I Dont Know - The Golden Mantra

[Shanmugam]

Here is a secret to know anything quickly and precisely than you normally would.. It is to have an attitude 'I don't know'...And this is a requirement in spiritual seeking as well.

There is a problem in human mind. It cannot live with uncertainty. Because, uncertainty is uncomfortable and also undesirable to ego. A false verbal statement can actually satisfy this uncertainty. That is why many people are satisfied when they are told that God created the world in a week. Because, now they know and they are certain.

This is what leads to all kinds of beliefs. And these beliefs stop us from actually knowing the truth. This is exactly the reason why we believe our thoughts and take them too seriously. Sometimes we quickly attribute certain qualities to other people, thinking 'he is arrogant', 'she is stupid', 'he is dishonest' etc. It is called as fundamental attribution error, a bias that human minds have. Once a person gets these thoughts, he actually beliefs these thoughts; In future, this leads them into believing in only those statements which actually agree with the previous beliefs, and that leads to another bias, called confirmation bias. Do look up these biases, because it will help to notice the bias in your minds and be mindful of them. 

Beliefs don't stop with these things alone.  People form beliefs on  how their emotional state or the state of well being is going to be solely based on the current emotional state or the current level of well being. That is called Projection bias. Also, it is due to this bias that people sometimes have beliefs on how an enlightened person's state of mind will be. It is also because of this that some people don't believe in enlightenment at all. Just because suffering is unavoidable now, they think they can't be free of suffering forever.

But all these beliefs stop people from knowing. Sometimes we form our beliefs based on an authority, sometimes a beloved one, sometimes based on a book etc. Then we  start to argue what we believe is correct. It is not so easy for ego to see a contradiction of the beliefs of the mind which it thinks that it owns.

It doesn't mean that we should completely reject whatever we hear, read or think. There is a third choice, to just let it be as a memory or as a possible hypothesis, without coming to a conclusion. Because once we have come to a conclusion, we have closed all the doors of knowing anything further.

The whole approach of science is based on this. With a scientific approach, you don't believe in anything. And you dont come to a quick conclusion based on a very week evidence. Even if you do come to a conclusion, you become open minded to change it if a new observation challenges the earlier conclusion. A true seeker is actually a scientist of the inner world. 

Edited July 26, 2017 by Shanmugam

[Joseph Maynor]

This is good to keep in mind.  You can believe, but hold your beliefs loosely.  

Watch this video:

 

Edited July 26, 2017 by Joseph Maynor

[Shanmugam]

@Joseph Maynor  'This is good to keep in mind.  You can believe, but hold your beliefs loosely.  '

Yeah, i would agree.. It is actually different or may be a better way of putting it... It was Osho who actually taught me how to stay neutral instead of believing or disbelieving...

When I was about 18 years old, I completely lost interest in living. I started questioning everything in my life.. What is the purpose of this life after all? Why should I continue to live? Everything seemed to be meaningless. My rational mind started to question the existence of God. When I dug deeper into my mind, it seemed as if nothing had any purpose. There seemed to be no way to fulfill the expectations of mind. I thought I would rather die instead of having to suffer with my immature, neurotic and unpredictable personality.

Then I thought, ‘If I have decided to end this life now, then I have a freedom of doing anything I like… I can die at any minute when it seems to be impossible to live any longer.’… The idea that death is an open choice all the time gave me a sudden sense of freedom and peace. ‘Let me let this life going and see what happens’ I thought.

Thats when I discovered books of Osho... And it totally changed my outlook on life.. I suddenly saw another possibility, a way to end suffering without having to die..

But it is sad to see some stupid people criticizing him without knowing any damn thing about what he taught... He used many devices to guide people and he was very careful in not letting  people to form any concepts or philosophy in their mind... His way was cunning, clever and absolutely productive..

 

[Vitamine Water]

Thanks for this @Shanmugam and @Joseph Maynor ! I would like to suggest the book "The Book Of Not Knowing" by Peter Ralston, wherin he explains this "not knowing" attitude in even greater depth.