Open your Mind
I have just come up with a hierarchy of best ways to broaden my mind. Or any mind.
Firstly, travel. Experience what other people experience. Taste, see, smell, feel, speak. How can you understand someone's view if you don't understand the context, the soil from which the fruit drew nourishment? Interact with people, and both can learn.
Secondly, but probably more likely to occur, read. Fiction, non-fiction, self-help, whatever, just read. Learn from history's successes and failures to guide your actions. Learn from fictional characters how to test the limits of your mind, to explore what you would and would not do in ANY circumstance. I think my favorite books are all fiction. See what pearls there are: "The existence of this world is simply a guarantee that there exists a world that is perfect. God created the world so that, through its visible objects, men could understand his spiritual teachings and the marvels of his wisdom." Also, "When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better, too." Both quotes from The Alchemist, which is fiction, but which contains truth. Provide interaction for your mind, and it will grow.
Thirdly, and perhaps the most likely to happen, but the least beneficial, watch television. Why am I even including this? Well, I've found that most people my age don't read. Not that they can't. They just don't. It's true that you can get through a story faster if the media used is audio/visual. It's true that you can still learn things, because it's hard to show a bunch of nothing. It can also be far easier to do in a group than reading is. So I include it because a) TV provides an opportunity for people interaction, and if not that, b) it at least provides some piece of information, factual or not, that the brain can contemplate.
Lastly, and most importantly, religion. For some un-reason, (by which I mean it is not actually reason), people in general think that religion closes minds. And they could provide me with a long list of people who, in the name of religion, do silly things. Well, for goodness sake, that doesn't mean religion is bad. Just that some people's interpretation of it is. Same with love. Lots and lots and lots of silly things have been done in the name of love. But love isn't a bad thing. And as everyone who has been exposed to Disney knows, true love conquers all. True religion is quite similar, because religion is founded on love. God so loved the world. Love one another. And how, exactly, can you love someone if you don't understand them? To understand them, you must broaden your mind, illuminate your soul, and test the Word. "for ye know that the word hath swelled your souls, and ye also know that it hath sprouted up, that your understanding doth begin to be enlightened, and your mind doth begin to expand. O then, is not this real? I say unto you, Yea, because it is light; and whatsoever is light, is good, because it is discernible, therefore ye must know that it is good" [Alma 32:34]
Really I should have put this reason first, because it is first in the hierarchy. But you know, sometimes the first shall be last. For rhetorical reasons.
Firstly, travel. Experience what other people experience. Taste, see, smell, feel, speak. How can you understand someone's view if you don't understand the context, the soil from which the fruit drew nourishment? Interact with people, and both can learn.
Thirdly, and perhaps the most likely to happen, but the least beneficial, watch television. Why am I even including this? Well, I've found that most people my age don't read. Not that they can't. They just don't. It's true that you can get through a story faster if the media used is audio/visual. It's true that you can still learn things, because it's hard to show a bunch of nothing. It can also be far easier to do in a group than reading is. So I include it because a) TV provides an opportunity for people interaction, and if not that, b) it at least provides some piece of information, factual or not, that the brain can contemplate.
Lastly, and most importantly, religion. For some un-reason, (by which I mean it is not actually reason), people in general think that religion closes minds. And they could provide me with a long list of people who, in the name of religion, do silly things. Well, for goodness sake, that doesn't mean religion is bad. Just that some people's interpretation of it is. Same with love. Lots and lots and lots of silly things have been done in the name of love. But love isn't a bad thing. And as everyone who has been exposed to Disney knows, true love conquers all. True religion is quite similar, because religion is founded on love. God so loved the world. Love one another. And how, exactly, can you love someone if you don't understand them? To understand them, you must broaden your mind, illuminate your soul, and test the Word. "for ye know that the word hath swelled your souls, and ye also know that it hath sprouted up, that your understanding doth begin to be enlightened, and your mind doth begin to expand. O then, is not this real? I say unto you, Yea, because it is light; and whatsoever is light, is good, because it is discernible, therefore ye must know that it is good" [Alma 32:34]
Really I should have put this reason first, because it is first in the hierarchy. But you know, sometimes the first shall be last. For rhetorical reasons.
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