Reflection
It is dangerous to oneself and others to live rigidly in one’s own world. No matter what the factual evidence may be, a view based in one’s own perception or bias prevents openness to the surrounding reality. The facts are there but paying attention to them would be too problematic. It would require one to face reality and change. It would mean losing our comfortable illusions. It’s easier to ignore the facts and hold on to our own views. We can all recite the lengthy litany that excuses action.
Prayer
Lord, that I may see!
Action
Are you caught in this mind set? Are you closed to opposing viewss without evaluating their worth or whether your facts are accurate? How can you enable yourself to think freely and make positive choices?
Suggested Reading
If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone should rise from the dead.
Luke 16:31
You have seen many things, but you do not observe them; Your ears are open, but none hears.
Isaiah 42:20
You may live in an imperfect world but the frontiers are not closed and the doors are not all shut.
Maxwell Maltz
Your assumptions are your windows on the world. Scrub them off every once in a while, or the light won’t come in.
Isaac Asimov
The death of democracy is not likely to be an assassination from ambush. It will be a slow extinction from apathy, indifference, and undernourishment.
Robert M. Hutchins
Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don’t resist them; that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.”
Lao Tzu
Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change.
Stephen Hawking
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.
Aldous Huxley
Learn to adapt. Things change, circumstances change. Adjust yourself and your efforts to what it is presented to you so you can respond accordingly. Never see change as a threat, because it can be an opportunity to learn, to grow, evolve and become a better person.”
Rodolfo Costa
A closed mind is a dying mind.
Edna Ferber
Every now and then a man’s mind is stretched by a new idea or sensation, and never shrinks back to its former dimensions.
Oliver Wendell Holmes
It’s amazing what ordinary people can do if they set out without preconceived notions.
Charles F. Kettering