truth and prejudice

Truth and prejudice cannot coexist

By prejudice is meant any preconceived idea of what is true, any preconceived idea of the reality of the situation. If that preconception has come from memory, being projected into the present moment, from the past, then it assumes a certain pattern which may or may not be there. Life itself knows no patterns. Patterns are created by the mind. From these approximations of reality, our mind gets busy, preconceiving what will be.

So we tend to meet each moment with a preconception, which is a prejudice. We have judged in advance what a situation will be for us. It is very difficult to break through this prejudice. Yet, if we are to meet truth, we must do this, we must drop our prejudices; not just the gross prejudice in favour of this and against that, but this whole prejudicial mind, the whole tendency to move through life with preconceptions, prejudging a moment. For when we prejudge, we are not really open to what is, in the moment. Our mind is so intent on proving itself right that it will see what it needs to see to confirm its preconception. This is no way to see truth. For truth is a living thing, always fresh in the moment. To know it, to live in truth, you must approach each moment with an innocence, with an empty mind, like a new-born, curious as to what life is offering us in this moment, inquisitive for the truth but with no idea what it may be. This is the way of the truth coming to our life. For truth and prejudice cannot coexist.