I have often wondered why some people love to live life going around in circles. Closed minded people live precisely like that. They have fixed set of rigid beliefs and will not look further than that hence completely missing out the universe’s infinity. You will not find them changing for they are like psychological antiques. They remain the same year after year primarily because they are afraid to have their beliefs shaken. Exploring new ideas, enhancing their knowledge, trying out different things and much more, is not for them. Why is it that such people stick to their beliefs (no matter how wrong they are) like glue? What is that makes them so rigid and narrow minded, so constricted in their approach to life and so intolerant of others? Narrow mindedness becomes their second nature.
It is our mind seduced completely by the senses, that makes us feel that we are right and others are wrong, our path is THE ONLY WAY, our Guru is THE ONLY GURU and all others are false teachers, and a host of other misguided and self deluding beliefs. This is a kind of separatism which stems from the ego. I have often observed that many people are “overly devoted” to their paths, organizations, beliefs and even their countries and go to ridiculous limits in rejecting other paths. One aspirant will say, I read only those books written by my Guru and no other books, another says, I listen only to my Guru’s devotional music and no other music. Such examples are present in every facet of life and not just spirituality and religion and there are too many to be cited here. Rigid minded people often take great foolish pride in their beliefs.
In the context of spirituality, undoubtedly, loyalty to one’s chosen path is of utmost importance but when an unevaluated and uneducated rejection of other paths arises, it only serves to empower the ego rather than enfeeble it. A mental wall builds up which makes one constricted in his approach to life whereas the goal of spirituality is to expand and widen one’s horizon. People fail to realize that having knowledge of other paths (not necessarily following them) and a rich repository of experiences in life enable one to better evaluate their own life, its course and the path one has chosen for himself. A narrow minded person does not see this possibility because he is afraid to have his beliefs shaken. He is not confident of own his choices and that’s the reason he condemns and criticizes anything that is not included the framework of his own life - be it a religion, an organization, a fellow human being, a custom or tradition, a belief or even a country. Such a person does not believe in the innate goodness of life and the natural abundance of the universe. Not only that, he does not even believe that life offers ample scope for revision and re-evaluation and hence to correct one’s mistakes. No matter how much such a person meditates and observes spiritual practices, true progress does not happen unless his attitude becomes more inclusive. It is only when we become more inclusive, that we become more tolerant and more forgiving. We start to expand and evolve. We then begin to see that life is constantly offering all human beings limitless choices – we have many religions, many beliefs and traditions, many countries, many customs and every human being’s needs are different from that of others. Then we realize that what we humans get from life is what the universe is giving us in its unending play of permutations and combinations between its infinite resources, our own past karma and the vibrations we emanate.
Narrow mindedness has only one agenda and that is to stop one’s evolution. It is especially sinister in the field of religion where it often leads to fanaticism and we have an ever growing number of terrorists to prove that. In the context of spirituality, narrow mindedness leads to spiritual pride – a holier than thou attitude. In this case the aspirant becomes consciously spiritual and philosophical. A great part of time is then spent in judging and finding flaws in others and belittling them rather than on one’s development. The spiritual fall is so subtle that one does not even realize that one is falling unless something big shakes one up and makes him see reality. Besides terrorists and religious fanatics, this world also has a fair share of closed minded skeptics many of whom have worked assiduously to damage the reputation of many truly great scientists and researchers. Much damage has been done in the field of after-life research and reincarnation. Rather than learn something themselves, these “intellectual terrorists” are busy making others unlearn and spread their miasma of skeptism.
Being open minded does not mean that one cannot have path for himself or his own set of beliefs and loyalties. It means to accept and acknowledge the validity of other paths, beliefs and views besides of course, respecting one’s own. Having such an approach to life gives leverage to make mistakes (which in any case we all do and are indispensable for our growth) and then learn from them, it gives space to forgive others and learn from their flaws and mistakes, it gives one an opportunity to view life from not one but many different perspectives making learning even richer and more meaningful. The benefits of an open mind are immeasurable. If one wants to evolve consciously, an open mind is one’s greatest asset. A holistic and open attitude in life is in sync with the universe which is ever expanding and opening up. Look at how the universe is constantly urging us to expand. Look at a flower, how it opens up and expands while it is growing, how a tree spreads its branches, how an organism grows in physical size and intelligence. The mind of a man too is supposed to expand and be like an ocean. An expansive mind gives one, courage, vision, discrimination and all other qualities necessary for achieving true happiness in life. It is only an open mind that can truly separate good from evil, right from wrong. In practical terms, an open minded person will make lesser mistakes in life than a narrow minded person. A closed minded person learns little from life because he is going around in circles and makes the same mistakes again and again. Life for him is fixed set of beliefs and this rigid approach does not allow him to experiment with life and learn further. Rigid beliefs do not allow one to fulfill the most important goal of life – EXPERIENCING LIFE. Experience alone is our best teacher and when refuses to experience life, one is actually not allowing himself to evolve.
When the mind opens, infinite possibilities for enriching one’s life open up.
CheersManish
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