They tell me\u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Open your mind.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n And I wonder…<\/p>\n\n\n\n to what?<\/p>\n\n\n\n To another idea?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Another truth?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Another man’s certainty What exactly happens Do I become wiser?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Or merely Do I let everything in Do I abandon discernment If every thought deserves entry, If every opinion Cruelty?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Deception?<\/p>\n\n\n\n A lie beautifully spoken?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Is an open mind Or is wisdom knowing I wonder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For most of my life To ask why.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To pull ideas apart Perhaps that is my nature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Give me a problem Give me confusion Give me certainty perhaps annoyingly\u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n I begin looking So when someone tells me,<\/p>\n\n\n\n Open your mind,<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n a question immediately rises:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Have you opened yours?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Open enough Open enough Open enough And then I catch myself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Because isn’t that How often have I listened How often have I heard How often have I called something when what I really meant was\u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n it does not fit the architecture That question bothers me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Because I have spent years Brick by brick.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Failure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Books.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Teachers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Arguments won.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Arguments lost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Things I believed once Things I doubted once All of it becoming my mind.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n But is it mine?<\/p>\n\n\n\n How much of what I believe And how much From family?<\/p>\n\n\n\n From culture?<\/p>\n\n\n\n From teachers?<\/p>\n\n\n\n From fear?<\/p>\n\n\n\n From ambition?<\/p>\n\n\n\n From people I loved enough How many of my truths and how many …and when I open my mind?<\/p>\n\n\n\n What if I discover Was I a fool Or wiser Why are we ashamed Shouldn’t a mind If new evidence was it ever Or merely faith And even faith\u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n should faith fear If what I believe is true,<\/p>\n\n\n\n what can honest inquiry Perhaps only Then why do I defend Do I love truth?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Or do I love There is an uncomfortable difference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I have been right I have also been wrong That memory And yet…<\/p>\n\n\n\n opening the mind There are things There are doors There are people There are ideas Must I reopen every door Surely not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A river needs banks Freedom without discernment Acceptance without intelligence And an open mind So perhaps Is my mind open?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Perhaps the question is\u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n Can it open without losing itself?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Can I listen Can I disagree Can I hear something Can I say,<\/p>\n\n\n\n I do not know,<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n without feeling smaller?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Can I say,<\/p>\n\n\n\n You may be right,<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n without feeling defeated?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Can I say,<\/p>\n\n\n\n I was wrong,<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n without rewriting history Can I encounter Can two people and both describe honestly Perhaps truth Not relative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Not whatever we wish it to be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But larger And then there is God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What does it mean I have read.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Studied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Prayed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Questioned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Chanted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sat before teachers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Followed traditions And yet\u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n if the Infinite what exactly Surely not the Infinite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Perhaps every name Every mantra Every scripture Every teacher Sacred\u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n yes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Necessary\u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n perhaps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But is the finger Is the map Is my understanding of Her Or merely And if another person does that make I don’t know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And strangely,<\/p>\n\n\n\n I am becoming more comfortable I don’t know.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Three words Now they seem Because perhaps is not the end Perhaps it is The closed mind says,<\/p>\n\n\n\n I know.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The empty mind says,<\/p>\n\n\n\n Anything is possible.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n But perhaps Show me.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Show me the evidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Show me the reasoning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Show me the experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let me question it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let you question me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And if what remains let us both Maybe that is openness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Not surrender.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Not agreement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Not intellectual fashion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Not pretending Just the willingness through which Because what frightens me now What frightens me having been wrong\u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n and never having allowed So…<\/p>\n\n\n\n when I open my mind?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Perhaps nothing dramatic happens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n No thunder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n No revelation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n No sudden enlightenment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Perhaps I simply become A little more curious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A little slower to judge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A little quicker to listen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A little less interested And perhaps\u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n beneath all the opinions, I discover something That opening my mind It was about letting me<\/strong> out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Out of the little room Out from behind the walls Out into that enormous, where I can still believe,<\/p>\n\n\n\n still question,<\/p>\n\n\n\n still discern,<\/p>\n\n\n\n still disagree,<\/p>\n\n\n\n still pray,<\/p>\n\n\n\n still seek\u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n and yet leave enough room that Truth<\/p>\n\n\n\n may be infinitely larger<\/p>\n\n\n\n than me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n –Mani<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" They tell me\u2014 Open your mind. And I wonder… to what? To another idea? Another truth? Another man’s certaintyspoken loudly enoughthat I begin to doubt my own? What exactly happenswhen I open my mind? Do I become wiser? Or merelymore … Continue reading
spoken loudly enough
that I begin to doubt my own?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
when I open my mind?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
more crowded?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
because refusing anything
would make me narrow-minded?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
in the name of acceptance?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
what becomes of truth?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
must be respected equally,
must I also respect ignorance?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
a house without doors?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
whom to invite inside?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I have tried to understand things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
until I can see
what holds them together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
and I search for structure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
and I search for pattern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
and\u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n
for the assumptions beneath it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
to consider
that I may not be wrong?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
to allow my experience
to contradict your theory?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
to hear me
without silently preparing
the argument
that will bring me back
to where you already stand?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
exactly what I am accusing you of?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
only long enough
to find the flaw?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
another person’s words
while already constructing
my response?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
illogical<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I have built inside my head?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
building that architecture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
and no longer do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
and now hold sacred.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
this thing I casually call<\/p>\n\n\n\n
did I actually discover?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
did I inherit?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
that I never thought
to question them?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
are conclusions\u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n
are simply very old assumptions?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
that something I defended
for thirty years
was wrong?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
for believing it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
for finally releasing it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
to change our minds?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
that never changes
frighten us more?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
cannot change my conclusion,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
a conclusion?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
wearing the clothes
of reason?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
a question?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
possibly destroy?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
what was false.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
my beliefs so fiercely?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
being right?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
many times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
with extraordinary confidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
should humble me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
cannot mean
emptying it of judgment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I have learned through pain
that I do not need
to relearn through stupidity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I closed deliberately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I forgave
but would not follow again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I examined carefully
before rejecting them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
simply to prove
I am open-minded?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
or it becomes a flood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
becomes chaos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
becomes gullibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
without an anchor
can be carried anywhere
by the loudest wind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
the question is not\u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n
without surrendering reason?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
without diminishing you?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
that threatens my worldview
without immediately building
a wall around it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
to protect my pride?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
another person’s truth
without demanding
that it become mine?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
look at the same mountain
from opposite sides<\/p>\n\n\n\n
what they see?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
is sometimes like that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
than the angle
from which I happen
to be looking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
to open my mind there?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
older than anything
I could possibly invent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
can be completely contained
inside my understanding,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
have I understood?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
is a doorway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
a direction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
a map.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
a finger pointing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
the moon?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
the destination?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Her?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
the little vessel
with which I have gone
to collect water
from an endless ocean?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
arrives carrying
a different vessel,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
their water false?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
saying that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
my younger self
might have considered weakness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
almost sacred.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I don’t know”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
of knowledge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
where real knowledge begins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
the open mind simply says,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
after both of us
have finished defending ourselves
is something truer\u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n
have the courage
to bow before it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
all ideas are equal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
to leave one small window open<\/p>\n\n\n\n
something greater than my certainty
might enter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
is not discovering
that I was wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
is reaching the end of my life<\/p>\n\n\n\n
the question in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
a little less certain
about things
that do not deserve certainty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
in winning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
arguments,
knowledge,
experience,
beliefs
and carefully defended conclusions\u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I had not expected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
was never really about
letting the world in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I had built from everything
I thought I knew.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
of certainty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
uncomfortable,
beautiful space<\/p>\n\n\n\n
for the possibility<\/p>\n\n\n\n