A SOULFUL MINDSET

So much has been said around “mindset” and the impact that it has on behavior.  It seems we often study mindset in order to achieve some sort of outcome, some desire for more but we don't often ask why or consider the cost.  In his latest book, Wanting, Luke Burgis discusses the power of mimetic desire or the desire caused by models.   He illustrates the power of suggestion upon the human mind and how easily we are swayed into wanting without knowing why or without engaging our logic facilities of questioning.   This has lead me to ponder what the deepest parts of our soul would “think” like if we were to access it on a regular basis.  What would our soul mindset be and could this help free us from the pull of memetic desire.  It seems to me that mimetic desire has a power over the majority of humans because we are rudderless ships; unaware of ourselves and the world around us.  We are born into flesh with the light of spirit shining brightly through us and slowly our love light is dimmed by the noise of the world.  By the time we are adolescents, our love light is barely flickering and in its place is the restlessness of the departed truth of our existence and with it the authentic desires we were born with and for.  We then are subject to a searching of what is “us” by contrasting the what isn’t of others.  How often we become lost afloat in the chaos of the world without a compass to guide us home to ourselves. And so of course, we are subject to mimetic desire, the desire of what others want.  If we aren’t spending time in silence and solitude listening to our deepest self, then we are busily chasing the ghosts of others manipulated into working for a life that isn’t even ours.  

So what would the Soulmind mindset be?  Dr. Martin Seligman’s work has shown that over human history, man has sought after 6 core virtues: Wisdom, love, courage, temperance, justice, transcendence.  Cultures across time and geography have exalted these pursuits.  Dr. Kim Cameron’s work has shown that the human mind tends toward the “light” and that the light of the mind are virtue.  The heliotropic effect is evidenced by all living systems moving toward that which is life giving.  An example is how plants will bend physically toward where the sun is located in the environment.  It turns out that humans do the same.  It makes sense that our soul moves toward light and away from darkness.  This then begs the question of how can we spend time daily bending our mindset toward the light of virtue?  Do you know the definitions of the 6 core virtues?  Can you explain them in detail to those around you?  Do you ponder them on a regular basis and reflect if you are living as an example of them?  What would happen to your mind if it was to consistently consume the light of virtue instead of the mimetic  desire inducing noise of social media?  What if the Soulful Mindset is a mind focused not on accomplishments, material belongings, reputation and desire but a mind focused on the light of virtue?  Could you not have the accomplishments, material belongings, reputation and desires of the mind as a result of these virtues instead of at the cost of them?  What if we exchanged the neediness of our mind for the neediness of our soul and allowed our mind to follow?  Could that be the path to the Soulful Mindset of freedom and abundance?