This week, I am thinking about social change in our contemporary world. When people become closed-minded, polarization increases. Today, around the world people are grappling with the difficulties posed by the onset of pernicious polarization, pushing people to divide themselves into distinct close-minded camps, anchored in fear, anxiety, and rage. What gets lost is care, compassion, and civility.

The historical Jesus was keenly aware of the dangers of polarization. In Matthew 12:25, he alerted the closed-minded polarizing people in his days, saying “Any country that divides itself into groups which fight each other will not last very long. And any town or family that divides itself into groups which fight each other will fall apart.”

Today especially we need to promote being open-minded and inquisitive in our family and friendship groups, and in our social groups, and church communities. It is urgently important.

Being open-minded means recognizing and considering alternative viewpoints or opinions on a given topic. It involves being open-minded and willing to listen to different ideas without at once dismissing them. It means learning how to live and share life with others. It involves realizing that we all have much to learn about life in all its dimensions. I would emphasize that being open-minded means being less judgmental and more inquisitive and considerate. Open-minded people consider multiple perspectives before reaching a decision.

Sometimes, being open-minded can be very tough. It shakes a person loose from beliefs and values once so comforting. I once believed and felt secure in my belief that Jesus’ disciples were only men, and for that reason only men could become priests. I thought about becoming a priest as well. I pictured the historic Jesus ordaining the Apostles at the Last Supper. But then, thanks to a university professor who kept asking questions and encouraged me to ask questions, I started asking my own questions. Very quickly I learned that some of my certainties had no historic foundation.

Today I know that Jesus’ disciples were men AND women. As an historian I have learned as well that women presided at Eucharistic liturgies in the early Christian communities. I have also learned that the historic Jesus did not ordain anyone because ordination did not exist during his lifetime. In fact, in the first three centuries of Christianity, we have no direct evidence of an ordination ceremony.

Now I realize that on our human life journeys we do learn new things, by being open to the knowledge and insights of other people. Being open-minded learners, we do need to continually adjust our understandings and beliefs.

Being an open-minded believer truly enriches a person’s life. I can think of several ways:

• Being open-minded and inquisitive enables one to explore and discover. Being an open-minded person allows one to experience new ideas and fresh thoughts that stimulate personal growth as they challenge old visions, understandings, and beliefs. It can be a very liberating look at one’s contemporary world through an open mind. Remember Paul in First Corinthians: “When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became an adult, I put the ways of childhood behind me.”
• Being open-minded and inquisitive opens a person to an awareness of divinity. Sometimes people get so wrapped up in their own little world that they miss the experience of God’s being with us, traveling with us, and loving us. This is spirituality which involves the recognition of a sense that there is something greater than oneself, something more to being human, and that the greater whole of which we are part is divine in nature.
• Being open-minded and inquisitive enables one to observe and critique the honesty and truthfulness of what others say. This is so important today when so much ignorance and falsehood are presented as reliable realities. We all need to be critical observers and courageous critics. I often think about the admonition of the Belgian Joseph Cardijn (1882-1967) “Observe, Judge, Act” — the three-stage social action process that involves observing and understanding a situation, evaluating it using principles and values, and then taking proper action to improve or change it. Cardijn, who became a cardinal a couple years before his death, is best known for his lifelong dedication to social activism.
• Being open-minded and inquisitive promotes personal change and transformation. Opening our minds to new ideas allows us the opportunity to change what we think as well as to change our view of the world. This does not mean one will necessarily change basic beliefs. It does mean one has to be open and respectful to people with differing perspectives. We work together. We must work together because our survival depends on it.
• Being open-minded and inquisitive does make oneself vulnerable. This is scarier. In agreeing to have an open-minded view of the world, we acknowledge that we do not know everything. We accept that there are possibilities we may not have considered. This vulnerability can be both terrifying and exhilarating. The jar is either half full or half empty. It depends on one’s perspective. I prefer to say that it is only half full.
• Being open-minded and inquisitive helps one see and acknowledge personal mistakes. With an open mind one begins to see things from others’ perspectives. One can recognize the mistakes one has made. From time to time, we all fail and fall. The challenge is to acknowledge it and then get back up again and continue the journey, anchored in the virtues of Christian humility and courage.
• Being open-minded and inquisitive strengthens oneself and gives stability. It presents a platform upon which a person can build, putting one idea on top of another. With an open mind, one learns about new things; and one uses innovative ideas to build on old ideas. In my field we call this ongoing theological development. Dangerous stuff for the old guard ecclesiastics. Nevertheless, everything a woman or a man or a child experiences adds up. It strengthens who one is and what one believes. Note well: It is extremely hard to build on experiences without having an open mind.
• Being open-minded and inquisitive helps one gain confidence. When a person really lives with an open mind, he or she develops a stronger sense of self. One can respect and appreciate but is no longer confined by the beliefs of others. Then the respectful dialogue can and should begin. It is absolutely necessary.
• Being open-minded and inquisitive promotes self-honesty. Being open-minded means admitting that one is not all-knowing. Even if one is an older theologian! Whatever “truth” one holds, each person must realize that the underlying reality in its depth has more to it than anyone realizes. This understanding creates a sense of honesty that characterizes anyone who lives with an open mind.

For some people, being open-minded and inquisitive is easy. It seems to come as effortlessly as breathing. For others, having such an open and inquisitive mind can be a challenge. But for anyone who wants to safely travel the road of life, it is essential. We remember the words of Jesus, in John 8:32, “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

• Jack