My dear friend: You are quite correct about the difficulty in "pinning down," as you say, the mind. One of the more difficult propositions to master, with regard to solid mind work, is gaining the necessary objectivity to see the mind for what it really is. This is to say, it is likely not what you think it is. It is true that one must work with arising thoughts; but often individuals get lost in those arising thoughts, and even try to own them - as if they really exist as they appear to exist. If all this sounds a bit confusing, rest assured that it is. Were transcending the mind an easy task, you (and many others) would have accomplished it by now. The mind, you see, is something much vaster than the thoughts that arise into consciousness. Indeed, thinking is only one of many activities of mind. While most people tend to think of mind as the part that thinks, it is also true that mind is the part that feels; projects a perspective or perception into future experiences, and then judges its own thoughts, feelings and projections.

One must begin, of course, by examining the thoughts and feelings that arise. One must look at the process (as best one can) that stimulates and interprets the thoughts and feelings that arise. However, it is very important not to become possessive of your thoughts and feelings. Some fascination is fine - particularly in the beginning; but that, too, must eventually be dissolved if one is to see what the mind really is. In truth, your thoughts are not your own. They do not come from you, although they may appear to do so. Many think of their own thought and feeling realms as being private, believing that no other person can know the thoughts they think. However, believing in this manner indicates a lack of understanding for the process. If you persist in your investigation of the mind, however, eventually you will see through the stunning illusion of "mind."

As I mentioned above, your thoughts are not from you. No matter how fascinating and provocative they seem - no matter how attached you may be to some of them - they existed long before you came to own the body you now use to sail upon the ocean of life. Thoughts exist in a non-physical realm that could be called a sort of repository for the consciousness that takes form and evolves on a particular planet. For example: you could say there is a thought realm for Earth, one for Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and so on. Since you cannot use the same form to evolve consciousness on these different planets, you will find you have access only to the thought realm that coincides with the body form and planet upon which you currently are "growing" your consciousness.

Of course, consciousness is not something that comes from you, either. It exists as a field of charged awareness which encompasses a particular celestial body (say, Earth, for example), and from which you borrow as you develop spiritually and find ways to embody more and more of your divine potential. The good news is that you do not need to create either, since that has already been done for you. Your task is to expand the consciousness you designate "yours" so that you can discover the vast expanse of Consciousness emanating directly from the Source of All Being. Indeed, in this process, "mind" eventually dissolves into Consciousness.

In working with the mind, one first pays attention to the thoughts and feelings that arise in any given moment - often asking within something like: "So how is it this mind I call my own picks this thought (or feeling) out of all the possible thoughts (and feelings) available for harvesting at this particular moment?" In other words, the first step is to generate profound curiosity for this thing called "mind," seeking to explore virtually every thought, feeling, belief, assumption, opinion, and/or projection that arises. In so investigating, you will (or at least can) discover a tremendous amount about what it is to be human. You will learn how mind moves from thought to thought, feeling to feeling, thought to feeling, etc. - much in the same manner as a monkey in a tree goes from branch to branch, often with little or no logic to its movement. Like the monkey, the mind likes movement for the sake of movement.

If you persist in this deep inquiry into the nature of mind, eventually you will see through the whole grand illusion. You will see the profound collusion of all human beings to keep the illusion "alive" - or at least in tact. You will eventually come to a point in awareness where you see thoughts coming and going, indeed before the "eyes" of your awareness. No longer will they appear to come from you. You will see them as existing in a realm unto themselves, but floating about, being picked up by minds in much the same way as a radio receiver picks up broadcast signals. While you cannot see the broadcast signals moving through the air, you know they must exist because you can pick them up on your radio receiver set. In like manner, thoughts move through the air, vibrating at a speed faster than the speed of physical light. You cannot see them, but your mind picks them up and plays them for you much like a radio plays the broadcast signals.

In understanding how mind works, you naturally begin to work with it from a more holistic perspective. As you understand the nature of thought, you gain some distance from what you may experience initially as coming from yourself. In this way, you become available to experience thought/feelings/etc. in a different way. As you do so, you will ultimately come to actually view thought floating by. As this happens, you develop a tremendous level of compassion for all those who suffer from believing their thoughts come from themselves. You see clearly that owning those thoughts can be yet another form of suffering. You will also come to see the results of such a process as potentially the most powerful form of generating suffering.

For example, let's say that the thought arises in a person's mind to murder someone. Without describing any kind of scenario, we can recognize that the potential for suffering now becomes immense. One person having such a thought may act on it, causing suffering for numbers of people, including him/herself. Another person, having a similar thought, does not act on it. While not acting on the thought of killing another may spare all the individuals the kind of suffering that might have arisen with the death of someone close to them, it does not necessarily spare the "thinker" from suffering. In fact, it is likely that the person will obsess upon the thought, wondering why they experienced it; or perhaps obsessing about how to control the thought and not act upon it. In both of these cases, the person suffers.

All suffering has roots in the mind. Since the idea of working with the mind in the first place is to eradicate suffering, it is most helpful if one can understand the workings of the mind. To understand this is to find a way to free oneself from suffering. Of course, freedom from suffering is not likely to occur in a "blast from the blue," as the saying goes. Such freedom is the product of rigorous investigation; and once seen, will then have to be mindfully established. That means you (and others) will first learn to see through the mind's projections, realizing those thoughts and feelings come to you (rather than from you), and you have simply accepted them as your own. As you relinquish ownership of those thoughts, you discover a freedom that cannot really be described - only experienced. May you have much good fortune in your journey through the thing called "mind," and may you awaken to the truth of who you really are!