At the same time, the mind - everyone's mind - is amazing. It is continuously creative, making something new of each moment. The accumulation of all this creativity over time results in a civilization. Our entire civilization is the product of the human mind. The natural condition of all non-human animals is alertness. Most animals are in danger, and so they need to beware. Being aware of what is going on in one's surroundings is the natural condition. Because of a human being's ability to think independently of the environment, many of us have lost this natural alertness - our minds wander, we are lost in thought, or we are distracted by inner thoughts and feelings. Fortunately, this natural alertness can be recovered. It is an object of philosophy and an object of the practice of meditation. As Isaac Newton wrote, "Truth is the offspring of silence and unbroken meditation," and Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, "Life only avails, not the having lived."
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