what does it mean to be open minded?

to you?

ideally, philosophically, in theory?

how about in practice, how does it actually manifest in your life moment to moment?

do you find this to be important, or not?

discuss!

 

To me it means that you accept other peoples ideas, not neccesarily agreeing with them, but hearing people out on different ideas and giving them opportunity to present their case.
being optomistic etc..

 

willing to learn and change if need be

 

Understanding and accepting that there are more ideas and ideals than your own.

 

use your imagination

 

Not closing your mind to others ideas and beliefs. Being understanding and accepting, especially if you dont agree.

 

Calling anyone else close minded that doesnt think like me

 

Pretty much what I think & yes it's important to personal development.

How can one grow if you close yourself off?

This life is experience, without experience there is no life.

Sitting on a couch getting fat, watching TV is certainly someone's choice... but it's no life. Yet you need to open yourself up to the fact that some may believe it is.



I suppose the best way I could put it:

It's about allowing freedom within yourself... freedom within yourself extends to all those around you :sunny:

 

Willing to entertain different ideas, though not necessarily to respect or accept those ideas.

 

I actually think respect is the biggest part of being open-minded.

 

It means to live and let live. Everyone has god given rights, and when I am ideally open minded, I make no judgments about the way people decide to live. There are some "styles" or "conditions" or "enviornments" that I would NEVER choose, such as satanism, or polygamy, or being solitary, or living on a boat, or being a nun, etc. So there's nothing wrong with having differences about preference, but I don't want to be elevated nor disrespected for the choices I make. Open mindedness is neutrality.

 

Yes - Maelstrom has already pre-judged opinions he has not yet heard.

That is not being open-minded.

Respect is a fundamental part of being open-minded... you have to offer respect to truly listen.

Without respect, it's just noise to be discarded.


I respect his choice to close himself off.

 

I am simply going by the world-wide accepted dictionary definition of the term, which makes no mention of respect.

 

It's most definitely an implied term in the definition:

By your lack of respect, you are demonstrating a bias and prejudice.

If you do not truly listen, how can you understand the concept? That is not receptive.

As I said... you have already made your decision about certain opinions before you've even heard them... that is close-minded.



So have I, I don't deny that... I think we are all varying degrees of close-minded. Some closer to being open-minded than others and some more willing to push to consider all.

 

The word respect is no where to be found in that definition you posted. If it is to be implied, it is doing a piss-poor job.

 

If you do not believe the person or their idea has worth - how can you consider it?

How can you listen to them without extending them courtesy?

Clearly, the term is implied by the words chosen for the definition..

 

Quite easily. As ridiculous.

 

Subjugation is the way forward, clearly

 

Slippery Slope.