Controlling One’s Mind, an Exercise to Reinforce the Soul | Alireza Panahian

The Best Technique for Us to Control Our Minds

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To strengthen the powers of our soul, the most important exercise is to control our mind. Psychologists did a very interesting test. I mean they evaluated something. They studied the behavior of people who didn’t want to do a particular action. Which people are successful in not doing a particular action, even though they like to do it?
They put a few sweets in front of some students, placed a camera, and left the room. They told them, “If you don’t eat these, we’ll reward you when we return.” It was a good reward too. They wanted the reward. On the other hand, the sweet was flashing and saying, “You have to eat me!”
They studied who was successful in not eating it, and who wasn’t successful. They saw that the people who constantly looked at the sweets and said, “No, I shouldn’t eat it,” ate it in the end. Who didn’t eat it? Those who didn’t look at the sweet. They looked somewhere else. This means they controlled their inclinations by controlling their minds.
They did this test on hundreds of cases. They saw that the people who didn’t think about the subject could control themselves. Wherever the mind goes, the heart will follow. You can’t control your heart. But, you can control your mind. When you control your mind, you’ll control your behavior too.
Some factors exist in the culture and lifestyle of our society, which work against controlling our minds. Leisure time has increased in city life. The means for entertainment. They entertain! Its meaning is obvious. Entertainment! It means making a person’s mind busy. The means for entertainment have increased. There weren’t so many entertainments in the past. There are thousands of games in his mobile. There is entertaining news in it. Different types of new applications and software come up. “Shall I show you something interesting?”
“Shame on you. You want to ruin my mind?! You want to gradually take away my ability to control what I pay attention to.” “No, it’s very interesting!” “I know that darned thing is interesting.” “It’s not religiously forbidden!” “Fine, but my mind will wander.” One magnet pulls from this side, and another from the other side. I don’t want to look at something interesting at all.
My mobile is holding reins and is pulling me to this side and that side. If you behave with an animal like this, it’ll get upset. It’ll say, “What is it? I’m walking. You keep pulling me that way?” Let go of the reins and let him go! What’s the matter with someone else controlling my mind?!
Aha! If that is the Lord of the Universe, that is good. If you give the reins to God and recite the Qur’an, you’ll see what He does with you! He’ll attract your attention to this topic. He takes to the Hereafter, to that topic, to this topic, then to that topic. He holds a person’s chin and says, “Look at this. Look at that.” Think what will happen!
A person will become a real person after a while! Look at it this way. You know that the Qur’an is not easily divided into different topics. There is a beautiful variety in it! A special music! It takes a person to the peak of Heaven and to the bottom of Hell. It takes us to see the bad people and the good people.
Let’s be entertained with the Qur’an. Let the Qur’an attract our attention to this and that. The techniques for us to control our minds using our religious teachings are very interesting.
Prayer is repetitive, repetitive, repetitive, and repetitive! Why? O God, you could have put some variety in it. For example, recite Fatiha on Saturdays and the chapter Nas on Sundays. Put a variety in the number of repetitions of the prostration and bowing. Two bowings and one prostration this time. Now two cycles. Later three cycles. Three cycles on Tuesdays. Four cycles on Wednesdays. Give variety. Good taste is a good thing. We start praying and when we come to ourselves, we see it’s finished. We have memorized it!
He says, “Poor person. I have put this for you to control your mind. I don’t want other factors to attract you attention. Pay attention to something with the power of your own mind.
Controlling our minds is based on our internal behavior. Its result is spiritual power. If a person controls his mind and gains spiritual power, he will become knowledgeable. He will become creative in action. He will experience special enjoyments.
[From the series of speeches under the topic of, “Controlling One’s Mind on the Path to Getting Closer to God,” Session No. 1]