What Opens Minds?

It isn’t new information that opens minds; it is seeing afresh that does it, without drawing a conclusion. Conclusions are formed from memory, and memory is limited and based on previous assumptions.

Assumption: a thing that is accepted as true or as certain to happen, without proof.

The mind opens in a moment of wonder or potential. We must be ready to see and, in seeing our assumptions, we can drop them, thereby achieving clarity. Assumption is no different from belief, and it is our assumptions that keep our minds closed.

Belief:  an acceptance that something exists or is true, especially one without proof.

Where do answers come from? Questions! Questions are moments of wondering, without jumping to a conclusion. Maybe the situation has a greater story that we first thought. To find evidence, we need clues, which don’t come from accepted assumptions or beliefs. We first have to look and see without jumping in, seeking personal ‘profit’ and ‘glory’.

The very moment that we drop the looking and seeing, we are left suspended, as in emptiness.

Suspend: temporarily prevent from being forced to judgement.

Stay silent. Take no side. Look beyond habitual tendencies.
Nothing changes mind as much as deep appreciation.