Vincent’s boots

Facts are simple, essential and indifferent. Opinions are clamorous, contradictory and attention-seeking.

Divestment

In the game’s second half, there are sundry encouragements to let go of things—if not actual then conceptual, e.g., mental things. In practice, this means relinquishing our opinions. Sadly, for many of us, this is just not an option.

What it doesn’t do

An open mind is a mind that does not judge. Yes, it has a way of seeing things, a point of view, but it nurses no opinions, harbours no resentments, renders no judgements.

Moulted men

They still come around, unnoticed and low-shouldered, the quiet ones so devoted to truth that they moulted their opinions. Lao Tzu: “Those who speak do not know. Those who know do not speak.”

Quiet seeing

We measure self-righteousness by the strength of our opinions. We aren’t born with opinions; neither do we die with them. Rare is he who sees quietly—who sees what he sees without forming an opinion about it. Clarity is charity.