An aware mind is one that knows that a problem or issue exists but does nothing about it.For example,an obese person with health problems may know that he is suffering due to weight issue.He has the choice to exercise and improve his eating habits to overcome the problem.However,he chooses to do neither.The person is aware of the problem but is not awakened to address it.A person may know that he gets angry easily at the slightest provocation and this may have landed him in many difficult and embarrassing situations too-yet he makes no move to cultivate calm.Again he is aware of the problem but is not awakened enough to adopt a solution.
It is easy to be lazy. Laziness requires no effort. To be active requires effort. To identify a problem may be easy but to tide over it requires great resolve.Imagine a hungry animal in the forest;what if it did nothing to go and hunt for food? It could die of starvation,eventually.If we knew we are weak in a particular subject but choose not to do anything about it before sitting in the exam,would that not prove disastrous? Likewise,merely being aware of a problem does not solve it.It’s the difference between problem identification vs problem readdress. While the awareness is passive acceptance the awakening is active acceptance.
Let’s take a look at mind control.Tempestuous thoughts and emotions arise daily in an agitated mind.There could be virtuous thoughts but they might get buried,when the mind is stressed.Even if these were to manifest outwardly,by their sheer nature they would bring benefits to us or those around us. However,we need to be extra cautious of the arising of non-virtuous ones.
Once we learn to be aware of disturbing thoughts,through certain practices,we can help them to subside quicker-because waiting for then to subside on their own might take longer than is good for us and in the mean time,could get translated to speech or action and cause us to suffer.If this happens,it is because though we are aware,we haven’t taken adequate care and effort to be awakened to actually getting down to doing something constructive about it.To be awakened about such a mind condition requires training which in turn requires hard work.
When well-meaning relatives and friends point out some hidden faults in us,we might become aware of them.But that’s not enough;we need to address those faults,and so we need to make the effort in order to benefit. How do we make time to surf the internet or chat with friends? Don’t we make sure we read up on work-related matters to perform better? Then why cannot some time be set aside to understand our own minds better to improve the quality of our lives?
Perhaps we are more vigilant and proactive when it comes to matters which are purely worldly in nature then we are not only aware,but wide awake as well.However,in matters of the mind or in developing our metaphysical quotient we are either unaware of what needs to be done-or if we are aware,we do not make the effort to rouse ourselves awake to undertake the task at hand.
