Are we enslaved to our own minds?

Originally posted by goatstradamus
Our minds are in control.
Instead of the mind being the tool, we are the tool.

The vast majority of the population is unaware that they are slaves to their own minds and emotions.....which is why there is so much suffering, addiction, dishonesty and etcetera in this world. In fact, it is the soul cause of all humanity's greatest woes.

We can never have a true sense fulfillment in our lives as long as our minds are either constantly in the past or in the future.

Only when we are able to separate ourselves from our minds constant analyzing and judging of everything can we grasp truth.

...Is this the truth?
And is the path to "enlightenment" learning how to observe and separate yourself from your mind and emotions?
To live in the moment?
Is there any connection in this to the meaning of life?

true

we can never be free untill we start thinking for ourselves

I think we should make a distinction between mind and consciousness.

We are the consciousness. The consciousness is just aware of the mind and identifies itself with it. When we identify our consciousness with the mind its when we become ourselves and became slaves of our emotions and suffering.

I am not sure if we are or not.I have to say no because of free will.If we do'nt want to do something and our mind says do it.We don't!We have the power not to listen to the little voice in our head and annore it.JM

Originally posted by ADarksideJedi
I am not sure if we are or not.I have to say no because of free will.If we do'nt want to do something and our mind says do it.We don't!We have the power not to listen to the little voice in our head and annore it.JM

Yea, I agree that we can choose to not listen to our minds sometimes, but what I am referring to is whats rooted in our subconscious and emotional memories.
Essentially blind reaction to our own mind. Like, for example, your mind perceives something as threatening, which triggers fear, but instead of stepping back and observing your mind and feelings, you immediately become afraid, which then triggers something else and so forth and so on.
The big problem is that we may have reached a point in society where everybody is constantly reacting to everything and we don't even know it, some worse then others. I think excessive anxiety is the number one complaint given to psychologists and psychiatrists these days. Whats really scary is that we are becoming unable and unwilling to help ourselves and others, because we don't know whats wrong or how to fix it, because our minds do a great job of tricking us, its that damn ego you see?. We resort to stuff like pharmaceuticals or just distracting our minds constantly with T.V.

Instead of just observing our minds input and choosing what course to take, we react and take too much of the thoughts it gives us as literal. Our mind is made to worry about things, its how we have survived throughout the years. But when we our unable to stop it from worrying or when those worries become entwined with emotional reactions and we are unable to grasp whether or not something is actually worth worrying about, we go crazy. Think about obssesive compulsive disorder, its a classic example of what happens when we loose control to our minds. Another good example is any addiction.