People will often give lip service to the idea of being open-minded, saying “I’m all for having an open mind, but not so open that my brain falls out.” Normally this means that a person is willing to consider new ideas, up to the point where some strong bias or prejudice kicks in.
Really, we cannot know if a new idea is absurd until we have considered it. If we refuse to consider it, we must be resigning ourselves to the limits of our previous conceptions, or misconceptions.
Exploring ideas can be confronting, even a little scary. However, the alternative is to maintain our prejudices, slowly hardening and moving in the walls that keep us from truly understanding the world.
The good news is, there are many tools that can aid us in our quest, such as logic, lateral thinking, the “six thinking hats”, and the idea of serious play.
Read the transcript and find important links on the site: A Beautiful Thought - Ask Questions: Episode 381
