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We all believe that without the mind we cannot function. In fact we function better without the mind.

When any of our senses perceive an object, say your eye seeing a flower, it is the energy behind that sensor, called chakshu that comes into play. Chakshu is a digital signal processor which creates a digital image of the flower and sends it to our memory. This part of our mind called chitta has the ability to filter the information by comparing it other images on its data base.

The partly processed information is then sent to another part of the mind called manas which makes a positive identification. Even with all the computing power available today, this kind of optical identification which even a child can do, is not yet practical.

Up to this point, the activities of sensory perception and identification of that experience are conscious processes. Once the identification is done, the file moves to ego, another part of the mind, which stores all our past experiences backed up with emotions. These emotion filled experiences are our samskara, and ego is their warehouse. The jump from manas to ego is an unconscious process.

Ego decides for you. You express that decision and act upon that decision. This zone of ego is not under the control of your conscious, logical and rational mind. Ego never sleeps, not for one moment. Samskara drives you to take illogical, unconscious and irrational decisions. For instance, a person decides to smoke knowing fully well that it is bad for health. His action is driven by his samskara, his desire that is unfulfilled. Samskara confuses you, depresses you, disturbs you, stresses you and can kill you.

This process of perception and identification of what you perceive, the process that happens between your eyes and your mind happens with your awareness, consciously. However, the process the information file takes between your mind and your ego happens without your awareness; it happens unconsciously.

This process is instinctive, a legacy from our sub-human origins. It is a much faster process since the unconscious mind processes data far faster than the conscious mind, and was designed for life threatening emergencies. The only way to make this process of transfer conscious and meaningful is by bringing in awareness through meditation. Meditation dissolves samskara, frees from suffering.