As I once heard Grey Cook say, “the most objective person in the room is the person who realizes they can’t be objective.” Grey was pointing out that the person who knows they can’t know anything for sure actually knows something! This fact and other psychological distortions are described in the spirituality of Buddhism and Yoga as Avidya, meaning delusion, ignorance, or “incorrect understanding.”
Why is this important in spirituality? Because our suffering comes from believing we know something. Patanjali and Buddha were correct in assessing that humans misperceived the world and the Dunning-Kruger effect is scientific proof of one of many psychological traps we are prone to.
The more awake person tends to hold her beliefs lightly. She’s ready to change her mind at any moment. You may not be able to easily convince them of your perspective, but they are not attached to believing they have all the facts or perceive the world accurately. They are genuinely open-minded without being tied to any idea of what open-mindedness should look like.
-Douglas Johnson E-RYT 500, YACEP, OM, Certified KI Facilitator
