Single page handout FIRST SEM. M.A. Phil.

Satya Nilayam.

Indian Religions & Cultures

04. Openness
16 Sep 2021
Reality:
§ The reality of vastness: A vast cosmos that invites us to be open. Opposite of vastness is imprisonment.
The inside of us is also vast! This is ineffable (that which cannot be described into words)
§ The reality of variety: Consider history, geography, civics. There’s variety everywhere. The opposite is
monism. The use of the word ‘polysophy’- to insist on variety
§ The reality of belonging and yet not belonging: We belong to a particular time, space, culture, etc. and
yet we don’t completely ‘own it’ or can it own us! E.g. Is Jesus a monopoly of the Christians? Is Jesus
just a historical figure?
§ The reality of ‘conditioning’: We are all ‘conditioned’ in our thinking – Krishnamurthi.
§ The reality of ‘control’: The illusion of control, that we are in control of ourselves, others, etc., but the
fact is that we are controlled by our inner negative or positive thoughts, our ‘temporality’, etc.
What is life?
§ “You must understand the whole of life, not just one little part of it. That is why you must read, that is
why you must look at the skies, that is why you must sing, and dance, and write poems, and suffer, and
understand, for all that is life.” ― Jiddu Krishnamurti
Freedom from the known:
§ Comforts offer us a sense of safety. But they also make us stagnant. We are humans, and it is our
nature to be dynamic.
§ “One is never afraid of the unknown; one is afraid of the known coming to an end.”― Krishnamurti
The need:
§ To be open to life. To be open to life is to be open to experience. To be open to experience is to FLOW
(Taoism concept).To be flowing is to go beyond safety, fear, etc.
Openness to Experience:
§ There are six aspects of openness to experience:
§ These are: openness to action, openness to ideas, openness to values, openness to aesthetics,
openness of fantasy, openness to feelings.
Illustration:
§ Photography: unless the lens are opened, the outside beauty cannot be captured inside.
Intellectual humility
§ It is a virtue drawn from religion. It is a virtue that is in between two excesses : it’s the willingness to
change, and the wisdom to know when you shouldn’t.
§ Four components of intellectual humility: a) having respect for other viewpoints, b)not being
intellectually overconfident, c) Separating one’s ego from one’s intellect, 4) willingness to revise one’s
own viewpoint (Elizabeth J. Krumrei-Mancuso & Steven V. Rouse (2016) The Development and Validation of the
Comprehensive Intellectual Humility Scale, Journal of Personality Assessment, 98:2, 209-
221, DOI: 10.1080/00223891.2015.1068174

Openness and emptiness

§ Buddhist philosophy’s Sunyata (translated as emptiness, or nothingness). But the best translation is
probably openness, since Buddha uses the metaphor of etheric space (akasa). This ether is luminous,
filled with light, “a boundless openness not filled with essence” (McCagney in her book Nagarjuna and the
Philosphy of Openness”)

Reality Check:
§ Do we ‘hide’ ourselves behind our conditioned minds or are we open to new realities?
§ Are we blind? Or do we blind ourselves?
§ Do we hide in our delusions, blaming and excuses?
§ What is the opposite of openness? Secrecy, opaqueness, ignorance?

Robin Seelan SJ