The Cave We Are Drawing Together
Bead Three
You can read it on its own, but if you’re interested in the full story, click here!
„In the whole universe there is only one mind, but this mind appears to be individualized in each one of us. So, your mind and my mind are not two minds, our minds just appear to be different manifestations of the same universal mind.” – Swami Satyananda Saraswati: Mantra
It is as if, with all our experiences, we are collectively drawing the walls of a single vast cave. Yet the “flashlight” of our awareness illuminates only one small section for each of us. Depending on where the beam rests — how open we are, what we attend to — we encounter entirely different scenes.
Notice, too, that this image of the cave and the flashlight is only a metaphor, a model. Not reality itself.
Every experience, every joy and sorrow, is stored in the mind. Yogis call these seeds of thought samskaras. And yet the mind is not merely personal. It is shared, and in a sense it lies beyond space and time.
As human beings, we have the capacity to shape reality — to add new markings to the cave wall.
Along with this power, we have been given a measure of freedom. We can create what brings us joy, and what brings us pain. Unfortunately, the painful nature of what we create often becomes clear only afterward.
Why do I say our freedom is only partial? Could I decide to become a ballet dancer tomorrow if I have never danced before and am nearing fifty? Hardly. What limits me is my own story — the imprint of the life I have already created.
In truth, we ourselves bind our freedom.
Swami Prajnanananda offers a vivid image in The Mystery of the Mind: a cow is tied to a post with a long rope. When struck, it begins to run in circles. As it runs, the rope wraps tighter and tighter around the post, leaving it less and less space to move — less freedom with every turn.
Psychology recognizes something similar. When a person becomes agitated — when the brain shifts into a beta-dominant state — decision-making collapses. Awareness narrows. The world shrinks to a tunnel.
I recently heard about a fellow yogi who now teaches corporate leaders how to meditate for a living. It seems more and more people are discovering the advantage of meeting life from a place of inner stillness — and making decisions from there.
You can find here the next bead.
I attended a spring equinox woodland workshop yesterday - and after some tree connection we were asked to consider what seeds we would like to plant at this moment.
I expected it would be external goals, like writing a novel or something similar. Instead I decided it was to connect more deeply with nature on a regular basis - so that the decisions I made came from a rooted place of strength and alignment.
I haven’t quite decided how I’m going to do this just yet - I want to keep it simple. But I mention it as I resonate with what you are saying about coming from a place of stillness.