A lot of people feel threatened if they feel they are being asked to question their cherished beliefs or their perception of reality. Yet questioning is what keeps our minds supple and strong.
Simply settling on one way of seeing things and refusing to be open to other possibilities makes the mind rigid.
Being open-minded means that we are willing to question everything, including those things we take for granted. A willingness to question everything, even things we are sure we are right about, can reinvigorate our minds, opening us up to understanding that was alien to us before. This alone is good reason to remain inquisitive, no matter how much experience we have or how old we get.
In the personal growth arena, this willingness to question is known as beginner’s mind, and it has a way of generating possibilities we couldn’t have seen from the point of view of knowing something with certainty. The willingness to question everything doesn’t necessarily mean we don’t believe in anything at all, and it doesn’t mean we have to question every single thing in the world every minute of the day. It just means that we are humble enough to acknowledge how little we actually know about life.
Nearly every positive change in the history of human progress came about because someone questioned some time-honoured belief and in doing so revealed a new truth, a new way of doing things. A commitment to staying open in our own individual lives can lead us to new personal revolutions and truths.
As I often state, only an open mind is a young mind, and will continue to grow up; a closed mind is only growing old, not growing up!
May you always live inspired,
Vikas Malkani
www.vikasmalkani.com
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