The Power of a Free Mind

When the mind is open and free of prejudice there’s the possibility of allowing the light of consciousness to enter further and deeper. The free mind is very important to keep the flow of spiritual intelligence active and alive. The free mind remains fluid, flexible and non accumulating. It is open and sharp and therefore allows for ever greater realization of the mystery of reality. Let us explore this important topic in this blog post.

What is a Free Mind?

The free mind is a mind that first and foremost can always remain open. It is a mind that doesn’t have a period in the end of its claims, but rather three dots. The free mind doesn’t hold too tightly to any agenda of its own. Rather, it is willing to always ask anew, check, inquire and discover something beyond its limitations. While the normal conditioned mind loves to end with fixed ideas and opinions, the free mind has no boundaries. When your mind is overly fixed to its beliefs, conclusions and opinions it stops being alive. Instead of being fresh, creative and intelligent, it is stagnant and automatic. It may present very impressive statements, but they are coming from the past. They aren’t alive.

A mind that is free is also alive, fresh and evolving. Because it always allows its boundaries to expand, it responds with wisdom, creativity and intelligence. This is the only way your mind can actually meet reality in the living moment. Otherwise a mind filled with static conclusions is a mind of the past.

Spiritual Evolution and Your Mind

Many spiritual teachers say the very very wrong statement: “leave your mind” or “forget about your mind, or “cut the mind if you want to see the truth”. This is a deep misunderstanding of the nature of mind and frankly speaking shows a lack of intelligence in those teachers. Your mind is the vessel through which the infinite, ever-new light of consciousness flows endlessly into your being. Through your mind, this light informs you with an ever increasing clarity and vision of reality.

We should not leave the mind as it is an incredible force for spiritual evolution and enlightenment. What we should do is transform the mind. In what way? In a way that we empty it from rigid, automatic and ready-made beliefs, opinions and conclusions. When your mind becomes that open and free from any agenda to impose its opinions on reality, that’s when you can actually see reality! As you can start seeing, the mind can be an immense tool for spiritual awakening and evolution.

Real Listening and Wisdom

When you let go of the need to control reality with your mind, when you let go of any personal agenda, the gates of wisdom open. What is wisdom? Wisdom is the capacity to see different parts of the puzzle as one whole. It is that which makes what seems separate and fragmented become one and coherent. A free mind becomes a listening mind because it stops being forceful. It doesn’t impose its own agendas on others or reality. Therefore it can truly listen calmly and deeply.

The moment your mind can listen, you can truly perceive people, situations and reality in a far clearer and more holistic way. Because your mind has no fixation point you can literally perceive much more simultaneously.

Not Knowing is the Real Knowing

We always want to know. We believe that by knowing we will gain certainty and security. This is perhaps true when it comes to functional reality. Planning your schedule, doing groceries and taking down the trash are simple tasks that don’t demand any further inquiry. This is where well established functional understanding is necessary. But beyond that, sticking too tightly to knowing can become a hindrance. Why? Because static knowing belongs to the past and isn’t in line with the living, ever-fresh moment.

Not knowing is actually much more close to the nature of your mind. It is simply an unbound openness. Not knowing doesn’t mean not allowing any knowledge to come in. It simply means I am always open, having no fixed agenda, and by doing so I’m constantly informed with fresh knowledge. This fresh knowledge is totally aligned with now and not with the past. And that’s what makes the free mind much more evolutionary and deeply spiritual than a fixed mind.

How to Free the Mind?

I don’t like selling cheap slogans or cultivating untrue expectations. Therefore I’ll start by saying that to cultivate a free mind is work. And it takes time. There’s no quick fix. It’s a real spiritual practice. But it’s worth every bit of it. Here are a few ways in which you can practice the free mind:

1. In a conversation with a close friend/partner, try to notice all your ready made conclusions and ideas about them. Then for the next 15 minutes leave these conclusions aside. Make it a point to listen to your friend without any agenda. As if you never knew them before.
2. In meditation, instead of waiting for the usual experience that you had yesterday and the day before, forget it all for 15 minutes. Allow yourself to enter meditation without knowing or controlling how it will unfold and what you’ll experience.
3. Choose a deep question about life and ask it with innocence. Forget everything you already know about the subject and allow yourself to express new and surprising ideas and insights. Allow even yourself to be surprised by what comes up.

By following these techniques you will start to feel the freshness of the free mind. And you will be amazed to discover that not only you don’t need to get rid of the mind in spirituality, but that it is rather one of your best allies in spiritual awakening.