This is from the fourteen mindfulness trainings from Thich Nhat Hanh. You can see them and more related information on the Deer Park Monastery website.
The Second Mindfulness Training: Non-attachment to Views
Aware of suffering created by attachment to views and wrong perceptions, I am determined to avoid being narrow-minded and bound to present views. I will learn and practice non-attachment from views in order to be open to others’ insights and experiences. I am aware that the knowledge I presently possess is not changeless, absolute truth. Truth is found in life and I will observe life within and around me in every moment, ready to learn throughout my life.
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I’ve found three little words that can really open my mind to some new views. They are “tell me more”. Okay, you can use four words if you like: “Please tell me more”. After you do, then simply listen. It’s a great way to see things, if even for a moment, from very likely a different point of view.
Attachment, as a creation of ignorance, is responsible for some of our greatest sufferings.
It can appear as attachment for people, places, or things.
But, perhaps the most damage is done when we attach, or cling, to beliefs and concepts. This attachment follows us wherever we go, hindering our ability to see things as they really are, thus promoting ignorance.
Even memories can be a great source of attachment, because we wished the moment of our memory to never change, and we cling to that moment even though it is already gone. Thus we live either in the past, which no longer exists, or our thoughts are in the future, where we imagine that moment will come again.
And it is thus that we MISS our entire life, because we are never truly here!
“I have already forgotten yesterday, and I know nothing of tomorrow, perhaps because neither exist!”
Shadows