The End of Belief and Our Habitually Closed System of Thinking

We live on an amazing speck of rock about four and a half billion years old in a vast universe about ten billion years older. Despite or because of some amazing chance events and near catastrophes, it has taken most of that time for us to emerge as an extraordinary species.

Extraordinary, particularly because we seem to have the potential of being conscious.

While some of our nearest cousins can recognize themselves in the mirror, we seemed to have hit the fast track a mere 7 million years ago. Now, here we are reading magazine articles and wondering who we are and what this strange phenomenon called “life” is that we find ourselves a part of.
The brilliance of our species is evident everywhere – in science, in the arts, in its ability to live together in huge colonies, to cooperate on amazing projects, and so on – presumably related to our relatively large brain.

We also seem to have some attributes that jeopardize the very survival of this rare planetary home.

It is precisely because of the nature of this planet that we are like we are. We are literally its offspring. And yet, paradoxically, we threaten the world that gave birth to us.
You would imagine that members of such a smart species would join together to solve these species-threatening challenges. Yet, instead, we are continuing our long habit of arguing and fighting, killing and maiming each other for this reason or that. We attack each other for family reasons, for reasons of gender, of race…. We kill for our country, for our God….
When we are not being violent by acts of commission, we kill with acts of omission. Over two billion people lack access to safely managed drinking water. Nearly half the world’s population lacks decent sanitation. Not surprisingly, over a million people die every year as a result of this. Every 2 minutes, a child dies from a water-related disease.

We seem to live in a bizarre combination of extreme creativity and extreme destructiveness.

A strange paradox indeed. At least one could say “contradictory.”
When we look further, it is very clear that the whole of existence is made up of apparent opposites that could be considered contradictory by one measure or complementary by another: day and night, life and death, and so on. Even our brains are divided into two –  the right and left hemispheres – like much of the rest of our bodies. We also discover that the whole of the human world appears similarly divided. We have hot or cold, past or future, left or right, up or down….

What exactly is going on?

Firstly, the brain only sees what it has been evolutionary useful for it to perceive.
As the US-American academic and scientist Robert Sapolsky wrote in Determined: A Science of Life Without Free Will, “The only way humans have survived amid being able to understand the truths about life is by having evolved a robust capacity for self-deception.”
Although, as if to prove the point, Robert Sapolsky may have deceived himself on the topic of free will.
Richard Dawkins, in his best-selling book, The God Delusion, explains that we only see a very limited range of the available electromagnetic spectrum: “Visible light is a chink of brightness in the vast dark spectrum, from radio waves at the long end to gamma rays at the short end.”
Dawkins also explains that when we perceive something as “solid,” it is not the truth. The atoms are relatively wide apart, with tons of space between them. The reason it appears “solid” is due to the forces involved, not its density, its “solidity.”
This would have been an unnecessarily complicated notion for most of our ancestors. All he or she would have needed to know is not to try and run through that tree with their spear. Otherwise, they would end up as lunch rather than eating lunch! The sense of something being too solid to walk through is perfectly adequate for our survival. It will be a long time before we need to understand that the fate of atoms may seal our destiny.

So, firstly, our brains have a very limited way of seeing what is going on. And secondly, the device we use to measure or judge what little the brain perceives of the objective world is the human mind.

The human mind is a verbalizing mechanism whose operating system is based on the inherent dualistic nature of language. It is a brilliant mechanism for exploring the parts – for analyzing the differences between this object and that, between this atom and that, between this fundamental particle and that.
The dualistic essence of language, and by extension, the process of “minding,” means it cannot include a complete view of anything. By definition, it cannot appreciate “the whole.” It cannot have a “holistic” understanding.
Luckily, humans have two systems of perception. One is the mind, which is invaluable for navigating and surviving the world around us. For example, you want to climb a tree, not a telegraph pole. You want to go upstairs, not downstairs. You want to drink the red wine, not the white wine.

So, the first system allows us to see all the different parts of the whole, and the other allows us to see the whole without being unnecessarily distracted by the parts.

It is a genius system – you can decide. If you need to pick the fly shit out of the pepper, the mind is at your disposal. If you want to enjoy the magnificence of a sunset, in its entirety, without any commentary from the mind, that is your freedom.
There is just one problem. Humanity has completely lost contact with the second option .  The capacity to see the whole and to experience reality from a space that is beyond the parts is what could provide the sapiens in Homo sapiens. The ability to simply embrace a sunset or listen to a beautiful piece of music – without the chattering mind interrupting – becomes our default position. Only if we decided it was important to know the name of the conductor, for example, rather than simply be absorbed by the music, would we invite the mind to join in!

This failure to see the whole, and only see the parts, is exactly why we humans constantly fail to solve our problems.

We are stuck in this dualistic view of existence – where everything is seen through the lens of division, contrast, and conflict.
The survival of our species depends on this holistic view. If we remain divided by nations for example, eventually one nation is going to nuke another nation, and that will be that.
If we are going to solve the climate emergency, we are going to have to appreciate that we all share one planet. We humans, and all the fauna and flora, form one complete biosphere, with each part being interdependent on all the other parts.
So, while we live in the mind, identified with the mind, we are trapped in a view of existence broken into contrasting parts. That is just what the mind does for a living. We then project those divisions onto the world around us, and voila! Welcome to Planet Earth where we members of the dominant species are either fighting with ourselves, or fighting with others, or fighting with the fauna and flora in the environment around us.
Only if we discover how to transcend that duality, and allow “no-mind” to emerge, can we ever enter a space where we can live in harmony with ourselves, each other, and the world around us.

Mind and no-mind are not another dualistic pair. No-mind is simply the absence of mind or more accurately, minding.

Osho explains:

“Consciousness is your nature; mind is your activity – just like walking. It is difficult because we think mind is something substantial. We think mind is a substance – it is not, mind is just an activity. So it is really better to call it ‘minding’ than mind. It is a process just like walking. Walking is a process, if you stop, there is no walking. You cannot say now the walker is sitting. There is no walking. If you stop there is no walking. The walking has stopped. You have legs, but no walking. Legs can walk, but if you stop then legs will be there but there will be no walking.
“Consciousness is like legs – your nature. Mind is like walking – just a process. When consciousness moves from one place to another, this process is mind. When consciousness moves from A to B, from B to C, this movement is mind. If you stop the movement, there is no mind. You are conscious, but there is no mind. You have legs, but no walking. Walking is a function, an activity; mind is also a function, an activity.” 1
Because the mind has been so instrumental in our survival as a species – and is so critical for our survival as an individual – we inevitably accept the almost universal belief that the mind is the most important part of who we are. In fact, we assume that we are the mind. We are brought up to believe that it is the control center.
“Our” mind then adopts the beliefs of those around us as we grow up, and then takes one final step: it rationalizes that what we believe to be true is true.
Now, we are stuck in our bubbles.

All our attempts to try and understand the world around us involve creating theories about reality and each theory is another bubble.

As Osho explains:

“Facts are there, and the mind wants to fix all those facts into a certain system because unless they are put into a certain system the mind feels uneasy, restless. Unless the facts are systematized, categorized, the mind feels very restless. The mind is a great systematizer, it wants to systematize everything. If there is no system available, it will invent one. Always remember that the hypothesis is only an assumption, it is an invention of the mind.” 2
Some belief systems are called religions, and some are “secular,” so they are not called religions. However, they still have their beliefs and their sacred texts. Some, like communism, even have their own holy trinity. Whether it is socialism or atheism, this-ism or that-ism, the basic nature of the beast remains the same.
It is easy to see why we don’t find scientists from different regions of the planet slaughtering each other over whether E=MC2. It either does or it doesn’t. Today it does. Tomorrow it may not, at least without some adjustment. It is not a closed system. If something new is discovered, science simply expands to include it. It is an open system.
With one caveat. It lives on the assumption that only matter exists. Only the object “out there” is real. Which is why it regards consciousness as a “hard problem” – it is bound to be “hard” if you are looking in the wrong direction! It is not “out there,” it is the subject, “in here.”

Still, science is a far superior model to the systems the mind creates about non-scientific topics.

Osho again:

“Down the ages mind has created many systems of thought, but all are fundamentally rooted in some lie. The structure is so logical that it can befool; it has befooled millions of people. You may never be able to find out that the foundation stone is a lie, that the very premise is a lie. You may be lost in the structure and its beauty and its systematizing, its logic, its reasoning, and the structure can be really complicated.
“For example, the Hegelian philosophy. It has a great structure. You will be lost in the jungle of the words and you will never come to know that in the very beginning there is no truth. The seed is missing and the tree is there. The tree is bound to be just imagination.” 3
Whatever the -ism, it is defined by its distinction from other -isms. Otherwise no one will accept it as a valid -ism. It has to be clearly defined. That is the whole point. But that “definition” is what circumscribes it, limits it, makes it closed.

Essentially, it is a closed system created by a closed system, the mind.

As humanity matures, we discover we are in a new era. The threats to our survival are no longer local, they are global. The piecemeal response of the mind – with its limited way of perceiving reality through its closed systems – is no longer fit for purpose.
Environmental overshoot, the climate catastrophe, the proliferation of nuclear weapons, pandemics…. These are global issues that require a global solution. Fiddling with the parts is not working, and cannot work.
It is now urgent that we re-discover how to access that second way of perceiving reality that we mentioned above. Then we can not only enjoy the magnificence of a sunset, in its entirety, without any commentary from the mind. We can also see existence, including ourselves, as one undivided whole.
Only then can this species avoid the coming disasters.

We are on the cusp of a new phase in our evolution. The mind can now become our most valued servant but not our master. Awareness, which lies beyond the mind, will become the new norm.

By definition, allowing this awareness beyond the mind to function, only open systems will be created. Instead of “beliefs” it will operate through “hypotheses.” Everything new is included in it. As Einstein’s physics replaces and enlarges Newtonian physics, everything will remain open. Perhaps one day someone will do the same to Einstein’s physics. In the meantime, no one ever goes to war over Newton’s apple! If the world goes around the Sun, good. No need for old institutions like the Vatican to get involved. Another closed system will bite the dust.
This new era will be as significant a development for the human species as saying goodbye to our closest relative, the chimpanzees and the bonobos, or the discovery of how to use fire.

Our very survival depends on it.

As Einstein put it: “You can’t solve a problem on the same level that it was created. You have to rise above it to the next level.”
And Einstein was a perfect example.

As Osho describes it:

“When you are relaxed, the narrowness disappears; you are open from all sides – maybe just playing with soap-bubbles in your bathtub…. That’s exactly what Albert Einstein used to do: all his great discoveries happened while he was playing with soap-bubbles in his bathtub.” 4
We have created a divided warring world because division is the way the mind works. Moreover, we have assumed that following the dynamics of the mind is the only option for living an intelligent life. Creating one harmonious humanity will require a different approach: a world without warring factions, without religions and nations, without discrimination between genders, races, skin colors, or age…. This can only happen beyond the limitations of the mind, which, as we have seen, can only segregate this from that. Discrimination is its business.

The doorway to that perception beyond the mind is meditation, awareness, and consciousness.

Osho again:

“The ultimate future will be where science and religion meet and disappear into a new kind of system, a new kind of synthesis. That will be the greatest day in the history of human consciousness.” 5
“In fact, the new science and the new religion will not be two separate things. They are separate because of the division created in you: the body and the soul, this world and that, inner and outer, man and woman, day and night. Because of these divisions science and religion have been in conflict – because your body and your soul have been in conflict. The new religion and the new science will not be two separate things, it will be one thing. You can call it religio-science or anything you wish, but it will be one thing. It has to be one because man is one. The outer and the inner are not in conflict, they are aspects of the same coin.” 6
“What I have given to you is not a closed system, it is an open experiment. Any truth that may come later on can be absorbed by this system without any conflict, because I have told you again and again that there are no contradictions in life; all contradictions are complementaries.” 7
END
 
1 Osho, The Book of Secrets, Talk #9 – Techniques for Centering
2 Osho, The Guest, Talk #1 – Accept Your Being
3 Osho, Don’t Let Yourself Be Upset by the Sutra, Rather Upset the Sutra Yourself, Talk #56
4 Osho, The Fish in the Sea Is Not Thirsty, Talk #5 – Truth Is known in Silence
5 Osho, Sufis: The People of the Path, Vol. 1, Talk #6 – The Passion for the Impossible
6 Osho, The Secret, Talk #3 – Wisdom Is Your Nature
7 Osho, From Unconsciousness to Consciousness, Talk #1 – Understanding Silence

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The post The End of Belief and Our Habitually Closed System of Thinking appeared first on OSHOTimes.