The purpose and function of mind
 

It feels like its beneficial. When discomfort arises it searches through its records to see if the problem has occurred before and retrieves any solutions which may have been stored. If none found it explores externally for more data and possible solutions.

Is this your experience of mind and does it respond in a similar way when attempting to solve the discomfort of feeling disconnected from source (or whatever term you prefer for the totality without distinction).

Are the records you mention ' memories ' ?

Yes I suppose so but in any event it feels like a storage system managed by the mind.

In terms of the problem of feeling disconnected it may seek externally for spiritual paths on offer in the spiritual supermarket (buy one get one free:) and after taking into account the character (ego) it has constructed for the organism it serves, there may be a resonance with a particular solution. It is not clear (at least to me) whether it is the mind that resonates.

In my case the character lacked the ability to believe in or follow a spiritual path so mind correctly selected a version of non duality that required no path or practice as it was asserted that if all is already Oneness appearing than disconnection is impossible. This of course does not have to be realized as it is already Oneness not realizing.

The feeling of disconnection may indeed end but it is not required to end for connection purposes for it must already be Oneness feeling disconnected!

In my understanding the mind does not contain our memories, it's the brain cells.

This is my experience and in addition I had an experience where one day I started to feel my subconscious mind as a Being who was lying vertically above my vital organs from the throat to the feet but at an ethereal level. She started coversing with me directly and she had such a personality! I could feel her retrieving and filing information and talking to the Back of the Mind to get more information. It was such an experience that happened for a limited period of time and then it stopped and became normal again.

Hello,

My understanding is that it does not. It has no ability to explore externally. It will then panic and worry, or even use an irrelevant experience for its solution.

John

Still, whatever is found 'externally' are its own fabrications tailored to its own conditioned capacities. :wink:
Thus there is a kind of 'intelligence' in a system of conscious being.

Yes. For me worry is the right term when the mind has not yet found a solution to whatever the discomfort may be. The level of worry experienced is matched by the degree of discomfort.

It feels clearly like the mind for me but for you, if it is not the mind, what is it that explores externally in the spiritual search?

Ok. That'll also do. For me it feels like the mind that stores information it regards as useful in the storage facility whatever its called. How does it feel for you in terms of the purpose and functioning of mind especially in relation to the spiritual search?

Yes its bound to include conditioning which resonance may match. In that process negative conditioning (neurosis for want of a better word) may be worked through.