Open Minds

When you open your minds will your brains fall out?

Bill Coffin once said that some people are so open minded their brains fall out.  How do we repair the damage?  Is there a way to be receptive to new ideas without losing control over reason? 

I have several suggestions.  First, don’t reject anything “out of hand.”  No matter how “liberated” we are (or think we are) we see the world through a cultural lens.  Some ideas are immediately abhorrent, immodest, weird or looney.  All of these are signs that our minds are rising to the defense of common thinking. 

Second, be gentle.  New ideas are tender shoots, fighting for light and moisture in the unhospitable ground of established truth.  Take them under your wing, so to speak, and let them grow and mature.  Their fruits may not resemble their thorns.  The odd seedling in your garden may prove worth keeping. 

Third, be tough minded.  There is only so much room in the practical world of policy analysis and proposal.  We can’t be pinwheels of energy and expect to be seen as more than casual entertainment.  The games we play, or have earned the right to play, are hard ball. 

Fourth, be creative.  The real world is a multiplicity of ideas that are interdependent and in combination are different than viewed and experienced separately.  Catalysts are not just for chemistry.  Blends not just for wine.  Human ingenuity is not, or not primarily, the discovery of a “new” idea, it is the integration of ideas into plans and dreams and hopes. 

Finally, don’t pay too much attention to the above, one through four.  Single malt Scotch is noble.  Ride the winds of thought.  Bet the farm.  All brains are well anchored.