Einstein expounded the theory of relativity with a brilliant postulate about the interchangeability of energy and matter that took others a long time to bear out and verify firsthand. We also hear commonsense phrases like “mind over matter” that clearly legislate that mind is supreme and foremost entity that is primordial and precedes all other phenomenon.
Wisdom in proverbs such as, “watch your thoughts, they become words; watch your words, they become actions…”, and so forth again validates the primality of the mind as it is the generator of our every choice. It also doesn’t require proof that mankind, through its actions, create material output through the harnessing of natural forces and resources.
These maxims and observations have somehow melded in my mind into an insight that not only equates mind and matter and accepts their interchangeability but further states that it is the mind that actually creates matter – both consciously and unconsciously.
What does this really mean?
I think we can safely accept this premise at the mundane level if we look at simple examples like agriculture, manufacturing, or construction. Through a chain of events starting with an idea of a blueprint arising in one or more minds, we see the creation or production of physical output using a combination of naturally occurring resources, harnessed in a clever manner to seek a certain material goal.
Now in the karmic context, the way I understand it now, is that our mind is essentially the remainder (or carry over) of unresolved karma from prior forms of existence, which we lug around with us as excess baggage from time immemorial. And even if one doesn’t believe the premise of previous lifetimes, it is not hard to accept that the originating mind is the entry point consciousness when an entity takes birth.
Even in this aspect, it is our incoming mind (albeit combined with influencing factors like external environment and personal effort) that dictates our actions, which thus result in materiality. At a further deeper level, it is the existence of a mind, any mind, that represents this unresolved karmic remainder, that forces the creation of the entity which now represents its lifeform moving through this universe with its incoming energy and seeking a path towards reduction (and eventual removal) of that unresolved karma.
This conclusion builds upon and validates the supremacy of the mind over matter, but importantly serves as a constant reminder that the path for liberation must originate and end in our mind as our every action and output is directly conceived by it.
Manish Chopra