Why Should the Mind Consciousness Perfume and Influence the Manas?

Only when the manas knows something is good does He act; knowing it is not good, He does not act. The mind consciousness knows good and bad, but the manas is not in sync with it: regardless of how the mind consciousness judges, the manas acts according to His own notions. The manas is simply domineering—what He deems good is good, and He acts on it; what He deems bad is bad, and no matter how good it is, He will not do it. This is the operation of the manas' habitual tendencies.

How can the mind consciousness edify the manas and turn the manas around? Sometimes the mind consciousness is strong and has relatively great control over the manas, and can then manipulate the manas, so that the manas has no choice but to follow the mind consciousness's ideas and act accordingly. But there will always come a day when He breaks free of this restraint; He cannot always comply with the mind consciousness. Therefore, the mind consciousness must convince the manas with reason, and cannot always resort to coercion. The process of persuading the manas with reason is called edification and cultivation, and is also called education and reformation.

When the manas is hesitant, His power is weak, and He will follow the mind consciousness's thinking and analysis, heeding the mind consciousness's opinions—this is called rational behavior. Knowing something is wrong yet insisting on doing it is the manas's irrational behavior. Heeding the mind consciousness's advice means the mind consciousness's rationality prevails; knowingly committing a wrongdoing means the manas's habitual ignorance prevails.