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THE NATURE OF MIND 511. The nature of mind is just too close to be recognized. Justas we are unable to see our own face, mind finds it difficult tolook into its own nature.2. It is too profound for us to fathom. We have no idea howdeep it could be; if we did, we would have already, to a certainextent, realized it.3. It is too easy for us to believe. In reality, all we need dois simply to rest in the naked, pure awareness of the nature ofmind, which is always present.4. It is too wonderful for us to accommodate. The sheerimmensity of it is too vast to fit into our narrow way ofthinking. We just can't believe it. Nor can we possibly imaginethat enlightenment is the real nature of our minds.If this analysis of the four faults was true in a civilizationlike Tibet, devoted almost entirely to the pursuit of enlightenment,how much more strikingly and poignantly true must itbe of modern civilization, which is largely devoted to the pursuitof the cult of delusion. There is no general informationabout the nature of mind. It is hardly ever written about bywriters or intellectuals; modem philosophers do not speak of itdirectly; the majority of scientists deny it could possibly bethere at all. It plays no part in popular culture: No one singsabout it; no one talks about it in plays; and it's not on TV. Weare actually educated into believing that nothing is real beyondwhat we can perceive with our ordinary senses.Despite this massive and nearly all-pervasive denial of itsexistence, we still sometimes have fleeting glimpses of thenature of mind. These could be inspired by a certain exaltingpiece of music, by the serene happiness we sometimes feel innature, or by the most ordinary everyday situation. Theycould arise simply while watching snow slowly drifting down,or seeing the sun rising behind a mountain, or watching ashaft of light falling into a room in a mysteriously movingway. Such moments of illumination, peace, and bliss happento us all and stay strangely with us.I think we do, sometimes, half understand these glimpses,but modern culture gives us no context or framework inwhich to comprehend them. Worse still, rather than encouragingus to explore these glimpses more deeply and discoverwhere they spring from, we are told in both obvious andsubtle ways to shut them out. We know that no one will takeus seriously if we try to share them. So we ignore what couldbe really the most revealing experiences of our lives, if only