Library of Mind

I’ve never been what you would call a library person. By this I mean I’ve not been prone to use municipal libraries except for a time in my preteen years—and only then because I was visiting my grandparents. They carted me off to the library to give the kid something to do. I came back with lots of children’s books, but I preferred to read my “Little Big Books” collection of superhero stories, especially The Phantom and The Shadow.

Although I have always been interested in many things, my adult taste in reading was usually quite esoteric, and local libraries are not apt to carry such tomes. But we have a new library in town. Our central library is quite a large building with three floors and a new way of organizing books. Instead of the old Dewey Decimal System and other related schemes, everything is organized by simple categories.

The religion and philosophy sections are lumped together under Spirituality and Beliefs. The general selection is pretty good, although very few books represent my specific interest in human consciousness. As my meditation practice has deepened, however, I find it less necessary to read about contemplative matters. I can graze other vast fields of knowledge to feed my other interests and enjoy different possibilities that pique my curiosity.

As I wander the aisles, my mind engages a kind of library brain, a massive analog memory drive. I notice what attracts me, and I watch the one, the perceiver, who is choosing. How does this choice reflect something in my own memory drive, my alaya memories? The alaya, or storehouse consciousness, is the repository of all our experiences, not only in this life but past lives as well. What I recognize in my relative outer experience is comprised of bits and pieces of items in the storehouse.

So, now I love all the choices at the local library. They uncover lost memories, mirror current curiosities, and offer things my mind had not considered. Maybe my lofty ideals concerning knowledge and awareness have become eroded, so I can humbly and joyfully peruse myriad topics. It is an amazing experience to browse the collective library alaya and discover what I have not seen before. Amazing stuff abounds outside the myopia of our conditioned awareness.