Flowing on the blue highway

I spent many years reading, writing, sitting, and being mindful. This was sometimes in a group of like-minded souls, but mainly on retreat by myself. The outcome can be summed up briefly as “the cure for the blues is to change your mind as you move along the never-ending highway.”

The highway is your route through life and it is never-ending because it has no beginnings or ends because the only certainty is doubt and the only constant thing is change. Nothing comes from nothing. The only prime factor is the big bang which is the ancestor of all that came after.

The unconscious is constantly churning out interpretations of recent sensory inputs which means that you change your mind on an ongoing basis. I might like it if outputs were in a static photo album but what I get is more like a dynamic youtube auto play collection where there is an ongoing stream of almost coherent audio/visual materials with adverts in the mix. 

SO – “reality” is what is in your mindbrain (in the attention centre?) on a particular thought moment and these race past following a logic that is rarely shared with the conscious part of the mindbrain. Thus I can appreciate the Taoist view that “The reality that can be described is not the real reality”. I can also sympathise with those who feel that the mind has a mind of its own: and that the unknown part – the unconscious – accounts for at least 99% of mental activity.

SO – it is not that YOU CHANGE YOUR MIND but rather that THE UNCONSCIOUS CHANGES BY REACTING TO THE STIMULI IT RECEIVES.

BUT – either way – a cure for the blues can be achieved by the fact of mind change in a particular way. 

The mindbrain exists to create mental models of life, the universe and everything. When working well these models evoke a sense of well-being and peace of mind through ensuring the supply of Maslow’s pyramid of six needs: Physiological needs (food clothing and shelter), Safety needs, Social belonging, Esteem, Self-actualisation, Self-transcendence. Note that the lower needs have to be met before the higher ones become operative. 

Most cultures, even modern ones, have a creation myth which relies heavily on magic thinking (eg Jesus Christ turns water into wine). There is now a wide range of scientific disciplines approaching the topic. These include: anthropological, archaeological, mythological, historical, theological, psychological and neurological, 

Feelings of melancholy, sadness, or depression arise when the myths and magic no longer cast their spell – you suffer from cognitive dissonance. The thesaurus captures the feelings and moods: · unhappiness · melancholy · misery · sorrow · gloominess · gloom · dejection · downheartedness · despondency · dispiritedness · low spirits · heavy-heartedness · glumness · moroseness · dismalness · despair · the doldrums · the dumps.  The first of the Buddha’s four noble truths is that “In life there is suffering.Yes.

SO - we should not expect things to stand still – especially thoughts, feelings and moods (TFM)

The “blues” take over when things do not go according to plan 

SO-  don’t make plans: we had best be like evolution and go with the flow as it moves along the never-ending highway.