hello Haplo for me, the important thing to bear in mind is: (1) there are mental objects created by the citta (such as anger, lust, fear, confusion, etc) (2) there is consciousness that can be aware of mental objects created by the citta (3) there is reasoning that can reflect upon/bring wisdom to bear upon mental objects created by the citta for example: (1) our mind gets angry at a bikie gang that do not give us right of way on the road (2) we have the ability to be consciousness of that anger (rather than react automatically, acting out the anger) (3) our reasoning thinks: "It is best i not express my anger to those bikies, otherwise i might end up in big trouble" consciousness (vinnana) and reflectiveness-&-reasoning (mano) allow the meditator to be aware of unskilful emotions when they arise in the mind (citta) and let them pass, without acting upon them if the mind could not do this then there would be no meditative path with metta