Mudita Journal

What is Mind Identification?

July 15, 2006 · Filed under: Buddhism, Eckhart Tolle, Meditation, Mindfulness, Objectivism

I just posted the following on the Rebirth of Reason web site, in response to Luke Setzer’s negative review of Eckhart Tolle’s book The Power of Now.

Luke writes: “[Eckhart Tolle’s] thesis that ‘mind identification’ serves as the source for all strife in the world stands squarely at odds with reason as man’s only means of knowing and his method of survival.”

Actually, this is not true. To explain why, we have to look at what mind identification consists of, and what the alternatives would be in everyday life.

First, here’s a working definition: ‘Mind identification’ is an unconscious process by which you imbue some transitory aspect of your experience — a thought, sensation, emotion, etc. — with your sense of self.

To identify means to ‘make same’ — and when you are in a mind-identified state of consciousness, you unconsciously treat many aspects of your experience as though they constitute your self.

When I say it is an ‘unconscious’ process, I mean something that you do automatically, perhaps out of habit, perhaps because you’ve done it enough times that your body and mind now do it for you without requiring you to actually think about what you are doing.

Here are some examples:

1. You meet someone for the first time, and the thought flashes through your mind “He doesn’t like me” — and, before looking at the thought as just a thought, you begin acting as though it were an unquestionable truth.

2. You’re supposed to work on your master’s thesis today, but you wake up yet again with a vague feeling like “I just don’t feel like working on it today” — and, before looking at the feeling as just a feeling, you proceed to act as though it’s just who you are, and, sure enough, you find that you just don’t have the motivation to work today.

3. You feel a headache come on. It’s been happening a lot lately. Automatically, before looking at the sensation as just a sensation, you begin to tense up against the sensation. This extra tension actually makes the pain worse, which causes you to tense up more, which ultimately results in a terrible headache.

In the first example, you identify with the thought (unconsciously associate your self with it), and proceed to act as though it were true. In the second example, you identify with the emotion (unconsciously associate your self with it), and proceed to experience yourself through the filter of that emotion. In the third example, you identify with the sensation (unconsciously associate your self with it), and your body takes over, causing you to tense up, seemingly without conscious control.

In general terms, this process is similar to the ways in which we project our sense of self onto a movie. When the characters in the movie have a scary encounter, we feel scared. When they achieve an important goal, we feel exaltation.

In a movie theater, of course, you can look around you, see the seats, remember that it’s a theater, and shake off the emotion. You can dis-identify from the movie.

In the same way, it is possible to break the unconscious identification with your own thoughts and feelings and emotions. You can have a thought and observe “That’s just a thought, it may or may not be true,” or an emotion and observe “That’s just an emotion, it doesn’t mean that’s who I am,” or a sensation and say “That’s a strong unpleasant sensation — but I don’t have to start reacting before my conscious mind arrives on the scene.”

Note that this dis-identification doesn’t mean you have to dissociate from the experience. Dissociation means shutting the experience out of your awareness; it’s the equivalent of getting up and leaving the movie theater.

In dissociation, you move away from your experience. In dis-identification, you move toward the experience. But you can only move toward an experience this way if you have some “you” — some capacity of an observing awareness — that is essentially separate from the particular experience in question.

In this way, you can be much more consciously aware of something — whether a thought or emotion or sensation — if you are not unconsciously identified with it.

For example, I can be much more rational in responding to a transitory thought if I don’t automatically assume it’s true. I can deal much more constructively with an emotion if I don’t act like it’s the sum total of who I am in this moment. And I have much more control over how I react to pain if I become aware of it as a sensation per se, rather than as a de facto home for my sense of self.

As these examples show, it is easier to behave rationally — to behave as though your “mind is your means of survival” — if you don’t allow unconscious identifications to run your personal life. And that’s what breaking mind identification consists of: breaking unconscious identification with individual aspects of your experience.

You may be thinking, “Why does Tolle call this ‘mind identification’ when it’s really unconscious identification? The unconscious has more to do with the body than with the mind.”

The short answer is that Tolle (like many people with experience in meditative disciplines) makes a distinction between intensely wakeful awareness (which he calls “presence”) and the automatic thoughts and emotions that are spun off automatically by the mind (which he calls “mind stuff”).

Tolle encourages us to strengthen our capacity to silently observe our experience, with a high degree of consciousness, in every moment. On a temporary basis, this might mean that you stop “thinking” for a short while, so you can devote more attention to simply observing what’s going on. You can come back to thinking later, when your thoughts will be much more clear and incisive, because they’re not clouded by mind identification.

Many people find that it is easier to cultivate this kind of conscious presence if you also adopt a meditation practice, in which you deliberately strengthen your ability to observe your experience closely without getting lost in thought.

In my own experience — and in the experience of several of my closest friends — this has contributed far more to my ability to be rational, to live consciously, and to earn a “face without pain or fear or guilt.” I invite you to try it out yourself, without prejudice, and see what you find.

Time permitting, I am happy to answer questions from anyone with genuine interest in the topic.

UPDATE: WordPress just reminded me, though the “possibly related posts” section below, that I have an earlier post (three years ago!) on this same subject, simply titled Mind Identification.

Posted by Joshua Zader · Trackback URL · Link
  • http://vikram2006.blogspot.com Vikram Madan

    Hi Joshua,

    Nice website. I am very fond of Eckhart Tolle and have learned a lot from him. I currently feel that there is no teacher around from whom I have benefitted as much as I have, from Tolle. He is a genius.

    I agree with you totally. The headache intensifies if a person resists it, complains against it mentally. If he slips into silence and watches the headache, it will dissolve in no time, but only if he does not expect it to dissolve.

    You write “On a temporary basis, this might mean that you stop “thinking” for a short while, so you can devote more attention to simply observing what’s going on. You can come back to thinking later, when your thoughts will be much more clear and incisive, because they’re not clouded by mind identification.”

    Well, I feel it is not easy to just stop thinking. Incessant thinking is the root cause of all human problems, like Tolle himself says.
    Thinking may recede into the background or fade away, giving way to stillness, as a person grows calmer and calmer, but the pace of modern life does not allow a person to stay calm. An hour of meditation a day won’t help a highly stressed executive with deadlines to meet. I doubt he will be able to meditate at all, if his boss is breathing down his throat.

    I would say ‘forced into stillness’ works better. Tolle himself was forced into stillness, if you remember the introduction to the book POWER OF NOW, the part in which Tolle explains how he found awakening.

    Tibetian buddhism books explain concepts like ‘wrathful compassion’ and ‘crazy wisdom’ in which buddhist gods/godesses/dakinis use ‘compassionate non-violent violence’ to ‘force’ a spiritually evolved person (that they choose to guide) into stillness.

    When I say ‘compassionate non-violent violence’ I mean it in a metaphysical sense. The buddhist gods/goddesses/dakinis’ approach is violent and non-violent, both at the same time.
    (I am not buddhist by the way, and not trying to give you buddhist teachings etc!)

    regards,
    Vikram

  • http://www.zader.com Joshua Zader

    Vikram,

    You write “An hour of meditation a day won’t help a highly stressed executive with deadlines to meet.”

    I couldn’t disagree more. Plenty of CEOs have found that meditation can, indeed, help one cope with the demands of a stressful job.

    As Tolle observes, not everyone has to be “dragged, kicking and screaming” into “the Kingdom of heaven” (i.e., mindful presence in day to day life).

    Those who commit themselves to cultivating greater presence and mindfulness very often see dividends in terms of greater peace, equanimity, and effectiveness in coping with the stresses of day-to-day life.

    I know I do.

    Joshua

  • William Vietinghoff

    This comment is not intended as facetious or critical. I take my struggle along the path to self-realization seriously. Rather, I hope readers would pause and give it consideration, and perhaps comment and, if they agree, amplify the notion. I hope this comment may speed the journey for some.

    First, a little background: I am familiar with about half of Eckhart Tolle’s writings and lectures, having listened to them as audiobooks. He makes it clear that attainment of the state of consciousness that he has experienced requires the cessation of thinking. The person needs only to be aware of being aware – and that’s it. Unfortunately, even for many who sincerely pursue that goal, the thinking process is too addictive and seductive to let go. And the mind, which is the source of the problem, is not going to remind you of that. We can experience that for ourselves. Repeatedly, here and there in his talks, Tolle points out, with humor, the irony of that condition within some members of his audience. After his stating succinctly that you cannot intellectualize the process of reaching enlightenment, some one will plead, to paraphrase him, “But I need to know a little more.” or “Wait, I have a question”.

    That human craving for an abundance of information and analysis comes to mind when I read the many words, the interpretations, the verbal give and take, the ongoing threads of discourse that fill the websites devoted to the subject of self-realization. I wonder if there are seekers out there who will spend their days reading and conjecturing, forever looking for that one additional piece of information that will set them free. Tolle would probably say, “Stop reading and start paying attention to everything around you.” The cynics reading this will ask, “Well then, why doesn’t Tolle stop writing books?”

    In fairness, those words, such as found here, can provide the reader with the authenticity they need, and put them on the right path. But these explanations are only pointers. How many pointers do you need?

  • http://www.markwaller.com Mark Waller

    I have a simple way of explaining mind identification. The voice in your head that you think is you talking to you is not you. It is a form of speech called ego centric speech. All children display this at about age 3 and it eventually becomes internalized. When it does, we become obsessed with it and identify with it.

    In essences there is no such thing as “mind.” It is merely our mistaking the activity of the brain and nervous system for an entity called we identify as “me.”

    I hope that helps the discussion.

  • Mathew

    Getting back to what Luke wrote:

    “[Eckhart Tolle’s] thesis that ‘mind identification’ serves as the source for all strife in the world stands squarely at odds with reason as man’s only means of knowing and his method of survival.”

    First what is Reason?

    Here’s a quote, “Reason is man’s tool of understanding. It is the method of identifying entities through one’s senses. It is the means of integrating those perceptions into concepts, gaining knowledge through this integration, integrating that knowledge into the rest of one’s knowledge, and evaluating and manipulating ideas and facts. It is organized. It is systematic and purposeful.
    Knowledge is knowledge about reality. Its base is perception, and its method is reason. We gain knowledge through observing reality.”

    I personally, find is difficult at work to be in a state of mindfulness or self-observation throughout the day, because it means concentrating on matters of the present moment, whereas, at work, you have to think rational. You have to think, think, think, or the business suffers.

    If you lived in a state of poverty and there is an opportunity down the road where you can get out of it, sufficiently providing for your immediate family. Tell me, would you remain in a state of mindfulness and contentment, or would you worry that if you don’t provide for your self, you and your family will suffer, thus, you need to catch the opportunity or else it is taken from you.

    That is using your mental tool of Reason!

    My worry is, Tolle’s recommendations of constant mindfulness and awareness of here and now, slows down thinking so much that reasoning is also slowed down

    I think there needs to be a balance:

    A time to meditate and rest, and,

    A time to think, think, think, and act

    Peace

  • Dirk Thomas Diggler

    Hello everyone – great website first of all.

    We all need to bear witness to the pain body and the inner most strength exists within us. Pain body will subside once we bring ourselves to the light.

  • http://nil vishv

    The whole discussions above assumes that there is a “person” who does identification with thought , feelings etc. Or who has to use reson for survival.

    The fact is that the person itself is the product of identifcation. The “person” as such does not exist. It is a concept. Though this concept is useful for daily living, but it must be remembered that this “person” (I, You, he etc) does not actually exist. It is same as equators and other lines assumed on the face of earth. These line are useful concepts, but do NOT actually exist on the face of earth. Same as boundries between states of a country–these exist as a concept on map–and very useful concept, but again no such boundry can be found on the face of earth.

    Similarly it must be understood that concept of I, You, He etc are concepts–which are required and are useful for daily living–but no such person as I, You or he exists in actuality.

    And all this identification, creation of a concept etc are again not done by any person. These thing also just happen as per divine will–like rain, thuderstorm, snowfall. No person is sitting who is causing all these things.

    These concepts, thoughts, feelings etc are happening as divine plan and divne himself is looking at all these concepts and has choosen to forget that all these things are created by divine.

    And then Divine chooses to remember his true nature in “some body”– it is called enlightenment. But there is no “person” to get enlightened.

    That’s how divine game is going on. LILA– it is called.

    Find out who is looking at all these concepts, thoughs, feelings etc?