There are two kinds of minds - the 180 degree mind and the 360 degree mind. While the first one has fixed viewpoints, the latter does not have any preconceived notions - not even the preconceived notion that there should not be any preconceived notions. To make this more clear, let me pass on to you a short and insightful story:
Kabir never accepted any gift from his disciples. But his son Kamal never refused anything that his disciples brought to him. This made Kabir unhappy.
One day, he reproached his son: "I do not accept any gift because gifts mean nothing to me. But it pains me to know that you grab all that your disciples bring to you."
Kamal said: "Father, if gifts mean nothing to you, why are you bothered whether I accept them or reject them?" Here, Kabir had an 180 degree mind, and Kamal a 360 one.
This is where it puzzles me the most. The saints and holy mortals 'leave' everything to 'attain' moksha. We have to do acts of 'selflessness' so that everybody 'loves' us. God is impartial and divine beyond the horizons of imagination, so be 'grateful' to Him and 'worship' him. Specks of valuable wisdom have rippled across generations. But a more critical and closer look reveals the fact that most, if not all, people have a 180 degree mind only.
The more I think about it, the foundations and concepts of all religions seem unreal and based on a few selfish needs. Power, money and fame seems to be playing a role everywhere including the divine areas supposed to be devoid of 'power, money and fame' and all the human materialistic temptations. Religion is a shepherd ruling the lambs tied to the pole of enlightenment and fenced by fear. "Without God's will, you cannot make the slightest move" is also a 180 degree mind viewpoint. But then again, insisting that everything is free will is also the same. When something happens, it just happens. How you perceive the happening is a matter of choices (bound or unbound) and perspectives.
On the other hand, isn't it better not to have a 360 degree mind. 'Total' disjunction doesn't really mean attaining the highest level of Maslow's hierarchy, rather a transformation into something entirely different, scaringly inhuman. Why would someone want to be so selfless and detached from the world. Maybe the selfishness of a higher goal makes one selfless on smaller things. If religion is able to bind countless people, isn't that itself a huge success, irrespective of the true superior motive. One's gain is not necessarily one's loss and in the end, it is just every man for himself. The path is chosen that 'seems' more rosy and perspectives are made that are more 'rational'. True 360 seems surreal and unattractive. It can never drive you forward because thats what it stands for.
