“On Purity of Mind…”
We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think.
When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves.
–Siddhartha Gautama
“You are what you eat.” This statement is a reflection of physical fitness. The concept behind it, is quite simple: junk in, junk out. In the instance of becoming what you eat, if you eat fatty, unhealthy foods, then the chances are that you will become a fat, unhealthy person. The reverse is also true: if you eat lean, healthy foods, you will become a much more lean, and healthy person. The statement above is similar: you will become what you think. The major difference in these two thoughts is the source of the output; the former implicates the mind, the latter implicates the food. I think the problem is both. When the mind is constantly bombarded with one type of input, it will begin to reflect that input, we may have the ability to cipher through this outer influence, but ultimately, the mind will begin to be shaped by what is put into it.
Purity of mind is a desirable state. When the mind is pure, it is in a sense
“empty;” empty of thoughts that bring inward destruction; empty of excessive details that cloud decisions; empty of preconceived ideas about life, people, and circumstances. This “emptiness” leaves room for other things; in the vacuum of negativity there is space for clarity. Clarity helps us to see the world with a sort of innocence. This innocence is easily related to as a source of joy. And thus, an empty mind is actually full.
It is astounding how much our outward world influences our perceptions. I watch the news, learning of the atrocities committed by some ignorant warlord in a far away place, and realize the world is a truly sad place to live. I pass a homeless woman on Higuera St. in San Louis Obispo and have the sense that somewhere down the line the people that loved her, have forgotten her. I sit at Starbucks and watch young lovers break apart their relationship; he’s ready to break the windows of every car in the parking lot,she’s wondering if she will ever meet a guy that will treat her with the same kind of affection that she gives to him. All of these things can cause the mind to dwell on the impure.
If things that are broken are impure, does that mean that things once broken and now mended become pure?
Again, I watch the news, and rather than feeling helpless, I feel a need to change the world around me, perhaps I am motivated to do something about children in Ugandan refugee camps (www.invisiblechildren.com). I pass the homeless woman and realize that even though the people that once loved her have forgotten her, it doesn’t mean that you and I can’t love her; she’s the same woman, her position has just become less desirable; that’s all. I watch the young lovers remember that, even though their time together has come to an end, their lives have not. They rise again, starting afresh, he learns to control the wildness inside of him; she learns that even though things went bad with this guy, not all guys are bad. Soon, they even become friends again. Impure things becoming pure, it all happens when the mind is pure.
Often, the things that are put into our minds are things that we can not control. A friend tells us some bad news, we over hear a conversation, we begin to-as a result of being gradually worn down-believe all of the advertising that is overwhelmingly shoved in our faces; the purity that we desire for our minds is stolen from us by uncontrollable immersion in a broken world. Once again though, mending brokenness is the source of purity.
Recalling that all people bear the image of their Creator is the source of pure thinking. From this place, our thoughts shift and we realize that these troubled souls are just like us. Hopelessness is the beginning of impure thinking; the feeling of being totally incapable. Recalling that we are image-bearers helps us to see brokenness as a situation that can be mended. It is a source of hope, and hope is a beautiful thing; the possibility of a better tomorrow. Gandhi said that if we desire to change the world then we must, “Be the change that [we] want to see in the world.” In a world impure and broken, people with a desire to be pure and mended are the solution.
“You are what you eat” may be the fate of us all, but it doesn’t mean that we have to keep eating the same tripe. Just as we have the ability to choose what we eat, we have the ability to choose how we think about the world around us, and when we change our thinking, we change our actions. And if enough of us change our actions, then maybe, just maybe, we will bring a bit of mending to this broken world.
