W. Lee Baker Author Musings

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January 16, 2018 By W. Lee Baker

The “Dangers” of An Open Mind

Have you ever gone looking for an opener for your mind? Maybe you went to the store to look around and finally asked a clerk who replied with pride, “Oh, most people only want unopened ones, you won’t find any openers here”.

Having an open mind could lead to contradictory information that needs to be thoughtfully sorted out. That could be hard. Having a fixed opinion is the way to have a comfortable easy position in your family, community, and society, presentable value. The idea of trying on a different flavor of opinion and putting it into your head isn’t why most of us shop. We shop looking for something comfortable, like the same old things we already know and love. Nothing else needed. No problem? So others who are differently opinioned are just wrong, right?

Have you heard of the game Twister? It’s where you are twisted into strange positions on a human sized puzzle board. Fun for some random contact with friends and neighbors. The idea that there is nothing new or different one could embrace for a “better life” is quite a brain twister.

There are people still shopping for a flat earth, The Flat Earth Society. I have seen that one with my own eyes on TV. Someone spouting off that there is a flat earth out there to be found, they say that the information is out there, on the internet. They actually said that. It may be known that the sun revolves around the earth, it’s plain to see.

So the next time you are out looking around, try on a different point of view. Something we all could use: an open mind.

Click Here for a guide to exercising your ability to have an open mind.

Filed Under: Meditations, Noticing in everyday life

MEDITATIONS

John Burroughs

To find the universal elements enough; to find the air and the water exhilarating; to be refreshed by a morning walk or an evening saunter; to be thrilled by the stars at night: to be elated over a bird’s nest or a wildflower in spring… these are some of the rewards of the simple life.

John Burroughs
Rumi

We began as mineral. We emerged into plant life, and into the animal state, and then into being human, and always we have forgotten our former states, except in early spring when we slightly recall being green again.

Rumi
Hermann Hesse

For me, trees have always been the most penetrating preachers. I revere them when they live in tribes and families, in forests and groves. And even more I revere them when they stand alone. They are like lonely persons. Not like hermits who have stolen away out of some weakness, but like great, solitary men, like Beethoven and Nietzsche.

Hermann Hesse
Dalai Lama

When the days become longer and there is more sunshine, the grass becomes fresh and, consequently, we feel very happy. On the other hand, in autumn, one leaf falls down and another leaf falls down. The beautiful plants become as if dead and we do not feel very happy. Why? I think it is because deep down our human nature likes construction, and does not like destruction.

Dalai Lama
Ray Stevens - 1939

Everything is beautiful in its own way. Like the starry summer night, or a snow-covered winter’s day. And everybody’s beautiful in their own way. Under God’s heaven, the world’s gonna find the way. There is none so blind as he who will not see. We must not close our minds, we must let our thoughts be free. For every hour that passes by, we know the world gets a little bit older,it’s time to realize that beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder.

Ray Stevens - 1939
Native American

We return thanks to our mother, the earth, which sustains us. We return thanks to the rivers and streams, which supply us with water. We return thanks to all herbs, which furnish medicines for the cure of our diseases. We return thanks to the moon and stars, which have given to us their light when the sun was gone. We return thanks to the sun, that has looked upon the earth with a beneficent eye. Lastly, we return thanks to the Great Spirit, in whom is embodied all goodness, and who directs all things for the good of her children.

Native American
Rainer Maria Rilke

If you trust in Nature, in the small Things that hardly anyone sees and that can so suddenly become huge, immeasurable; if you have this love for what is humble and try very simply, as someone who serves, to win the confidence of what seems poor, then everything will become easier for you.

Rainer Maria Rilke
Stuart Wilde ~ 1946

Watch nature, because it is your greatest teacher. It moves and flows and moves on again. There is an incredible beauty out there in the mountains, in the forests, to teach you it’s silence, it’s beauty, it’s humility. Stay aligned to that.

Stuart Wilde ~ 1946

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FROM W LEE BAKER

I am a testimonial to waking up from the deep sleep buried in clouds of doubt. I wandered lost until I found my way into this life, and I am ever thankful and reverent of the mistakes and losses along the way. Now I hope to offer inspiration to others who find this story.

– W Lee Baker

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