Originally posted by divegeester
Convince me I should follow your view or philosophy.
A recent exchange with robbie carrobie provoked me to thinking about openness to new ideas and how, no matter how "informed" or educated a person may claim to be, if they are closed to even the slightest piece of new information or revelation then they/you/me/us are trapped in our own, or worse, someone else's paradigm.
I want to be open.
Openness, but not "following" or "convincing". Why? These words imply, for me, a threat to openness. They imply choosing one over the other. They imply too many defining edges. This can lead to the destruction of an open heart and mind. With openness all can then be ours.
If those words are accompanied with such words as "at present", "from this viewpoint", "in this situation or context" then the threat of failure of "openness" is countered.
But one cannot operate effectively from such a shifting stance, I can expect to hear.
Sometimes one is gentle, another time hard. Sometimes one is as certain as rock, another time full of airy nothing, saying rocks don't even exist. Be not so sure, even in your certainty and the "spirit" (such a deliciously indefinable word) will move where it will in you, spontaneous and free.
Some may say it is inconsistent. But openness is consistent with itself.
The hardest of sciences advance fastest and best where there is openness. Closed scientific stances and positions have always held back mankind. Still do. Dynamic teams are built on openness.-
But what of Machiavelli and such dark philosophies? Should we not cast them out quickly? Openness does not mean agreement. But if you close immediately off to such what have you gained? What have you learnt of the shifts and corners of the human mind, and a track through them? Have you had your goodness tested by sheer slamming of the door? Your mind sharpened? Your openness may well be the very antidote to the poison it apparently allows in to the room. Openness can swallow darkness in a gulp. True openness is itself invulnerable.
Being open, truly open is freedom and strength. It is able most effectively to live with the paradoxes and polarities of life. Closed minds stagnate and poison themselves. Closed minds breed fear, suspicion and rejection. Closed minds do not see the dangers coming from the other direction, the different view, the surprise waiting in the different.
What am I doing? I am trying to convince you to be open - I fail! Ah well, it was fun writing it.