‘Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe he can
achieve’.
— Napoleon Hill
Have we ever contemplated that we live a ‘conditioned’ life
and not a thoughtful life ? We are conditioned by the acts and thoughts of our
parents, teachers, friends, peers, children and above all by our spouse. We are
even conditioned by the books we read, the movies we see, the television shows
we view, the newspapers we read and the economic and social environment we live
in and above all by our leaders in the social and political arena.
Our mode of dressing and even our eating habits are dictated
by an environment conditioned by the media. We want to get rid of strife, but we
imbibe strife from news and tele-soap operas.
For those of us who believe in the concept of Karma
our existence and actions are controlled by our past karma. In a way it is a
paradox to say that ‘one has the choice of action’, but no control over results.
The issue is : Is action not controlled by karma ? Does this mean that ‘man
lives like a robot’ ?
The problem is : Can we get rid of this conditioning — can we
live as thinking beings ?
I think one can — it will be difficult, but one can
consciously get rid of all ‘conditioning’ — it will be a painful, laborious and
long process. To condition our mind in the right direction we are advised to
study good and religious literature, have good friends, act according to the
teachings of our guru and above all listen to our conscious. All with the idea
of changing our ‘conditioning’.
The paradox of ‘conditioning’ is that by following a painful
process of getting rid of our unconscious conditioning one is getting into
another conditioning — namely — that of thinking about what motivates and
conditions our actions. Robin Sharma in his book ‘Megaliving’ says ‘The human
mind and spirit can perform miracles if properly used and conditioned for
excellence.
Let us never forget that our thoughts condition our lives. It
has been rightly said ‘Man is as he thinketh’.
Let us live a conscious conditioned life as opposed to
unconscious conditioned life. Let us make this change. This ‘changed
conditioning’ will transform us from ‘slaves’ to ‘masters’. So let us be
‘masters’.
The mind is like a muscle, if it is weak it can be
conditioned for strength.
The purpose of life is a life of purpose.
For the purposes of action nothing is more useful than
narrowness of thought combined with energy of will.
— Henri Frederic Amiel
Mentally repeat your commitment.
The essence of genius is knowing what to overlook.
— William James
Things which matter most should never be at the mercy of
things which matter least.
— Goethe
