"Our Daily Blog" #12

Overcoming the Forces of Mental and Spiritual Paralysis Pt. 1

By Wayne Sebamurti Gentry

Many of our sincere desires and intentions to engage in practices that would facilitate our spiritual development are never fully realized because we have become paralyzed by excessive stimulation. When too much and too many sensations enter the body, they actually desensitize our minds and make us numb to the experiences of our higher nature. As a consequence, the mind’s eye is impaired and it can no longer perceive with clarity and reach a state of quietude.This all means that the desires we have for the fulfillment of our inner life are not realized. This is simply because we have not been careful in guarding our attention against incoming negative information from the world.

The danger of over-stimulation, and the paralysis that it creates, can be seen in the following example: All of us have probably experienced thinking about several tasks that have to be performed, simultaneously. In the process of our intense concentration, we find that we are unable to start doing anything. We actually get exhausted by just "thinking about" all the things we have to do so that, instead of doing what we know we need to do, we end up doing nothing. Because we have become so overwhelmed by the thoughts of having to do so much, we actually become paralyzed and our mobility, our ability to even begin to do a single thing, is impeded.

In the same way that we can "think" ourselves into a state of paralysis which prevents our taking action, we can also become paralyzed by the thoughts of others which are constantly being projected into our minds via mass media. In other words, mental paralysis is not something that happens only when we find ourselves thinking too much about the things we need or want to do; it is happening all around us. Each time we permit our attention to become too involved in external worldly events and affairs that are not supportive, it interferes with our spiritual development. By giving too much attention to the affairs of the world outside ourselves, we subject our minds to excessive stimulation which creates in us a condition of mental paralysis. This, in turn, arrests our spiritual development.

(To read part two, click here.)

Below, please enjoy an episode of Omni-U Presents: The H3O Art of Life television show featuring Omni- U board member, faculty member and today's blog writer, Wayne Sebamurti Gentry.