That’s Just Your Opinion, Man

Opinions

Image by Tumisu from Pixabay

 

Surprise, it’s okay to not have an opinion about something! In fact, it’s completely acceptable to dump all opinions you currently hold about… well, everything!

I realize that isn’t a very popular opinion. (See what I did there?) We live at a time and in a society that values its opinions about everything from political parties, social movements, restaurant service, video content, social media posts, music quality, advertisement effectiveness, and on and on and on. Almost everything we run across includes a “Like” button, a review space, or a feedback feature and we’re continually pressured to decide what we think and to tell everyone. You’ll even find Like and Share buttons at the end of this article. (You don’t have to use them, you know…)

The essential Being which you are never holds opinions. You are not your mind. That which you essentially are does not, and even cannot, hold mental positions about anything. Clutching opinions forces you to live in a world of abstractions. It prevents you from really knowing the things or experiences you hold opinions about as they truly are.

Opinions keep us mentally locked into a conceptual past rather than consciously residing in presence. They are often based on former experiences or conditionings which prevent us from seeing the reality of what is being experienced now. They don’t allow for the truth that all things change, move, and transform. An opinion is simply a cartoon version of reality.

To not hold on to opinions doesn’t suggest we do not humanly have preferences. We can still enjoy the immediate experience of cardamom ice cream or Cardi B or House of Cards without needing to form an identity around that enjoyment. We do not need to make the dislike of Polka music into part of a personal story of who we are. Enjoy an experience in the present, agree with a religious perspective now, or dislike the food flavor you are currently experiencing, then let it go.

This is not an opinion: to remove opinions from your life is to move closer to the awareness of who you really are.