A Transformed Mind

What’s a topic or issue about which you’ve changed your mind?

The question from the prompt is really, “Have you changed your opinion about anything?” What a question! Am I alive? Well then, my opinions¹ about everything are constantly in flux no matter what I tell myself.

Opinions Change, Sometimes Often

Opinions. “Has my opinion changed about any topic or issue?” My opinion has changed about everything! For much of my life, my opinion has changed with the prevailing wind, blowing this way and that way. I admired one political party; then, I admired another political party. I preferred sunrises; then I preferred sunsets. I preferred beaches; then I preferred mountains. You can see where this is going.

I have been changeable, even moody. What is more, I am certain that I am correct about my current opinion. How could my current opinion be correct when fifteen minutes ago my radically different opinion was correct? How can an opinion even be correct? By definition opinions are not substantiated. Opinions are simply a matter of personal perception.

Changing Mind: More than Opining²

Transformation. One of my teachers, Fr. Richard Rohr, shared this quote: We see the world as we are, not as it is! Reflect on that statement for a moment. What I see and have opinions about is a world as seen through my current viewing platform: myself. I see the world through my lens. Is there a way to see the world otherwise, without my lens and you without yours? Yes, we can glimpse the world as it is (without lenses) through practice. I must:

• Admit I have opinions.
• Admit I perceive the world through those opinions (my lens).
• Admit I have a desire to label the value of what I see based on my opinions.
• Realize I am not my thoughts, feelings, or opinions.
• Practice another way of perceiving.

It is possible to receive this moment just as it is without attaching a label, without the desire to change it. That is a real change of mind and heart, a transformation. The Christian Bible speaks of this “change of mind,” the word from Greek is metanoia³ which has often been poorly translated in the Bible as “repent.” This deeper change of mind is possible. Jesus himself was consistently practicing a pause, a reframing of seeing. If I am transformed in this way, my opinions will likely change. I may realize it is not necessary to have opinions about everything. However, the transformation is not about changing my opinions. The reason for transformation is to see the world as it is. What will I see if the lens through which I have seen the world and judged the world drops away? What would it be like to no longer feel compelled to decide “I like this” or “I don’t like that,” about everything that arises? What would it be like to no longer imagine myself an arbiter of correct and incorrect, morally right and wrong for everyone?

Each moment is simply a gift to be received with gratitude.

Changing the mind, transformation or metanoia, is about how the mind receives and processes this moment. A contemplative practice like meditation, centering prayer, or lectio divina allows us to receive and let go of the moment and our perception of it. In meditation, I let go of my lens. I realize I need not have an opinion about everything in every moment. Perhaps each moment is simply a gift, to be received with gratitude. Here are my thoughts:

• The world is changing; everything is changing.
• My perception of the world is changing.
• My opinion is changing as my perception changes.
• Perception shapes how I receive every arising moment.
• I want to receive this moment as it is, not as I am perceiving it to be.

Every moment is new; this moment offers to teach. Each moment can be a receptive moment, an open moment, a moment of being awake. I choose to simply receive this moment.

Will I release the lens through which I have measured each moment through a practice? Will you?

1. Opinion: (noun) A belief or conclusion held with confidence but not substantiated by positive knowledge or proof ↩︎
2. Opine:: (verb) Ts state as an opinion. From Middle French opiner, meaning “to express one’s opinion,” and Latin opīnārī, “to have in mind” or “to think.” ↩︎
3. Metanoia: (noun) A transformative change of heart (especially  : a spiritual conversion) ↩︎