Open mindedness

[3DOP]

23 hours ago, Calm said:

I prefer to think of myself as aiming to be appropriately flexible.  Hard to know how well I achieve that as I am well aware of how people aren’t always aware of ourselves, especially how we come across to others.

People aren't always aware of ourselves! Yes Cal.

I doubt that I am the best judge of whether I am opened or closed minded. I should probably leave that question to someone less biased in my favor than me.

I think outsiders are often better judges of what/who we are than us "insiders" who might happily deceive ourselves. 

Anyway...

Me.

[OGHoosier]

This question seems a little loaded. Open-mindedness is generally viewed as a virtue, and close-mindedness its opposite.

I would generally regard myself as close-minded because I have a low view of human intuition, and ultimately open-mindedness generally just resolves to intuition. Whatever our traditions may be, they have emerged from natural selection at the very least, so I am inclined to trust them as being more in line with reality than my intuitions. 

[MustardSeed]

33 minutes ago, OGHoosier said:

This question seems a little loaded. Open-mindedness is generally viewed as a virtue, and close-mindedness its opposite.

 

This is fair.  That said, I think in religious contexts, open mindedness can be a lightning rod for judgement. 
 

When I was in my 30s I used to (for whatever reason) be very vocally opposed to all things plastic surgery.Now, with a little bit of life behind me, I am much more “open minded” about it. If I share that I’m open minded about it, people get quiet. When I was younger, and I used to be vocally against it, I would get a lot of validation and support for those opinions.  
if I was to state out loud to a group of LDS people that I have an open mind about marijuana use, I would expect to receive a lot of judgment about that. So often, I do not share my “open mindedness“ with mixed company.

[The Nehor]

2 hours ago, MustardSeed said:

This is fair.  That said, I think in religious contexts, open mindedness can be a lightning rod for judgement. 
 

When I was in my 30s I used to (for whatever reason) be very vocally opposed to all things plastic surgery.Now, with a little bit of life behind me, I am much more “open minded” about it. If I share that I’m open minded about it, people get quiet. When I was younger, and I used to be vocally against it, I would get a lot of validation and support for those opinions.  
if I was to state out loud to a group of LDS people that I have an open mind about marijuana use, I would expect to receive a lot of judgment about that. So often, I do not share my “open mindedness“ with mixed company.

Yeah, if I shared what i was open-minded about in Sunday School I would wind up getting released. That is actually my exit plan if I decide I don’t want to be clerk anymore. It is either that or ask for a release. Whichever I am feeling at the time.

[cacheman]

10 hours ago, 3DOP said:

People aren't always aware of ourselves! Yes Cal.

I doubt that I am the best judge of whether I am opened or closed minded. I should probably leave that question to someone less biased in my favor than me.

I think outsiders are often better judges of what/who we are than us "insiders" who might happily deceive ourselves. 

Anyway...

Me.

I'm incredibly open-minded!  I won't even listen to, let alone believe, anyone who says otherwise.

[caspianrex]

On 3/20/2023 at 9:51 PM, Calm said:

I prefer to think of myself as aiming to be appropriately flexible.  Hard to know how well I achieve that as I am well aware of how people aren’t always aware of ourselves, especially how we come across to others.

I like that phrase, "appropriately flexible." If I think back to my 20's, for example, I probably thought at the time that I was very "open-minded." However, I probably wasn't all that flexible in my opinions. Now that I'm in my 50's, I suspect I have even stronger opinions on many different issues, but decades of life experience have taught me that my opinions may not be shared by other people, and I'd like to think that I'm considerably more open to that idea than I was when I was younger. Don't know if that makes sense, but it's what came to mind as I've been reading this thread.

[Kenngo1969]

I was open-minded once ... but then my brain fell out, so ...   

  

Seriously, though: In some ways, the older I get, the less I realize I actually know.  I do have firm convictions, however, that are based on my personal experience.  On the other hand, I don't work for the Acme Judgement Company.  I do try to remember that I am not the lone fortunate soul among mortals who sees things, not as I am but as they are.  

I don't envy judges—whether they are of the In Israel variety or in a courtroom.  Fortunately, I doubt, seriously, that I will ever have to carry either heavy mantel.  Joseph Smith added an all-important caveat to the "judge not" scripture in Matthew 7: "Judge not unrighteously."  

[Rain]

I see open mindedness a lot like @CV75.  Humility/open minded to what is true.  And open minded to agency. @Kenngo1969 mentioned the saying about the brain falling out, but I don't really see that idea as open minded.  I see it more as the wind blowing your thoughts here and there and never settling on truth.  Open minded/humility helps you be open to what is true and allows you to let others have agency.  

[Calm]

8 hours ago, caspianrex said:

decades of life experience have taught me that my opinions may not be shared by other people, and I'd like to think that I'm considerably more open to that idea than I was when I was younger. Don't know if that makes sense

It does.  Open mindedness to me doesn’t have to include agreement or being persuaded to change one’s mind, it needs to be even more about being willing to see others’ POV as reasonable and putting in the work to truly understand such and not dismiss it out of hand.

[BlueDreams]

On 3/19/2023 at 9:22 PM, MustardSeed said:

Where/when is “open mindedness” useful in the gospel?  Problematic? Dangerous? Crucial? 

I think the process of testing a seed described in alma 32 crucially needs some form of open-mindedness. There needs to be some space to at least be willing to try out the gospel in order for there to be a chance of growth in it. 

I don't know about problematic.  I would assume if there's no point in which one stabilizes in beliefs to a point that they're constantly rechecking ones they've come to learn are good and questioning themselves that could be delipidating to developing in one's faith. 

On 3/19/2023 at 9:22 PM, MustardSeed said:

Do you describe yourself as open minded?  Do you think you should be more or less open minded than you are? 
 

No, I generally don't. In the way that I mentioned above, sure I've been open minded. Especially when introduced to a new idea or something I've not thought about. But I think of myself more as curious and value perspective-taking. I assume if I truly knew a person, they would make sense even if I still disagreed with them. I also like understanding things/people in general. But understanding is not the same as being open-minded. I also strongly judge things. I judge whether I believe a person's initial stories, for example. When I have evidence to point to them bs-ing me or being in the wrong, I'm less likely to believe them when they insist they're not or that the other party is to blame. I'm curious about how a person may end up doing something evil or wrong. I'm not open to assuming that just because I can see how they got there that it means what they did wasn't the wrong choice. If I study an idea, say like flat earth, I'm not about to believe the earth is actually flat. And though I have found value and goodness in just about any religious system I've tried to understand, it doesn't mean I'm open to most of them to converting (though I've often been open to incorporating/participating in aspects that I like when appropriate).

 

With luv,

BD

 

[MustardSeed]

Thank you all.  This has been an important and relevant topic in my family as of late.  I appreciate the ideas. 

[3DOP]

Edited for length and inappropriate disclosure at this time and in this forum.

Rory

 

 

Edited March 25 by 3DOP

[3DOP]

On 3/22/2023 at 8:02 AM, cacheman said:

I'm incredibly open-minded!  I won't even listen to, let alone believe, anyone who says otherwise.

Heh.