The term “monkey mind” is an old buddhist description of how our ego minds jump from topic to topic from the moment we wake up to the moment we go to sleep. You might say, “We don’t have a monkey mind, it has us.” In other words it is so pervasive, repetitive, and non-stop that unless we are meditating or asleep, it has us. It runs us and causes our emotions to go up and down all day long and sometimes into our dreams.

Even it we “have” a monkey mind, it doesn’t mean we actually are this monkey mind. It is just a tool we can use to accomplish our goals. But if we let it run our lives with its restless chatter, then it does indeed, have us. It needs to be disciplined and put in its place. It is not who we are, for we are much more than this conglomeration of neural transmitters. It is merely an instrument in this body that helps us navigate through the physical world.
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The monkey mind is responsible for all the unrest, neurosis, violence, and upset in the world of human interactions. It keeps us awake at night and causes us to seek substances to subdue it. We are addicted to the monkey mind and its antics and then seek out other forms of addiction to quell it. And so, if we do not acknowledge this monkey mind and begin to tame it, it will, indeed, have us. And until we realize we are The Eternal Soul, we will experience its rambunctious behavior.

Every day consciousness is like radar. We scan our environment to see what could be wrong so we can protect ourselves. Our everyday consciousness enables our survival. It attunes itself to all kinds of environmental cues and lets us know what we need to do next to remain safe and secure our basic needs.

Cosmic consciousness does not scan for anything. It rests in the eternal peace that underlies the structure of the universe itself. It is not actively on the lookout for what might go wrong. It relaxes into what is and experiences things as they are: Perfect.

Everyday consciousness has a component of fear to it, from the moment we wake up to the minute we fall asleep. We worry we will be late, won’t be able to pay our bills, we will encounter difficult people whom we’d like to avoid. We worry over our weight, the stock market, the weather, the state of the world, and our timespan on this earth. If we do experience happiness in everyday consciousness, it doesn’t last very long.
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Cosmic consciousness always has a component of love and bliss, regardless of external circumstances. It is attuned to the orderly flow of universal energies and does not fluctuate and vary. It is the eternal non-physical soul that is even behind the observer of our thoughts. Everyday consciousness includes the Observer. Cosmic consciousness exists even after the Observer has disappeared.

If we define happiness as a state of inner peace regardless of outer circumstances, then, yes, Eckhart Tolle’s idea of presence is a state of happiness. Happiness does not always mean constant ecstatic bliss. It can be a state of underlying joy regardless of how our ego-minds rush forward into the future or obsess about the past. Even if we are in prison or being tortured, we can maintain a state of presence that diminishes the suffering.

This means that we are able to be clearly here and now. This is a very difficult state for the ego-mind, which relies on fear for its nourishment. But when there is fear, happiness cannot exist. They cannot be in the same space. Fear is what amplifies our pain and increases our suffering. Happiness and suffering are mutually exclusive.

The only place we can find happiness is in the present moment. As Eckhart Tolle points out, the past no longer exists and the future does not exist either. We only have the present moment, regardless of how our ego-minds kick and scream. There is nothing else. Realizing this allows for a clarity of vision that is not clouded by illusions that there is something better than right now.
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We cannot control our outer circumstances. There will always be global disasters and interpersonal strife. The only thing we have control over is how present we can be. If we are not in control, the ego-mind will take us down a painful and meaningless path. The Eternal Now is all we have ever had. And if we cannot recognize this, no matter how much wealth we accumulate or worldly honors, we will never be happy.

As humans, our brains have enabled us to rise to the top of the food chain. Therefore, we have become brain-centered when we think of consciousness. But consciousness, our ability to perceive the world around us, is not just located in the brain. It is in the gut, the heart, and in every cell of our bodies. It is even beyond our bodies, in a field that is not physical.

The brain interprets the sensory input of our physical world. We register our awareness of our environment through our constant stream of thought. But each being can have a different sensory experience, depending on the condition of their physical senses and how they have evolved. A human sees a completely different world than a bee. Bees see ultraviolet colors that humans cannot see, yet they are both conscious beings. A blind person is conscious of the world in a completely different way than a sighted person.

Consciousness does reside in the body wherever our perceptions are felt or acknowledged. It is not solely centered in the brain. We may have gut feelings, feelings in our hearts, or a combination of heart, gut, and brain. We are aware of the presence of our soul mate through our gut and heart. Sometimes our brains don’t agree but we go with our hearts and guts anyway. A loving mothers’s heart goes out to her children or people can die of a broken heart. When we walk into a room and something doesn’t “feel right” we go with our gut, regardless of what our brain says.

And so it is a combination of brain, heart, and gut that comprises consciousness. Yet there is someone behind all these perceptual organs, where eternal consciousness lives. It is not dependent on blood flow or nourishment. It is the infinite intelligence of the Universe that never goes unconscious.

Western Philosophy, with some exceptions, is a temple to the rational mind. Reasoning and figuring out why things are the way they are, are the main focus. For example, the Philosopher Kant, formulated reasons for why we need to behave altruistically towards others. Even Descartes, with his, “I think, therefore I am,” emphasizes the rational mind. He does not say: “I feel therefore I am,” or “I witness, therefore I am.”
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Eastern philosophy is more concerned with going within to find who we are as an Eternal reflection of cosmic consciousness. To do this, we must bypass the rational mind and forget about the “why’s” of things. They are the way they are and no matter how bright we are, we will never get to the bottom of it all—but Who and What is it that wants to understand?

To find out who we are, behind the labels, masks, and conditioning, we must not be distracted by the constant stream of thoughts that swirl through the mind. It takes discipline to rise above this whirlpool. It takes training to recognize the tricks of the mind. This is what Eastern philosophy aims to do. And it offers pointers to how to move away from the collector’s search for never-ending knowledge.

In general, Western philosophy is about knowing. Eastern philosophy is about finding our unity with an underlying structure of reality that never dies and never changes. It presumes we can never fully know, but we can still unite in peace with All That Is, because, at base, this is who we really are anyway. All knowledge passes away, but the Soul, in its union with the Universe, is eternal.

We can collect as much knowledge as we want, but it does not bring peace or comfort. But once we go within, with a truly quiet mind, all the harmony of the Universe is revealed.