It has become a virtue to be broad minded, but there are times when certain virtues become so extreme in their actions that they cease to contain any virtue. In like manner it is possible for the mind to become so broad that it contains practically nothing of value being too superficial in its effort to cover the whole field to possess a single idea of merit.
To be progressive in thought is another admirable trait in the eyes of the modern world, but there are not a few of our advanced thinkers who advance so rapidly, according to their own conception of advancement, that their own minds are literally left behind; that is, they become so absorbed in the act of moving forward that no attention is given to that power that alone can produce advancement. In consequence their remarkable progress is in the imagination only.
Here it is well to remember that all is not thought that comes from the mind or that is produced in the mind. For the mere fact that we are thinking does not prove that we are creating thought. A large percentage of the products of the average mind is but heaps of intellectual debris accumulated in one place today and moved to another place in the mind tomorrow. In brief, too much of our modern thinking is simply a moving of useless mental material from one side of consciousness to another. However, in promoting the right use of the mind this practice is something that must be avoided absolutely for the mind cannot work to advantage under such conditions.
Thought that really is thought is the product of design and purpose, and is invariably the result of systematic efforts to work out principles. Accordingly such thought contains the power to serve certain definite objects in view. We should therefore realize that no product of the mind constitutes real thought unless it is the result of designed thinking and is created for a certain special purpose. A pile of brick is not a house, but a house may be built from those bricks if they are arranged according to special design and put together for a definite purpose.
The broad mind should endeavor to embrace much, but should not attempt to hold more than can be applied practically and thoroughly and according to the purpose which it is desired to fulfill. In other words, the object is not to see how much we can hold in the mind, but how much we can actually possess or use; not how much ground we can cover, but how much we can take care of in the best manner, and cultivate scientifically.
In this connection it is most important to understand that the mind that becomes broad enough to accept everything will also accept the illusions, the vagaries and the foundationless theories that are so numerous everywhere. There are a number of people today who do this very thing and call themselves liberal, advanced, charitable and broadly progressive. But the fact is that their minds constitute a hopeless mixture of truths, half truths and illusions. Accordingly they accomplish very little, and what is more serious they confuse the beginners in genuine advanced thought and thus tend to place the real truth of our progressive movements in a false light.
However, there is a progress that is progressive. There is an advancement that actually does advance and we have much of it today. But there are many movements and many people claiming to be broad who are broad only in the sense of keeping the mental doors wide open to everything that may desire to come in. But such broad mindedness must be avoided at every turn because it tends to make the mind shallow, superficial and inefficient, thereby rendering the mentality incapable of actually taking possession of a single genuine idea or mental power.
The mind that is broad in the true sense of the term does not try to embrace everything, but tries to penetrate everything. Its object is not to simply take in and hold, but to enter into and understand and thereby gain real control and possession of facts, talents and powers. The truth is that to be broad minded is not to be ready to believe everything, but to be ready to examine everything, and to accept everything that proves itself true regardless of how it may conflict with objects, views or opinions.
A broad mind never takes things on authority, but is eternally in search of the one authority--truth--that is back of and within all things. In brief, to be able to see the true side of every belief, every system, every idea and every experience--this is genuine broad mindedness.
In considering this subject we must remember that what we accept becomes a part of ourselves. Therefore it is a most serious mistake to take into the mind everything that may corne along. The fact is we cannot possibly exercise too much care in selecting our ideas, although we must not go to the other extreme and become so particular that we remain dissatisfied with everything. There is a happy medium in this connection that everyone can establish by training the mind to penetrate everything for the purpose of understanding the principles that underlie everything.
It has been well stated that we gradually grow into the likeness of that which we admire the most and think of the most. And it is true that we nearly always have special admiration for that which we constantly defend, whether we have fully accepted the same as true or not. The mind that is willing to accept almost anything for the sake of being broad will also be ready to defend almost anything to justify that position. Therefore to defend all theories the past has advanced, is to reproduce our minds more or less in the likeness of all those theories. But since those theories contradict each other at almost every turn, many of them being illusions, we can readily imagine the result. In fact, the mind will, under such circumstances, be divided against itself and will be incapable of doing its work according to principle and law.
A confused mind is the greatest obstacle to real progress and the attempt to take in every new idea as true because it is new will invariably confuse the mind, and what is more such a practice will so derange judgment that after a while the mind will not be able to discriminate intelligently between the right and the wrong in any sphere of life.
In this connection we must remember that among the new ideas that are springing up in the world the larger number are either half truths or illusions. And the reason why so many of these ideas are accepted as true is because real broad mindedness, that is, that attitude of mind that does not embrace everything but attempts to penetrate everything, is an art yet to be acquired by the majority. The average mind is ready to take in and hold almost any belief or idea if it happens to produce an impression that is favorable to his present condition of life, but there are few who are training their minds to penetrate everything for the purpose of understanding everything. For this reason a mass of ideas are accepted that contain neither virtue, truth nor power.
The attitude of tolerance is closely connected with broad mindedness and is usually considered an exceptional virtue. But again we are liable to be misled because there are two kinds of tolerance; the one holds a passive charity for everything without trying to find out the truth about anything; while the other enters into friendly relation with all things in order that the good and true that may exist in those things can be found.
The attitude of tolerance, however, is always valuable, in so far as it eliminates the spirit of criticism, because the spirit of criticism can never find the truth. But the spirit of friendly research always does find the truth. For this reason the penetrating mind must be kind, gentle and sympathetic. If it is not, the very elements that are to be examined will be scattered and misplaced. Besides it is the substance of things that contains the truth, and to enter into this substance the mind must be in sympathetic touch with the life and the soul of that which it seeks to understand.
That attitude of tolerance that is passive, is either indifferent, or will soon become indifferent; and mental indifference leads to stagnation, which in turn makes the mind so inactive that it is completely controlled by every condition or environment with which it may come in contact. Such a tolerance, therefore, must be avoided and avoided absolutely.
True tolerance refrains from criticism at all times but that is only one side of its nature. The other side enters into the closest mental contact with all things and penetrates to the very depths of the principles upon which these things are based. In this way the mind readily discovers those ideas and beliefs that constitute the true expressions of principles, and also discovers those which are mere perversions. However, the tolerant mind does not condemn the perversions. It forgets them entirely by giving added life and attention to the true expressions, and thereby proceeds to give full and positive action to all those ideas and powers of which it has gained possession by being broad as well as deep.
Take me to the next chapter XIX. THE GREATEST MIND OF ALL.
Return me to previous chapter XVII. THE X-RAY POWER OF THE MIND.
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