Socrates

How Far Does Openmindedness Go?

7 posts in this topic

So I was watching Joe Rogan's podcast #725 after Leo's suggestion on the blog and after contemplating it for a little bit I got this insight. 

If we don't actually know whenever something is true or false, wouldn't it be best to never express an opinion if you want to be as openminded as possible?

Even if you don't believe it 100% you are still making a distinction by choosing to say A instead of B.

Also if it is not possible to not hold any belief, even if you hold them lightly you still tend to cling to them as we see with science and every paradigm-locked ideology.

This also ties in well with something I heard from Sadhguru: "I do not know" holds a tremendous possibility" 

So isn't open-mindedness just like naivety? 

How does this notion link with personal development at the highest level?

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Where did you get the notion that if you express an opinion you are stuck with it in any way?
I speak out my opinions openly all the time and change them if i have new insights. Also don't forget true or false are both the same thing on the deepest level as is death and life the boundries cease to exist at one point. Also on another level true or false is a subjective question, a question of perspective, if you think a human could ever hold real universal truth you are probably wrong. Because universal truth can not be expressed by anything that is less than absolute infinity, so the only assumption to make is that everything is true and false at the same time.

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I think there's a distinction between holding a position and expressing an opinion. Both are based on your beliefs, but a position is always a defensive one, whereas an opinion can be held lightly with a big helping of skepticism and radical open mindedness.

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@Shiva Yeah you got what I am questioning here.

To clarify what I am questioning here, even more, aren't we holding some beliefs by doing this work?

How do those beliefs vary from the average person's dogmatic beliefs if at all? 

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@Socrates the problem isn't that an opinion is formed, it is the attachment to that opinion that causes difficulties as it causes one to close down to other opinions and ideas. Thoughts come and thoughts go, like clouds in the sky, yet the sky remains unchanged, it remains clear.

There is a great Einstein quote that says something like "there are only 2 things that are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I am not even sure about the universe". This is what allowed him to push the boundaries of his beliefs so he could go beyond them, because he recognised that he did not know for certain for one, as well as the fact that stupidity is inherent to the human condition. 

Edited by Brimstone

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3 hours ago, Socrates said:

To clarify what I am questioning here, even more, aren't we holding some beliefs by doing this work?

How do those beliefs vary from the average person's dogmatic beliefs if at all? 

We are living in our own imagination, and the experience of this feels extremely real. Some are working their way out of this imagination/belief, ie becoming more conscious, aware. Some are totally unconscious of this, ie, that they are living as a belief in a belief.

And of course this is only happening in your imagination.

Edited by dorg

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7 hours ago, Socrates said:

If we don't actually know whenever something is true or false, wouldn't it be best to never express an opinion if you want to be as openminded as possible?

Yes, of course. Which is why masterful sages sit in silence and don't say anything at all. The only reason they talk is because you cannot understand silence.

All words you utter are false.

All opinions you hold are nonsense.

Reality just is.

The ultimate aim is no-mind.

Sadhguru once said that some scientists once hooked him up to a brainwave machine to measure his meditation brainwaves. The machine showed nothing. He is clinically brain dead. When he sits, it's literally no-mind.

If you could stop your mind, your journey would be over. You would have arrived in paradise.


You are God. You are Truth. You are Love. You are Infinity.

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