Why we need to listen to our intelligence, not our mind

Why we need to listen to our intelligence not our mind

Listening to our intelligence insulates us from illusion, whereas listening to our mind insulates us from reality.

Inside us, multiple voices constantly speak, which can be broadly categorized into two: the constructive or uplifting voice of intelligence, and the destructive or degrading voice of the mind. While these terms may have varied meanings in different contexts, they generally carry these positive and negative connotations.

When we listen to the voice of intelligence, we gain protection from the world’s illusions. Among the many illusions that attack us, the most pervasive and invasive is the illusion of worldly pleasures. Though such pleasures are brief and trivial, the world’s depictions exaggerate them, making us believe they will be immense and enduring. If we fall for this illusion, chasing these pleasures can become the defining purpose of our lives.

Listening to our intelligence helps us see through these illusions. By studying wisdom texts like the Bhagavad Gita and reflecting on our past experiences, we can understand that such pleasures are not worth the feverish craving and chasing they induce. As Bhagavad Gita 5.22 warns, such pleasures are sources of great distress, and the wise refrain from indulging in them.

When we consistently listen to our intelligence, it insulates us from these illusions. This insulation acts as a protective armor, preventing the illusions from overwhelming us. We no longer need to battle each illusion repeatedly because our intelligence keeps us guarded.

Unfortunately, we often choose to listen to our mind. The mind gravitates toward worldly pleasures and amplifies their appeal through relentless fantasizing until we feel compelled to indulge in them. Yet, when we do indulge, the experience is often frustratingly meager and fleeting. Despite this, the mind “memory-holes” such experiences, making us forget their emptiness.

Even if we observe others suffering from indulgence or addiction, the mind dismisses these realities, making us believe we are exceptions. It convinces us that either those who suffer are unusual or that we won’t suffer the same way. By insulating us from reality—both our own experiences and our observations of others—the mind keeps us ensnared in illusions.

This is why Bhagavad Gita 6.6 emphasizes that the mind can be our worst enemy and highlights the urgent need to master it.

Summary:

• The world is full of illusions, the most pervasive being the false promise of sensual pleasures as immense and enduring, when they are actually meager and fleeting.
• Listening to intelligence insulates us from these illusions by equipping us to see through their deceitful promises and protecting us from their influence.
• Listening to the mind blinds us to the emptiness of sensual pleasures and shields us from the reality of our experiences and observations, trapping us in the cycle of craving and indulgence.

Think it over:

• Reflect on any sensual pleasure you have refrained from indulging in by listening to your intelligence, and analyze how this abstinence has insulated you from the illusion of that pleasure.
• Recollect an experience where you realized the emptiness of sensual pleasure and note it for sustained recollection to break the insulation created by your mind.
• Recall any observation of someone suffering due to indiscriminate indulgence and use it as a reminder to break the illusionary hold of sensual pleasures.

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05.22 An intelligent person does not take part in the sources of misery, which are due to contact with the material senses. O son of Kuntī, such pleasures have a beginning and an end, and so the wise man does not delight in them.