Fuel For The Mind

We eat food as fuel for the body, but what is the fuel for the mind?

Today we live in a culture that is predominantly materialistic, much like a body without mind. One significant manifestation of this is that we, culturally, seem to lack a deeper sense of meaning behind our actions and lives. The most dangerous aspect of this is that we are able to build powerful technology but don’t know how to behave. On an individual level we seem to lack energy and are getting stressed out or burned out to a much higher degree than ever before. All these are consequences of a starved mind.

We know that our body needs constant refuelling and that we need to take care of it if we want to live a long and healthy life. Our mind however, we assume can take anything and everything and that it will always work no matter how we treat it or what we put into it. Well, today the mind is obviously starving. So if the fuel for the body is food, what is the fuel for the mind?

The fuel for the mind has always been the same but we have forgotten about its role and power from time to time throughout history. At the darkest periods we have resorted to all kinds of impostures and pseudo-brands of this powerful fuel. Yet it is always there when we dig up remnants of an older civilisation. No matter how old, remote, or primitive the civilisation. The reason is that it is a basic need of the mind. Now it can be used for good or evil. All religions know about its power over the human mind and no big religion could ever exist without it. But it can exist without religion. Great companies recognise and use its power. All successful people know about it and it is responsible for their immense drive and energy. Today many would agree that children understand and use it better than the majority of adults. Yet the sad thing is that as the majority of these children grow up and become adults, they are taught “better”, and so they give it up or resort to the weakest form of what could have been jet fuel.

So what is IT?

IT is there, inscribed on the old monuments. IT is there in the ancient cave paintings. IT is there embodied in the figure of man in statues. IT is there in the posters on the walls in a child's room. IT is in the architecture of our house. IT is in the design of our watch and car. IT is in what we wear. IT is there in the sound waves that make up a piece of music. IT is in the letters and words of fiction. IT is powerful. IT can be used for evil. IT can be used for good. IT can be degrading. IT can be uplifting.

What IT is, is the meaning communicated by each of these instances and the role that experiencing this meaning has on our mind.

IT is art.