From the moment of birth, the mind is continuously active. The mind searches for something all the time and always dwells in the past or future. The only time the mind stays in the present is when one has, “no mind”. It never stops for even a moment. On the screen of the mind, countless images repeatedly appear and disappear. Through theses activities of the mind, one perceives things, discerns, and acts.

Take a flower for instance. One smells the fragrance of a flower and thinks it is beautiful. One observes the colour and shape of the flower and thinks of the name of the flower or is reminded of past experiences with flowers. When one sees a flower, the mind actively moves to perceive it.

But is the actual flower itself the same as the one perceived through the cognitive process of the mind? The object experienced through the actions of the mind can never be the true object itself. A view through the mind is produced through a subjective frame of reference. The mind perceives the world through a filtering process connected to its own experience, tastes, and emotions. Even when several people experience the same object, each person perceives it differently according to their own mind.

Whatever the mind is, the activity of the mind is simply a “frame of reference”. Every human experiences is sorted out according to the mind’s frames of reference. One does not experience an object as it is, but experiences it through the cognitive process of the mind. So one bypasses the real object as it is for the limit of the mind’s frame of reference.

As one must see an object through the frames of reference of the mind, they only have a subjective perspective on it and never perceive the real object as it is. So, while the mind is essential to perceive the world, it also prohibits one from experiencing it as it is. As time passes, one tends to fix their perspective on matters, and solidifies their “frames” of their mind. When the subjective frames of reference in the mind become fixed, one easily misses the real essence of things.