Introduction

Many grave problems that befall humanity from time to time are of intractable nature. Today, we are facing many problems on a global scale that seem to defy solutions.  The problems of world peace, global warming, and of interreligious and interracial bigotry are foremost in everybody’s mind. In addition, we are beset by many internal diseases, infections, and mental, emotional, and learning and executive disorders are equally elusive. As a result of all such disorders, there is poverty, hunger, suffering, and criminality all around. With personal problems galore, there is no sense of the common good.

Are they part of the human condition with which we have to live?  Our research, based upon a study of the wisdom core of human scripture, shows that there is a way out of human suffering provided individuals make an effort to follow it. From our scriptural study, we learn that:

1. The universe of mind and matter mysteriously emerges from an ineffable reality which may be considered as an inseparable unity of two ineffable principles: energy, the principle of the matter, and consciousness that of mind. The former is characterized by activity, change, or movement while its consort consciousness by inactivity, and steadfastness or stability. Thus, where there is a material body, there is a mind inside running its behaviour.
2. Scripture envisages three faculties of the human mind: unconscious, subconscious, and conscious. The unconscious runs the biological survival functions of the body reflexively, the subconscious reactively runs our ego identity-related and emotional life, while the conscious runs our pre-considered volitional life.
3. Human suffering results primarily from the work of our unconscious mind since no one consciously wants to suffer.
4. Although the conscious faculty of the mind has dominion over the unconsciousness and subconscious faculties, they dominate and subvert the conscious if it does not realize how to exercise its dominion or does not make the effort required to exercise it.
5. If the conscious faculty does not exercise its dominion over the unconscious and the subconscious, human life is out of our conscious control and suffers whatever nature puts on its plate.