I come across the term, unconditioned minds, in many articles and comments on various forums, mainly related to religion or spirituality. People use this term freely to accuse anyone of not agreeing with their views. Many people accuse each other of having conditioned minds. They say that it's because of conditioned minds many people cannot understand the true nature of God, cannot feel true love for god, or understand the true meaning of the religion. Non-believers also accuse believers of having conditioned minds. So, we can see that both sides are accusing each other of the same fault. According to many, if someone doesn't agree with their ideas or views then the other person's mind is conditioned and polluted with some biased ideas which stop that person from understanding their logical and rational arguments. Many times we all think like this as it helps us to satisfy our ego and be happy. But really what is a conditioned or unconditioned mind? Are these two different types of brains? Does one work differently than the other? Or is it just a very convenient way of categorizing people based on our own assumptions to satisfy our ego and to make ourselves happy?
The human brain is a very complex organ. It works in a very complex way and we are still in the process of exploring the mysteries associated with it. We have achieved many major breakthroughs in understanding its design and function but still, we have a long way to travel. Our brain and its powers make us a unique species and differentiate us from other animals on this planet. It's the reason for our dominance and survival on this planet. At the same time, many of our problems can be attributed to our brain's destructive power. Most of our actions are controlled by our brains and are the result of all the information and data we gather over the years. This is what we call conditioning of our mind. So, as far as I think technically no functioning mind is unconditioned. Perhaps only the mind of a newborn baby who doesn't know anything about this world may be called unconditioned, but slowly that mind also gets trained to recognize people and surroundings. Any social creature can't escape conditioning of its mind in some way or another.
Technically we all have conditioned minds, the only difference is that all minds are conditioned in very unique ways. Even minds of people from the same family, living in similar environments function in totally different ways. I think only conditioned minds can think rationally, unconditioned minds don't know any rationale as they are not conditioned about it. Most of us get training not only about how to think but also what to think and any such training requires conditioning of mind. We can call this process education, training, upbringing, culture, social influence, or any other name but basically, it's a conditioning of the mind so that it can function in a particular way in a particular situation. Also, conditioning is not always bad. Actually, it's very necessary for our civilization and society. Because of the conditioning of the mind we are civilized people otherwise, there won't be any difference between humans and other animals. But this conditioning should not be to an extent where it becomes an obstacle to accept anything new that seems to come from outside of those boundaries that are set by that conditioning. Such conditioning then forces us to define marriage only in a certain way, forces us to define certain rigid roles for each gender, forces us to label some races superior and some inferior, and makes us think that certain jobs are more respectable than others. This is all the result of excess, forceful, and very rigid conditioning, we call it brainwashing. Anything in excess is bad and the same is true for this conditioning process. This process is necessary to train our mind but the same thing can prove detrimental if it takes over our mind and forces it to reject everything new without even giving it careful consideration. Conditioning is only necessary to have enough information so that we know how to think, it should not teach us what to think. We need our minds to create something good and accept new ideas, even if it requires thinking beyond limits set by that conditioning and challenging our own beliefs and values.
Technically we all have conditioned minds, the only difference is that all minds are conditioned in very unique ways. Even minds of people from the same family, living in similar environments function in totally different ways. I think only conditioned minds can think rationally, unconditioned minds don't know any rationale as they are not conditioned about it. Most of us get training not only about how to think but also what to think and any such training requires conditioning of mind. We can call this process education, training, upbringing, culture, social influence, or any other name but basically, it's a conditioning of the mind so that it can function in a particular way in a particular situation. Also, conditioning is not always bad. Actually, it's very necessary for our civilization and society. Because of the conditioning of the mind we are civilized people otherwise, there won't be any difference between humans and other animals. But this conditioning should not be to an extent where it becomes an obstacle to accept anything new that seems to come from outside of those boundaries that are set by that conditioning. Such conditioning then forces us to define marriage only in a certain way, forces us to define certain rigid roles for each gender, forces us to label some races superior and some inferior, and makes us think that certain jobs are more respectable than others. This is all the result of excess, forceful, and very rigid conditioning, we call it brainwashing. Anything in excess is bad and the same is true for this conditioning process. This process is necessary to train our mind but the same thing can prove detrimental if it takes over our mind and forces it to reject everything new without even giving it careful consideration. Conditioning is only necessary to have enough information so that we know how to think, it should not teach us what to think. We need our minds to create something good and accept new ideas, even if it requires thinking beyond limits set by that conditioning and challenging our own beliefs and values.
Thanks for reading and please share your views on this topic.
(Copyright: Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing)
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