constitutes complete awareness, leading to actualization and liberation. Let’s review these activities.

At the first stage, a concept of reality is formed. The mind decides which of the energies and their blocks, passing through its focus of attention, it will regard as real, and which it will not. This choice is based on two criteria: 1) training (the mind becomes accustomed to calling “reality” certain groups of properties and perceptual affects) and 2) energetic evaluation (the mind seeks blocks of energies capable of serving as support, enabling further perception). As soon as such a decision is made, the mind “reflects” reality — it finds correspondences within itself to those energies that it has decided to consider “reality,” and imprints them.

The second stage consists in evaluating the influence of what has been perceived on the mind’s preexisting picture of the world, formed by previous experience. The perceptual impressions undergo “primary analysis,” compared to existing clichés and ideas, and identified on their basis. At this stage, what is perceived is evaluated only in the categories “pleasant/unpleasant/neutral,” and is perceived as a link in the chain of images. One can say that it is precisely at this stage that the “creation of reality” takes place, since the mind makes contact, begins to master the perceptual stream, gradually entering into it. At the same time, there is as yet no differentiation of individual properties of what is perceived; the perceptual stream is still one, and its elements — images — are like grains in a vast field, where none of them is more important or more noticeable than another.

The third stage is study. The mind begins to investigate the individual properties and qualities of what is perceived, “bringing it into focus,” singling out particular elements, building a hierarchy of importance, and recognizing possible interconnections between them. In doing so, representations and concepts are formed that describe what has been perceived and flow into the emerging worldview.

The fourth type of activity is the searching for manifestations of what has been perceived, the delineation of its “active” component, the identifying how it interacts with other things and how it can be applied. This is a practical evaluation of what has been perceived: what the subject can do with what has been perceived, a description of how the object influences the subject and how the subject can interact with the object. Here the key element is experience — the application to perceived images of established usage patterns. Only when the mind not only perceives something but also finds a practical application for it, can we speak of awareness, the integration of a new block into the stream of actual experience. It is precisely this stage that is key for the relationship between freedom and involvement, since awareness that is not brought into practice remains an unrealized impulse, and therefore tends to seek completion, drawing one into the cycle of Gilgul.

Finally, the fifth type of activity is knowledge, in the sense of “knowing” — the formation of a stable, deep understanding of the entire fullness of the phenomenon that one has become aware of (a block of energies). Having passed the previous stages, having identified, studied, and applied the resulting awareness, the mind imprints it, and thus is freed from further need to interact with it. What has been perceived has been actualized, the mind has been actualized, the goal of the perceptual act has been achieved.

Thus, the mind is a set of abilities to perceive, identify, distinguish, apply, and imprint images. In each of these aspects it can act more or less effectively, but only in their totality does it find its manifestation and realization. In other words, from the perspective of this worldview we are considering, there is no “separate” mind outside these activities, no “mind in itself”; there are only its manifestations, activities that serve as an instrument of realization, and as the cause of the mind’s enslavement. A fully free mind is the fully effective manifestation of all activities, realizing each cognitive act without “unfinished business,” without needing continuation or forced completion. When the mind is effective, it is free from the conventional categories of existence and non-existence, obscuration or enlightenment, seeing them as different perspectives, different possibilities.