If we drop a teaspoon of tiny iron filings on a piece of cardboard, we know that they land in a disorganized heap. As soon as we bring a magnet underneath the cardboard, the filings magically form themselves into a pattern that follows the magnet’s lines of flux:
When the magnet is removed and the cardboard is shaken, the particles return to their disorganized form. The more powerful the magnet under the filings, the more organized the pattern becomes.
Just so with the thoughts, ideas, facts, and opinions that are dumped into our minds. As our individual pilgrimage continues, our pile of facts and ideas gets larger. If we want to make sense out of the growing amounts of information that come into our minds, we need an evermore powerful organizing force.
For simpler minds, organizing systems like yoga are enough to provide a degree of comfort. Others prefer various forms of therapy to “straighten out”. Some try hypnosis. Others, unable to bear the pain of their mental chaos, use various mind-altering/deadening chemicals. The farther a particle is from a pole, the easier it is to shift around. The “purer” the tiny particle, the closer it is drawn to a pole.
We may imagine our soul as one of these individual iron particles. At any given time, it is at some distance from either pole. Which pole was it closer to yesterday? Is it closer today? Where will it be tomorrow? We spend our lives nearer to one pole than the other. Nothing is more important than being closer to the right pole so that when the magnet is pulled away, we can stick with it.
