Arrogance is one of the evils that our religion tells us to remove from our minds. People often think that arrogant people are wrong in their opinions; but we can be right in our opinions or arguments and still be arrogant. Having arrogance often distorts or prevents other relevant facts from our minds. Arrogance prevents us from assimilating all the information in order to make a correct decision. In the Ofudesaki is the following verse:
Though I have gathered many and varied trees (potential church members),
those that are like a distorted mirror will not do. 3-50
The distorted mirror does not reflect the true image, as one that is arrogant will not be able to truly interpret what he sees or hears. This is what is happening to people in this world. Whether it affects you personally like the road rages on our freeways or impersonally like the divisiveness in our political system, arrogance appears to be the factor that contaminates and distorts our minds.
How do we remove arrogance from our mind? In fact, how do we remove any evil thoughts from our minds? More to follow in my future blogs; stay tuned.
