On the surface, which two personality traits appear to be of opposite qualities? Webster’s New Collegiate Dicitionary defines the adjective “open-minded” as receptive to arguments or ideas: Unprejudiced.” On the other hand, narrow-mindedness is defined in Websters New Collegate Dicitionary as “lacking in tolerance or breadth of vision: petty”.
Open-mindedness is seen by people as a positive quality to possess, whereas narrow-mindedness is viewed as an unflattering negative character trait. Society’s admiration is directed towards the open-minded being, whereas cynicism and loathing is directed towards the narrow-minded. Close-mindedness is something to be mocked.
The open-minded person is seen as being more liberal, more educated, more progressive and less prejudiced in his or her views. The ideal of open-mindedness is of one who can tolerate and listen to other views and, therefore, understand other groups of people, even the close-minded segment of the population. It will never be the narrow-minded who could achieve this goal of understanding. For instance, one could classify this group of religious evangelists and evangelism as narrow-minded, (socially and politically dangerous.) They cannot accept that society consists of different individuals; they cannot accept human-ness. They swear off drugs, drinking, pre-marital sex and the other modern realities (forms of living) and condemn those who are not Christians as heathens and perverts.
Yet history has revealed the truth of these narrow-minded men. News stories have emerged in the media, hitting home the truth of their own perversity and narrow-mindedness. Watching Jimmy Swaggart’s or Jimmy Bakker’s effect upon the masses brings to mind the dangers of a character such as Hitler – a monster who lead a country to genocide of a people.
Unable to respond to fresh new ideas and suggestions, the close-minded will not associate with the open-minded. Two separate groups develop, each despising the other. People generally view narrow-minded persons as those who have lived a sheltered life, unexposed to anything beyond their own narrow-minded neighbourhoods. The narrow-minded live in the present as if it were still 50 years ago, as if time had not moved on, as if society had not progress any further than when they were in their prime years. The act of being narrow-minded can originate from a very boring, colorless life and upbringing, leading to the tendency to live the same colorless life without a passion for life and never living life to its fullest.
However, being narrow-minded can be viewed positively in one way only. People are complex entities. Close-minded people prefer to live a sheltered, safe life where everything is peaceful, without threat or challenge. Many people are content to live this type of existence.
But if one were to dig deeper, open-mindedness and narrow-mindedness can become more and more difficult to distinguish. Unfortunately though, open-mindedness and close-mindedness become similar in a negative sense.
Open-mindedness becomes negative when, in proclaiming one’s open-mindedness, one becomes self-righteous so that a lack of tolerance develops where tolerance once was. Open-minded people, believing they hold the supreme opinion, look down on people they classify as close-minded. These open-minded people will disqualify associations with those whom they consider to be inferior, that is, the narrow-minded people.
The close-minded looks upon the open-minded with disdain for simply not sharing their own opinions. They see these inferior people as being simplistic, unsophisticated and ignorant. The open-minded looks upon the close-minded for not creating an air of tolerance or freedom of choice. But these two groups become similar. For instance in the case of abortion, the pro-lifers and the pro-choice group can be seen as close-minded in that both groups try to dictate in a fascist manner how society should act in the case of abortion. It becomes difficult for people to decide for themselves; neither side can listen to the other side; tolerance and mutual understanding are distant goals.
On the other hand, the open-minded person can be seen as having too many options and, therefore, having no opinion at all; of possessing no strong convictions; of being inconsistent in their views and appearing as unreliable people.
In relationships, people of like minds are drawn together as friends and lifelong companions. The best mates in life are the ones who tend to be open to suggestions from the other party, to compromise and listen to another point of view which contrasts to their own. This applies to both the open-minded and the close-minded groups of people, though the latter will understandably choose someone who shares their own limited view of things.
Children are usually conditioned by their parents early in life, and will probably be, in later years, a lot like their parents. Each type of person, open or closed-minded, will bring up and educate their children in their own world view – to be prejudice or not to be prejudice, to develop tolerance or lack thereof. These things are learned early in a child’s life.
Human beings must strive to remain open-minded through education, experience and compassion. It is only when they avoid the things they consider to be too small for them, that the people we once admired as open-minded can become close-minded. These two human qualities start out by being dissimilar and become similar. The open-minded must make a concerted effort to remain what they are. The close-minded person has made the decision to be this; therefore, it is easier for them to remain what they are. It is easier because simply by virtue of being, one remains close-minded. The only difference then, is the degree of mental labour they must extend in order to remain open-minded.
I prefer to judge myself as open-minded. I find myself refusing to associate with those who I classify as close-minded; it is almost as if I look upon this group of people with a scorn and disdain. I hear myself become opinionated and then I accuse myself of being close-minded and prejudiced. I then attempt to alter my behaviour, to consider all sides of a situation that I am hearing or seeing. Perhaps it is a matter of becoming more and more selective in what we choose to believe and think and the experiences we wish to expose ourselves to. But when we limit ourselves too much from the surrounding world and build walls and blinders of pre-conceived options and beliefs, narrow-mindedness becomes a negative and dangerous quality; we cease to learn and appreciate the new and the wonderful found within life.
