When perceiving things, our mind routinely reduces reality to not just convenient categories but also judgemental labels. Because our mind is inside us, it is difficult to detect. And because it is constantly and often compellingly active, its ideas are difficult to resist, let alone reject. That’s how we gravitate toward narrow-mindedness, without our awareness and even against our intentions. 

How can we progress on the difficult journey toward becoming broad-minded? First, by regularly reminding ourselves that reality is usually broader than our mind’s labels; second, by rigorously re-examining our conceptions of reality whenever we somehow sense that we might be succumbing to narrow-mindedness in perceiving a specific aspect of reality, say, a particular ethnic group. 

Suppose we grew up in a culture filled with negative stereotypes about a certain ethnic group: say, they all are dumb. If our mind has internalized that cultural influence, then it will automatically affix a pejorative label to any new person we meet from that group. To counter our mind, we need to look for signs of intelligence in whoever we encounter from that group. And we need to interact with people from that group who are known to be intelligent. When we thus discover how flawed our labels are, we graduate toward broad-mindedness. 

Gita wisdom helps us in this journey by raising our consciousness toward the mode of goodness and beyond. In the mode of goodness, we acquire the ability to perceive how we perceive (14.11). That is, we become internally distanced enough from our mind to sense whenever it might be giving us a distorted take on reality. Acting on that intuition, when we strive to take a fresh look at things, we open ourselves to stimuli and experiences that broaden our understanding. 

One-sentence summary:  

To become broad-minded about any aspect of reality, consciously seek experiences that demonstrate how that reality is broader than our mind’s labels for it. 

Think it over: 

  • Why do we gravitate toward narrow-mindedness?
  • How can we become broad-minded?
  • How can Gita wisdom help us become broad-minded? 

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14.11: The manifestation of the mode of goodness can be experienced when all the gates of the body are illuminated by knowledge.

Why it is difficult to be broad-minded

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