The Mind's Battle --With Itself

Purposeful Wanderings - Bradford L. Glass - July 2025

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“The veil that clouds your eyes will be lifted by the hands that wove it.”

– Kahlil Gibran

Blame, judgment, divisiveness – and the not-peace we feel as a result – seem like pervasive narrative … with friends, family, co-workers, media (social and “news”) … and politicians. I take no issue with what anyone thinks (except, maybe, the idea that having the right to think it makes it true). Instead, I’m curious about the mental processes (the how) that lead us to our conclusions … and to our perception of their truth. 

Human consciousness has evolved as a blend of protective mechanism (holding the question: ‘what’s wrong?’) and creative genius(holding the question: ‘what’s possible?’). Without the protective, or unconscious, mind, we’d not feel safe in life or capable of trusting others. Without the creative, or conscious, mind, we’d not be able to wonder, comprehend, solve, invent, or change the course of our life. The unconscious mind runs continuously. It has to; tigers can show up any time. The conscious mind runs when we invoke it – to create, solve a problem, figure stuff out, choose. These minds ‘want different things’ for us … often opposites! Keeping us safe makes the unknown scary; being creative makes the unknown exciting. It’s this [natural?] conflict of “two minds” that sows seeds of our not-peace. Largely, however, we’re unaware of having ‘two minds,’ unaware this conflict exists, unaware it is of our own – albeit unconscious – creation. Learn how this works and peace can be yours.

We have another problem today, however, one evolution perhaps didn’t count on. The unconscious has evolved to see tigers, storms, (and now vehicles), as dangers; yet it didn’t know we’d come to see thoughts as dangers, too (life is uncertain; I’m not good enough; “they” scare me). But thoughts like these are everywhere … so we’re continually exposed to [false] danger signals. So, what happens?

The unconscious kicks in … to steer us to safety. 

Safety from what … a thought?

Survival is more crucial to us than creative genius, so we risk living full-time in the unconscious … handling false threats. But the unconscious cannot discern validity; to it, repetition is truth. The conscious mind could easily see past this nonsense … but it has been hijacked by fear-management. If conflict is viewed as a result of two opposing forces, this means both opposing forces are inside us. Yet we don’t know this is so! We make it worse because we tend to get attached to our thoughts … as if they were our own (they’re not) and as if they were true (they’re not).

Extremist politics exhibits this well. Let’s say someone touts a learned, unexamined, unconscious thought/fear: “Anything/anyone unlike me is a threat.” (This is just a thought). Then they create a story that stokes fear in others: “People like them are going to destroy the world for people like us.” (This, too, is just a thought). Then they repeat the story, loud and often … and offer a “solution:” “Exclude anyone different from us.” (This, too, is just a thought … and a feel-good strategy for fears). It doesn’t matter the solution has no merit or efficacy, or that the threat has no evidence of validity. These can be evaluated only by the conscious mind … which isn’t on! Oblivious to it all, the unconscious stands its ground. This is how the “politics of fear” gains appeal, how conspiracy theories take root, how the gap between rational thought and emotional reaction expands, how we lose grasp on reality, how fear-mongers wield illegitimate power. All along, the unconscious believes loud, repeated opinions constitute real danger and evidence of truth. The conscious may scream “illusion,” yet it goes unheard, hijacked by fear response. Until we see this for what it is, we continue to wage a battle living only in our [unconscious] minds … and wholly of our own creation. We’re depriving ourselves of our own peace.

The path beyond this mess? Get to know how your mind is messing with your life. Get that unconscious thinking is not thinking. Get to know how you think, not just what you think. You do this by becoming the observer of your mind, not just an [unconscious] participant in the fray. It takes purposeful practice to “catch the unconscious mind in the act” … of messing with you (the unconscious doesn’t want you to do this!) A daily practice of noticing your thoughts is the most powerful tool you will ever have to create change in your life.  

Exercise: Peace begins inside you … not in changing the past, others or the world. As noted above, the cause of not-peace is your mind, programmed (by evolution) to help you find safety from threats, and programmed (by society) to see thoughts as threats. Get to know how this is happening to you and you have given not-peace its last gasp. You do this by becoming the observer of your mind, not just an [unconscious] participant in the fray. When you listen for your thoughts and not just to them, the self-awareness you gain creates a natural nursery for clear thinking, self-trust and the inner peace they create. Note: the unconscious doesn’t want you to do this! This is why it takes commitment, intention and practice. (Just “knowing all this” changes nothing; the unconscious easily wins here. Felt experience of “knowing all this” is your super-power.) You know when you’re on the right track because truth doesn’t need to yell; it’s stress-free; it just IS; you feel it; you feel peace. Defensiveness is opposite … it needs to scream, to hold on, to fight, to “defend!” As you learn to see this at work – inside you – you let it go.

For 10 - 15 minutes each day, sit quietly; listen. That’s it! You’ll hear – consciously – thoughts that have brought life to this point, unconsciously. They show up as a steady stream of “voices in your head.” As you listen for them and not to them, you’ll learn to distinguish the voices of your inner truth from voices of your unconscious beliefs, fears and assumptions. The voices will always be there; by getting to know them, you learn to stop listening! With that awareness, you can choose to stop giving power to thoughts that hold you back.  Peace is a natural outcome.

The pdf version of this article includes some background info on the impact of how we’ve learned to think.

Life Lessons from Nature: Since the dawn of humanity, we’ve been seekers of truth, searchers for answers to life’s (and our own) great mysteries. We’re programmed for curiosity and wonder, to find “something bigger” in our existence. Galileo is a favorite example, who, just over 400 years ago, discovered four moons circling Jupiter. His discovery proved beyond [intellectual] doubt that not everything revolved around the earth. Paraphrasing an old article from the New York Times: although the end of geocentrism, Galileo’s achievement was hardly the end of ignorance. When obstinacy places reason under siege, when denial politics prevents action on key issues, or when fundamentalism defames biological science in the classroom, it helps to recall a man who set a different example 400 years ago. It took just a wooden tube and some polished lenses, a critical, inquisitive mind, and four points of light that didn’t behave the way they were supposed to.

But discoveries tell only half a story. Although biologically wired to search for truth, it seems we’re culturally wired to deny what we find. The major obstacle, as I see it, is that we fear the crumbling of what we previously knew as truth. Despite knowing our world is uncertain by nature, we cling to a perception of its certainty, as if it formed the very earth on which we walk (which isn’t so certain either, it turns out). Galileo was no stranger to this; he knew his findings would end the prevailing worldview, a biblical cosmology held as truth for centuries. That view didn’t tumble with grace. As a matter of fact, it’s still alive and well, over 400 years later.

Passionate, painstaking observation, fueled by curiosity and wonder … with willingness to be surprised by out-of-the-ordinary results … yet ready to go right back to the noticing. That’s how Galileo discovered Jupiter’s moons. It’s how builders of ancient stone circles and medicine wheels came to know the workings of the sun, moon, stars, planets and seasons. It’s how Darwin postulated his findings about evolution. It’s how Einstein formulated his ideas on relativity. Its how we find truth … in ourselves.

Book of the month: Don’t Believe Everything You Think, by Joseph Nguyen. Nguyen points to “thinking” as the cause of our suffering. To make his point, he distinguishes “thoughts” and “thinking” this way. Thoughts are the raw materials our minds use to understand the world … observations, insights, intuitive promptings. Thinking is the judgment/opinion we have about our thoughts. You don't have to process each thought in your mind, but when you do, it consumes huge energy. Example: Thought. It’s raining.Thinking. This ruined my day. Thinking is a fear-based response to our experience of life. Fear is internal (about our feelings) not external (part of events).