Recent discussions(arguments) on my friends group triggered this thought in me. Some forward whose content was leaning(heavily) towards a particular section of society that was openly backed by a political party started off a debate of sorts, and is going on for days now. Each of us started gathering our own evidences for and against the idea. If one can check them out with a complete unbiased mind, someone who knows nothing about any of the issues we talk about, every piece of content will look equally authentic and trust worthy!

Have you ever noticed this in yourself or at least in others? That we may have an inclination, a strong opinion or conviction about something and we choose to find evidences accordingly in order to conform and justify them for ourselves and then to others? This is like the algorithm on a social media which throws up similar content once you search for a specific category. I suspect that it came up after understanding the way human psychology works(no brainer indeed).

But this is a kind of rigidness which closes our minds to possibilities. We refuse to see reason and may become irrational in defending our pre-set judgements, which become written in stone for us. This kind of a mindset might have developed due to various reasons like our environment, conditioning, any experiences or stories that made a mark on our minds at a weak moment, some convincing narratives, or biases towards our own circles. This simply limits our purview and builds boundaries around our thinking, and encourages the ‘you are with me or against me…’ mindset. Everything we see, hear or come across is compared vis-a-vis the blueprint in our minds and is rejected and actively contested if it doesn’t conform.

This is exactly what is needed for those who need to influence us in their favor, whether it is a marketer, a politician or a Godman/Guru. All that they need is our soft spot/weak spot to hit on and take a permanent seat there. This works in their favor of as they need people to be divided and be ready to be influenced. We see this happening time and again, but still keep falling prey to it. We become blind to anything that goes against those we believe in. It enrages us to even hear anything against them and the doctrines they propagate, such is our faith in them. We even pity those who don’t believe what we believe and can’t see what we believe is the truth! We may pick on them or even choose to cut them off. Such is the extent of blind faith!

I am inviting you to give this a thought and try and keep an open mind. Nobody is above doubt and the realm of truth. It is certainly worth considering both sides of the coin before deciding its worth, the worth of our faith. Blindness to the other side only leaves us gullible and makes the miscreants stronger. No ego in admitting that our initial convictions didn’t match up. We don’t have to hang on to what we have decided as the ultimate truth. It is okay to open our minds and expand our thinking for greater good and our own sanity!