“Compassion is the radicalism of our time.” ~ Dalai Lama XIV
Without the proper master, the human mind can be dangerously harmful, unobservant and incoherent. Though consciousness is rising, most minds still have fear as their master. When fear is the master of the mind, it uses as its reins the old habit patterns of craving and aversion to control it's subject - you. These old habits of deep reaction keep you in a mode of stagnation that deepens the heaviness of your misery and increases the knots (impurities) of your ethereal body - which give rise to your next life. To walk from life to life under the rule of fear and ignorance of mind is to be the opposite of what the Universe hopes for you. Its hope is that one day you will say "enough is enough" to misery and ardently begin to develop your love and awareness so as to break old harmful habits until you are fully aware that you are not only the universe itself but that you are your own master. The only proper master of your mind is you. A mind ruled by fear and dominated by old habits, cravings, hatreds and addictions is an unhealthy mind that is not being properly used and is potentially harmful not only to the keeper of the mind but to other people.
Western Civilization's development and understanding of logic and reason is deeply flawed and unfinished. Can someone be logical and reasonable if they do not rule their own mind and instead it is ruled by fear? Can someone who only listens to their unruly mind for guidance, and is not even aware of the universal guide of intuition that emanates from the body, produce something that is wholeheartedly logical? I say to you that any "logic" and "reason" that has been derived from the rule of fear or ignorance of mind cannot be truly logical or reasonable. A mind that spends all of it's time thinking about the future or the past, or craving what it doesn't have and hating everything - this is a mind that is out of control, a mind that doesn't serve it's master. Logic and reason do not prevail when the mind is untamed, unknown, and confined by the limits of societal conditioning.
Logic and reason do come from the mind, but it is important to realize that they are a very small and mechanical part of the mind that requires the guidance of compassion for it to function effectively. Logic and reason are tools that are currently misunderstood and misused to accept harmful ways of being, so easily can an unaware and untamed mind use the mechanics of logic and reason to arrive at evil results. Consider how quickly leaders and people rationalize the harmful aspects of our system as logical outcomes: war occurs over and over because it is logical, jails are considered rational, borders seem reasonable, systemic hunger and poverty follow as logical results of our modern global system. These "logical" results that we currently face are rife with the type of misery and deadliness that currently stretches over the globe.
If one were to honestly and egolessly view this reality as it is, then one would see that living in such a way that accepts such harmfulness is the opposite of a compassionately driven logic, and it is the antithesis of reasonable practices that will bring the planet to peace and balance - no one is secure when people are suffering. A logic of compassion, emerging from one who is not afraid to look inward, would immediately recognize the divisiveness and shadowy ignorance of a world separated by fears and the harm of organizing the world in a such a way that for some to win, many must lose. A logic of compassion would consider our current world irrational.
The more one begins to know themselves and the more one begins to tame their own mind, the more one is able to produce poignant and compassionate streams of logic and reason. A logic and reason driven by compassion has as its goal the production of solutions that strive their hardest to harm no one and bring all together as one. This 21st century will see humanity deepen its understanding of the mind and release its old superficial understandings of what it means to be logical and reasonable. Humanity will grow in its understanding because it must, the challenges of this time will see us rise into our more aware and compassionate selves so that we can properly address the collective problems of the Earth and its people. Each must get to know themselves and tame their minds by breaking the control that fear has over them and by removing the old habits that drive them into the hands of misery – we must each work for our own freedom. May we all develop the courage to be humble enough to admit when we are wrong and the bravery needed to work out our own fears. May we all cultivate the awareness and equanimity that will support us in allowing compassion to be the anchor of our logic and reason. May we all know ourselves and be free.