The world is so incredibly complicated. Yet many people are absolutely sure they are right about what needs to be done. This baffles me because there are no easy solutions. How can they be so sure? Even the experts don’t agree about what to do about the problems we face in the world today.
This got me curious about where this sureness of opinion comes from. Maybe they know more than the rest of us? It seems unlikely they know more than the experts. Maybe they go looking for information that supports their points of view? All of us want ideas that support the way we see things. Isn’t however important to see if what we claim is true? If we don’t question our points of view then we have this way of seeing things that is not based on any clear thinking.
Political points of view often fall into this unexplored category where ideas are just repeated over and over even when there is no proof they work or sometimes even clear evidence they don’t work. How come these so called answers to our problems aren’t investigated by those who jump on the bandwagon? Do they think the importance of finding the truth isn’t relevant or necessary?
Thank you, if you have hung on this far. It is probably time for me to get to the point. My point is that we always need to question our thoughts and our opinions. If we don’t then the beliefs we hang on to are from a closed mind. Closed minds are a waste of human potential.
I will even venture to say that people who are absolutely sure they are right about their ideas are most often wrong. They are wrong because their minds are run by the need to be right not by the need to find the truth.
This need to be right is a great problem in humanity. It is driven by the survival mind, not the higher mind that seeks truth. In the survival mind we think the world is out to get us so we live in fear and worry. Fear and worry causes us to contract, to close down. The problem with closing down is that too often that means closing our minds and even more costly closing our hearts.
In some segments of society, the world seems to be having an epidemic of closed mindedness and closed hearts. Sadly people believe all their own thoughts. Many don’t question their ideas even when that aren’t working but fit some kind of dogmatic way of looking at the world. People actually hold onto false ideas that get in the way of positive possibilities in their lives.
There is no evidence of higher mind at work when narrow-mindedness prevails. The seeking of truth has become secondary to holding on tightly to opinion. Higher mind seeks the truth and is guided by the hearts wisdom, intuition and the part of us that is able to be curious beyond old ideas and limiting thoughts.
Maybe this epidemic is a reflection of our times where uncertainty is the only thing certain? Maybe the survival mind also known as the reptilian brain is in full protection or aggression mode for the purpose of keeping us safe? Or maybe this closed down thinking is because change is so present that people want to do everything they can to hold it back?
Change seems inevitable and part of the process of all living things. The evolutionary story of all species is one of adaptation. In humanity the old stories of might makes right, survival of the fittest and other limiting ideas are slowly being replaced by the realization of the global community and they need to work together for solutions. The survival of the planet and all of us has to be a joint effort with our minds coming together. Yes there are those fighting like mad to hold onto the old ways but they are going to loose the battle. Today is another day. The great values of the past, the ones that matter most, can be brought forward. The past ideas that represent limiting thinking will perish as do the other organism that don’t adapt. There is hope for us who seek positive changes in the world.
***One of my favorite journalist is returning to TV this weekend - Bill Moyers’ has a new show called Moyers And Company. Bill is a great example of a person who asks real question in search of the truth.