Doctors often prescribe a medication called cortisone to reverse inflammation and swelling of some bodily organs. However, doctors caution to use it only sparingly as over time, cortisone has the effect of breaking down the bodily organs. It ultimately weakens parts of our body. Organs start having trouble. We may only use cortisone prescribed by the doctor for extreme circumstances, but what scientists have come to realise is that we produce our own natural cortisol in the body. We have hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol which are released when we are in fear. These hormones give the body the fight or flight reaction. It either gives the body a burst of strength to fight, or give us the speed to run away. These are useful hormones for survival. However, in modern times, we no longer face threats such as running away from large elephants, lions, bears, unless in a jungle. Instead, we react to problems that are not life threatening with same fight or flight hormones.
Since people do not know how to deal with problems in a calm way, they deal with them angrily. When angry, we release the cortisol and adrenaline hormones into our system. When we stay in an angry state for a long time, the cortisol rushing through our system begins to cause damage to our organs, just as prescribed cortisone can do when administered too frequently to the body.
Similarly, the cortisol in the body affects the mind. When angry, it keeps our attention focused on negativity. Instead of focusing on the true purpose of life which is to know God, we are focused on the problems of the world.
There are many ways our misdirected attention distracts us from focusing on God. The saints exhort us to live as if we were godly. By daily meditation and cultivating ethical virtues, we can lead a godly life.
How can we purify our mind and inculcate ethical virtues in our life? Self-introspection is a chiselling tool for us. If we are a clay sculpture, self-introspection is a chisel by which we can smooth our rough edges and imperfections so we can be the masterpiece God intended us to be. The imperfections are not just for the sake of beauty. The imperfections are the flaws that the mind uses to keep us from returning to God. The imperfections are the weaknesses we have in which the mind wins over the soul.
Self-introspection shows us whether we are wasting our time with useless anger, or whether we can make better use of the time by sitting with a still mind and remembering God. The choice is ours to make. Self-introspection helps us to make the correct choice.
Another example of how we can use the tool of self-introspection to help us progress spiritually is to weed out greed. Greed keeps us engaged in wanting more and more of the world. The mind finds this easy to use as a way to keep us from finding God. The world has no dearth of offerings that instil in us a desire to have more and more. Ego is another imperfection that the mind uses to its advantage. It makes us think too much of ourselves instead of thinking about God.
Ego makes us think we are intelligent, beautiful, rich, powerful, and gifted and hence better than others. It makes us forget God. Instead of stilling our mind in meditation, our mind thinks about its vast kingdom of gifts and dwells on them. We may even begin to hurt others who do not have the gifts we have. Then, we begin thinking about not only how great we are but also how insignificant everyone else is. When we gain humility in life, we are like an empty cup waiting to receive God’s gifts. Then, the light will pour forth and we can shift our awareness to the regions of light within us.
Therefore, we may have received the grace to have a connection to the light and sound of God but we need to be careful in our introspection to sanitise our mind of any imperfections that it may use to distract us. In this way, we can make choices that will lead us back to God.
