Spirituality is rational: the path of knowing asks us to develop logical thinking and awareness rather than think in clichés.
Spirituality is rational. There is an opposite opinion, but it is incredibly far from the truth, because spirituality is a process of knowing that rests entirely on logic and rationality. Over time the picture of the world a person perceives evolves and grows more complex. So as we move forward on the path of knowing, we also need to refine our logical apparatus, that is, the working of our own mind.
There are two tendencies in the mind: toward worldly knowledge and toward spiritual knowledge. The hormone dopamine pushes people to make discoveries on the physical level. This brings joy and satisfaction. Any knowledge we gain needs to be thought through, and we should try to understand it deeply. Otherwise thinking becomes dogmatic, and people start to think in clichés. With some it goes so far that when you talk with such a person you feel as if you are speaking to an answering machine. The other person seems to be alive, yet they work only with the quotations, theses and judgments they already know, and they do not hear or take in your words at all, because they have hidden behind ready-made constructions and clichés that suit them.
Very often it is people with strong complexes who operate with dogmas: complexes of fear, inferiority or superiority. It is extremely important to develop awareness in both the physical and the spiritual spheres. Both are known through the mind, and if the mind holds clichés, they limit the process of knowing.
When thinking about any question, we need to consider the answer and draw conclusions. It is also useful to look at information that contradicts them and, while weighing how reliable it is, to question the conclusions already made. At that moment it is very important to try to bring together, to reconcile, the thesis and the antithesis. The outcome of this process is a synthesis. Newtonian mechanics, quantum mechanics and quantum physics are an example of thesis and antithesis combined. In the process of synthesis they somehow came to live side by side: conditions were defined for the macro level and for the micro level, and as a result our picture of the world widened. In this way, thanks to logical thinking, the mind's knowledge of the universe has grown deeper.
The better people understand the world, the more effectively they interact with it.
A person who operates with clichés is under the influence of tamoguńa; there is little dynamism in them, and their life flows on without change. The sign of dominant rajoguńa is constant change. Such people, for example, change their worldview at once whenever they receive any new information. The attempt to integrate this new data into one's picture of the world is already a subtler process. And that integration, that is, complete understanding of the essence, the completion of the process of realizing the truth, is the influence of sattvaguńa.
To realize the supreme Consciousness, a person needs to be in sattvaguńa. Rajoguńa is responsible for the striving to attain the Supreme. Under the influence of tamoguńa a person feels satisfied on the intellectual level but will not manage to reach the essence of things.
We must not cling to the ideas we have accumulated.
Spiritual practice: the daily effort, above all meditation, to move the mind toward the Infinite. is an attempt to feel what the supreme Consciousness is, setting aside all our preconceptions.
By doing sádhaná regularly you widen your perception and understand the picture of the world ever more precisely and deeply.
Try to make it a rule to look for the answer yourself before you ask someone a question. Then, in the course of a discussion, you will already have some information on the subject, and the answer may turn out to be fuller.
In India, dialogues are divided into three categories:
- The speakers are in tune with each other. Their minds are open: when one hears a new argument from the other, they "take it in" and "digest" it. Then a considered answer is given, and as a result understanding grows in both. The subject under discussion becomes clearer.
- The speakers talk in order to prove in argument that they are right. It does not matter to them whether truth is born in the dispute or not. Each one's only goal is to "crush" and "defeat" the other.
- The speakers do not offer reasonable arguments for their own position but try to discredit each other publicly, only to win the argument. This is the lowest kind of dispute. Naturally the speakers do not come closer to the truth; on the contrary, they move away from it.
It is very important to learn to think logically, to argue with dignity, to follow the principles of logic, and to use analysis and synthesis when looking for the answer to a question. Unfortunately many people pay no attention to this and speak thoughtlessly in stock phrases, which might be called a problem of our time. When people have a developed intellect and awareness, and understand how they should act, the number of inner conflicts decreases, and life becomes more harmonious, both inwardly and outwardly.