“As one can drink water easily,
Even so the human mind
Can twist truth easily
And mercilessly.”
– Sri Chinmoy
Just as a 30-centimetre ruler can never measure the sky, so the mind, a finite instrument, can never measure or “know” Truth, the infinite Reality.
Yet to remain sane, the mind must have a sense of control, a sense of knowing itself and its world. It therefore creates or selects a model of “truth” and adheres to that worldview with a conviction and tenacity we call certainty – until it “changes its mind” and adopts another perspective.
Until we learn to live in the infinitude of our hearts and souls, we are constrained to define ourselves within our mind’s confines. It is necessary for our minds to believe in something – anything – as a field in which to operate, a house in which to live, a reliable frame of reference. Whether our beliefs are true or false is immaterial to the mind: a car runs as well on poisonous, leaded fuel as it does on lead-free fuel. For centuries our minds operated happily believing the world is flat; now most of us “know” the world is spherical – who knows if this belief might also one day prove to be inadequate?
Our minds are like those deep-sea fish, which live under immense pressure – when brought to the surface, they fall apart, unable to maintain their assumed shape and existence. When their assumed habitat of beliefs is shaken, our minds likewise lose their bearings and fall apart.
We live in “uncertain times” – collectively, our minds are not adhering to agreed beliefs, and there is an ever-widening divergence of perspectives on “the truth”. How then, can we find ourselves amidst this thicket of conflicting theories and conspiracies?
(to be continued…)