How Do We Make Decisions?

There are many elements to our decision making. Much is to do with the power of suggestion from outside sources, through words and action. We fall into others’ patterning by our choice; we may identify with the deserving righteous, but it’s still “Monkey see, monkey do.” This is our dream world, our prison world. Our decisions may seem individual but they are still part of a collective mentality of social acceptance. It’s only when we wake up that we find we have been imprisoned by… ideas.

We also need to be aware that we may have an inclination to right or left brain bias – lateral thinking or vertical thinking. One is spacial and intuitive, and the other is programmed. Of course, we need both, but we also have to be aware of both!

Decisions are made in the mind through perception, judgement and reference (the storehouse of memories – the 6^th, 7^th and 8^th consciousnesses (the first five are the senses). This is our pattern of behaviour. Our programming. We also have survival instincts, using the primitive ‘reptilian’ brain, of fight, flight and freeze. There is much more to the ‘reptilian’ brain as it is the driving force of desire, aversion and ignorance – which are also the three kayas! (this is explained more on this blog; just search ‘Reptilian Brain’). This link between our basic instincts and the wisdom kayas is the cause of inner conflict; our pure nature that merely observes and our physical survival mode.

This mixture is our personal ingredient for living, learning and expressing. On a relative level, receiving feed back from others, giving rise to a social I, is generally our motivation. It creates our status and wealth and this, for most, is satisfaction enough…but not for all.

Some feel that there is more to life than running around trying to impress others. The game that played when interacting with others, is not a reality that we believe in.

There may be something personal we want to say or express, but there aren’t many who want to hear it. And so we have to skilfully balance this personal and collective reality in order to be in some sort of harmony with those around us. Blogs are good for that!

Probably that is as far as we can go, for to be totally honest about how we feel will be too much for most, as they are still in survival mode. This always brings us back to the Buddha’s statement, “Not too tight and not too loose.” That statement is such a “Godsend”, or perhaps I should say, a “Buddhasend!”

The answer I find is just to trust in the moment. Don’t doubt or think too much. If the energy is there, just do it. If there is a sense of relief without after-thought, then it is the right thing. It’s synchronistic. That is the “mystery” – sometimes called the 9^th consciousness or rigpa – coming through. It just feels right. Just let it go…there’s always more coming up behind. That is where the trust comes in.

And there something more. There is a messenger in the mind, a scanner. The Greeks called this Hermes and the Romans, Mercury, the messenger of the Gods. In Sanskrit it is Manas. We just ask a question and this fellow runs around looking for an answer. If the answer is not good enough, we ask him to go back and find another one. The action of being openly reflective, without bias, allows the mind to relax and see what joins up. Whether we find an answer satisfactory or not will depend on our personal experience and the data we have acquired. It is the interaction between the experience and the data that generates a connection that wasn’t seen before. A ‘Eureka’ moment!

If we don’t know something, it’s because we don’t have enough data, and so we study – whereas sometimes, the mystery just happens.

Whatever the influence, you decide.