Understanding and managing the mind, mental existence and mental development, what takes
place, what we do, what we must establish, develop and maintain in the mind and mental
existence from the inside.
What takes place and
what we do in the mind and mental existence defines and governs how we view, understand
and manage existence and development. It defines and governs how we understand, manage and
conduct ourselves individually, how we connect, communicate and cooperate with each other,
and how we relate and interact with the world around us, with nature and the natural
environment. What takes place and what we do in the mind and mental existence defines and
governs how we deal with the conditions, demands and challenges of existence and the world
around us, with problems and difficulties, change and changing conditions.
We consciously exist and act in the mind and mental existence. It is where we experience,
become aware, and where we must consider and understand the conditions of existence, the
world around us, and how to deal with them. The mind and mental existence is where
individually we are in charge and in control, where we must actively be engaged and take
responsibility for what takes place and what we do. It is where we make choices and
decisions, where we define aims, goals and objectives, and where we must consider, plan,
organize and manage our behaviour and actions. Problems and difficulties, limits and
shortcomings, failures, errors and mistakes in what we do and we engage in have their
roots and beginning in the mind and mental existence, and it is where answers and
solutions must start.
Dealing with the problems and difficulties we face around the world today -- persisting
and growing environmental, cultural, religious, political, social, economic, and
individual mental health problems, difficulties and crises, conflict and confrontation, we
need to go beyond instant relief, short and medium-term measures addressing and
controlling symptoms, results and consequences, managing from crises to crises. We must
deal with the root-causes and underlying developments. The problems and difficulties we
face are the results and consequences of human actions. They are the results and
consequences of what we do and what we engage in, how we view, understand and manage human
existence and development.
Specifically, they are the
results and consequences of what takes place and what we do in the mind and mental
existence. It is what lies behind, defines and governs how we understand, manage and
conduct ourselves individually, how we connect, communicate and cooperate with each other,
and how we relate and interact with the world around us, with nature and the natural
environment. Problems and difficulties are the results and consequences of how we
understand and manage what takes place and what we do in the mind, how we understand and
deal with the conditions, demands and challenges of the mind and mental existence.
Traditionally, the mind and mental existence have been understood as the human spirit or
soul, our connection to a supernatural-spiritual world. The mind and mental existence are
viewed as the battleground of good and evil forces and spirits to control us, to control
human behaviour and actions. The mind and mental existence are managed through appeals and
offerings to supernatural spirits, forces and gods for favours and protection from evil
forces and temptations.
In psychology and psychiatry
the mind and mental existence are understood from the outside, through observing, deducing
and concluding from outward behaviour and actions about what takes place and what we do in
the mind and mental existence. Mental problems and difficulties are address through
psychoanalysis and psychotherapy.
In science, the
"sciences of the mind" -- cognitive science, neuroscience, behavioral genetics
and evolutionary psychology, the mind and mental existence are understood through the
study of the physical-biological roots and foundation and the genetic-neurological systems
and processes behind the mind, mental existence and mental faculties. Mental problems and
difficulties, problems and difficulties understanding and managing mental conditions,
demands and challenges are dealt with through psychotherapy and psychiatric medication and
drugs.
We have yet to understand and manage the mind and mental existence from the inside, as the
place where we consciously exist and act. The place where we experience, become aware and
must consider and understand the conditions of existence, the world around us, and how to
deal with them. We have yet to understand and accept we consciously exist and act, we are
individually in charge and in control, we must actively be engaged and take responsibility
for what takes place and what we do in the mind and mental existence. No one else besides
ourselves individually exists or act in our mind. We have yet to understand and manage the
mind and mental existence as the place where problems, difficulties, failures, errors and
mistakes, crisis, conflict and confrontation have their roots and beginnings, and where
answers and solutions must start.
Addressing the problems and difficulties of today requires making the 21st Century the
Century of the mind, mental existence and mental development. Not the scientific study of
the physical-biological roots and foundation or the genetic-neurological systems and
processes behind the mind, mental existence and mental faculties. It requires
understanding and managing the mind and mental existence from the inside. Understanding
and managing the mind and mental existence from the inside as the place where we
consciously exist and act, where we experience, become aware, and where we must consider
and understand the conditions of existence, the world around us, and how to deal with
them. Dealing with the problems we face requires establishing the necessary internal
mental conditions to understand and manage existence and development in sustainable,
secure and peaceful ways.
The Institute for Human Conceptual and Mental Development (IHCMD) over the past 20 years,
beginning in the late 1980s, has been working on the issue -- understanding and managing
existence and development from the ground up and from the inside out, in their essence, in
depth and detail, in a comprehensive, a differentiated, but integrated, connected and
related way. The work involved research, study and development understanding and managing
the mind and mental existence from the inside. Understanding the natural conditions,
demands and challenges of human existence and development, including the mind and mental
existence, our role and responsibility in them, and how to manage them. The historical
path and direction of how, as a species in our conceptual and mental self-development we
have arrived where we find ourselves today. How traditionally and today we understand and
manage existence and development, the mind and mental existence, the problems and
difficulties we create and we have to deal with. The direction of the answers and
solutions, the direction we need to take in conceptual and mental self-development and
growth. The direction we need to take in thought and practice, in understanding and action
individually, as societies and as a species, to understand and manage existence and
development in sustainable, secure and peaceful ways.
Within this context, the Institute has developed a free public service website, Mental Problems / Problems of the Mind,
dealing with mental problems, the mind and mental existence from the inside. The purpose
of the website is to de-stigmatize mental problems and demystify the mind and mental
existence. The aim is to help people to help themselves, dealing with mental problems and
difficulties through active individual mental engagement, individual mental work and
effort, understanding and managing the mind and mental existence from the inside.
To learn more about the work of the Institute, the result of the research, study and
development, go to Lecture Presentations, on the right-hand side of the web page. You find
a series of lecture presentations setting out the ground work behind the approach in a set
of ten lecture presentations, which are available in both PowerPoint and Adobe PDF format,
just click on the titles.
For a report on the environment, Beyond Managing from Crisis to Crisis Dealing with the
Environment: Creating the Necessary Conditions for a Sustainable, Peaceful and Secure
Future, also look at the right-hand side of the web page. The report considers the
environmental problems, difficulties and crisis we face today within the context of
understanding and managing existence and development from the ground up and from the
inside out. Discussed are the nature and human causes of the environmental problems and
crisis; the limits and shortcomings of the conventional approach, views and responses; and
the direction of the answers and solutions; the direction we need to take in understanding
and managing existence and development in sustainable, secure and peaceful ways.
To learn more about the research, study and development, the conceptual foundation and
framework of the work of the Institute, go to the left-hand side of the web page, and
click on Conceptual Foundation.
To find out about the programs and services of advocating, promoting and facilitating
understanding and managing existence and development from the ground up and from the
inside out, beginning with understanding and managing the mind and mental existence, on
the left-hand side the web page click on Programs and Services.
For more information, or to support, contribute or participate in the work, please contact
info_at_ihcmd.org.
