|
|
My |
|
|
|
It feels good for people to tell you how smart they think you are and one reader honored me that way recently. I told her, “If I am smart it is because I have never met a person in my life I didn’t learn from. If I am smart, it is because I observe so closely and am so teachable.” A person who thinks they are smart walks around with a closed mind. Their ego slams the door shut in their brain. They think others are too stupid to teach them anything. When we have that attitude, we cannot learn a thing. Jesus was right about the meek inheriting the earth. People liked Einstein, Jung, Gandhi, Jefferson and Paine were so busy sopping up truths that they had little time to revel in their mental abilities. They were meek and they inherited the respect of the earth. I use the “Jesus method” of learning. When he was a child, he was in the temple studying the great teachers of his day. The elders marveled at him. This taught me to tune in to my great teachers. While I do not think taking a subservient role to a guru is mentally healthy, I do believe we profit by intensive study of our great teachers. When I discovered the works of Robert G. Ingersoll, called “the great agnostic,” I bought everything I could find in print on him. His essay, “The Liberty of Man, Woman and Child” is one of the most beautiful things I have ever read. I spent over 10 years studying Christian Science. I didn’t want to take people’s views of it. I wanted to study it for myself. I read every book written by Mary Baker Eddy. While I didn’t buy the whole refrigerator, I took out what made sense to me and made me a great soup. I think there is great value in Christian Science. I see value in going off on learning tangents like that. I bought every book by the poet James Dillet Freeman and carried on a 15-year correspondence with him. He was one of the richest souls I ever dipped my cup into. A man recently asked to be taken off my mailing list because he didn’t like my views on something. It happens every now and then. I feel sorry for people who only read what they agree with. I love for my ideas to be challenged by good minds. If there are holes in my philosophy, I want to know it. I have four articulate agnostics on my email list and I have lunch regularly with two of them. At times they have saved me from being a sucker. Weird as it may seem, they have helped make me firmer in my beliefs and values. If what you think can survive a friendly debate with an agnostic friend, you become more secure and confident with it. One of the biggest surprises of my life has been what I can learn from “average Joes.” I ask questions like, “What has been your experience with forgiveness?” and just sit back and listen. No matter their I.Q., who hasn’t had to try to forgive someone? I have found that some of these average Joes have done some sensational forgiving or have been sensationally forgiven for some wrong. I love their stories! Everyone digests food differently. Each person has a different amount of enzymes and digestive fluids. Why would we think the mind is any different? Everyone digests life differently! I love feedback from my readers for that very reason. I love it when they tell me how life tastes to them and how they digest their experiences. We may not be as smart as everyone we meet but we can latch on to some of the smarts of everyone we meet if we are simply willing to listen and learn.
|
