Day 259: The Secret of the “Open Mind”

“I have an open mind” a person tells me. Well I thought to myself – that’s really cool, in that case we can talk about things, analyze and critically view some facts about our reality. I quickly learned, though, that this wasn’t actually the case, the mind was maybe open to listen but it wasn’t really willing to hear and actually discuss things. Soon it became clear that there was already a strong underlying belief existent in the person about how reality works and any information contradicting this perception was immediately discarded as if being a threat where in this a reaction was rising up, like a defense mechanism ready to protect and defend what is already known. Or in other words the mind was closed.

This open mindedness is mostly promoted in spirituality circles which in the end doesn’t make any sense because when interacting with a spiritual being there is always a strong emphasis on the positive side of life and whenever mentioning the negative aspects the mind suddenly is no longer so open.

Open mind can be only relevant when one can really hear any information unconditionally and choose that which is best, but that doesn’t really exist and people, when they say “I have an open mind” have already defined themselves to some idea of who they are and will just hear another openly to see what parts do not correlate to that established idea of self.

So the mind is kept open only to the information that can contribute to already existing knowledge. The time and effort has been invested to create self so obviously when that is challenged the resistance sets in and so the survival of the old self is secured.

As Jesus said “Investigate ALL things and keep that which is Good”. Here thus the goodness must be redefined away from any self-interest and aligned with the totality of life where good equals what is best for all. It’s the only way to end the separation and produce a lasting solution to the world problems we currently face.