An inclination or prejudice, whether towards or against something, constitutes bias.

In today’s polarized world, biases permeate various aspects, including media, politics, and culture. The extreme positions of the far left and right contribute to a landscape where individuals strive to promote their agendas, manipulate narratives, and sometimes present distorted versions of the truth. In this context, discerning the truth or essence becomes challenging amid a sea of opinions.

The critical questions arise: How does one make sense of the information inundating them? How does one discern the truth, the essence, amidst a barrage of opinions? These questions are of paramount importance and require attention in the formative years within the educational system. Presently, education heavily relies on diverse information, which is not inherently problematic. However, the crucial aspect missing is guidance on how to process this information objectively, without distorted perspectives. The role of the mind in the process of knowing and understanding is rarely addressed in today’s educational institutions, indicating a significant gap in cultivating critical thinking skills.

All prejudices and biases can be fundamentally understood as vrittis, which are modifications or distortions in the mind. These mental modifications hinder individuals from perceiving the world as it truly is, in accordance with the principle of yatha bhutam darshanam, which means seeing things as they are. Various vrittis can manifest as biases, including the initial one—pramana, which involves dual perception and a belief in right and wrong. Additionally, biases can stem from inferences (anumana), reliance on experts, external authority, and similar sources. Information based on these vrittis tends to result in bias.

Another significant vritti contributing to bias is viparyayah, involving wrong information, disinformation, propaganda, and related elements aimed at creating a specific bias. As long as the human mind is influenced by vrittis, genuine perception becomes challenging. Now, let’s examine some of the common biases prevalent in today’s world.

The most widespread form of bias is known as confirmation bias. Under the influence of this bias, individuals actively seek information that validates their existing beliefs, directly tied to the pramana-vritti. In simpler terms, the mind processes information based on what it already “knows.” What are the consequences of such thinking? It leads to a rigid and closed-minded approach, hindering one’s ability to comprehend the world in its true form. On a broader scale, this closed and inflexible thinking diminishes the potential for resolving complex socio-political, socio-cultural, and socio-economic issues. A mindset that adheres to pre-existing beliefs limits our capacity to think innovatively and generate creative solutions.

The second most common bias is known as coverage bias, where governments and the media, in particular, give disproportionate attention to certain topics and agendas. In some instances, stories may even be manipulated to align with a specific narrative, a direct manifestation of the viparyayah vritti. Constant exposure to unequal and skewed information or opinions tends to influence individuals to adopt the same perspective, constraining their thinking. In such cases, there is a lack of effort to uncover the true picture or seek information deliberately concealed.

The third prevalent bias, which can significantly influence the listener or reader, is the terse bias. This bias involves the selective presentation of information, providing only concise or clipped details while omitting the nuances and context. Examples of this bias in action include sound bites and quotes.

The fourth bias, frequently observed in densely populated countries and groups, is the group thinking bias. In this bias, individuals conform to widely held worldviews and align their own thoughts with collective thinking. This phenomenon is commonly known as herd mentality. This concept is illustrated by an incident in Turkey where over 50 sheep reportedly committed mass suicide. One sheep jumped off a cliff, and the rest of the flock followed suit. Similarly, in another incident in Turkey, approximately 1500 sheep leapt off a cliff, resulting in the death of around 450 sheep. This serves as a metaphor for how we tend to follow the thoughts of others without questioning our own thinking.

We encounter numerous biases in our daily lives and interactions with the world, provided we are conscious of them. A bias represents a modification or twist in our understanding, consequently restricting our responses to address pressing global issues. Is there a solution, and how does Integral learning relate to biases?

The refinement of the mind is a crucial aspect in the integral education framework. Among the five primary phases of mental education, the development of capacities such as expansion, widening, complexity, and richness holds a significant place. Currently, the human mind is imperfect, unable to transcend its limitations. Yet, it recognizes these limitations and yearns for infallible knowledge, unerring logic, and complete understanding. The mind itself must address its distortions, modifications, and reach a state of dissolution in absolute silence, allowing a higher wisdom to replace its flawed functioning. In Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, this is referred to as chitta vritti nirodh, the cessation of all disturbances of the mind. One of the goals of integral mental education is to enhance the mind’s functioning within its existing powers and capacities. This involves expanding the mind’s capabilities, examining various mechanisms (including social and psychological aspects) from diverse dimensions and angles, all while maintaining perfect equanimity.

The human mind employs two fundamental approaches to learning. The first is the analytical method, where the mind dissects the whole into its constituent parts and studies each part individually. For example, breaking down an aeroplane into its components—wings, engine, doors, fuselage, tail, cockpit, and so on—is an analytical approach, focusing on the individual parts without explaining their contributions to the overall functioning of the aeroplane or how the entire system operates independently of its parts.

On the other hand, the synthetic method involves combining the parts to form the whole. In this case, assembling the individual parts to construct the aeroplane allows for the study of the entire aircraft. This synthetic approach explores the interdependence of the parts, understanding how the entire “eco-system” of the aeroplane collaborates to enable flight and examining the interactions among different parts. A certain shift towards synthetic intelligence is what Integral education labours to realize.