There is an old saying that the eyes see only what the mind is prepared to comprehend.

Psychologists call human beings cognitive misers, we are naturally inclined to closed minds, to fixed perceptions of the world. Just look at our political system, a great vast human monument to closed minds, the left and the right locked in eternal arguments that solve nothing.

Yesterday, a friend sent me a message, wishing me a Happy New Year for 2017, a year, she promised, that would be catastrophic. I presumed she was referring to the election of Donald Trump. I didn’t ask or answer her, politics is a personal thing for me, not a license to argue or hate or  persuade other people.

I don’t want to spend my life in argument.

For me, the idea of the open mind is precious and very  important, both spiritually and intellectually (and politically). A closed mind is the first death, in my mind, the death of the mind.

An open mind is defined as a mind receptive to different opinions and ideas. It is, I believe, a rare thing.

In almost every judicial proceeding, judges caution juries to keep an open mind, because they know as well as anyone that most minds are closed. All month, I have been counseling friends, in person and also in my writing, to keep an open mind. I’m not sure they can.

All month I see and hear the din of minds snapping shut. The people who hate this one, the people who hate that one. The minds that never change.

For me, an election is an opportunity for me to hear and consider different points of view, to think about the world in different ways, to learn what other people are thinking. For others, a chance to close one’s mind and keep locked. I suppose I am a freak.

I think I began working for an open mind when I was very young. I was surrounded by closed minds that never changed.

I did not wish to be like that. I hope I am not like that.

Some people disagree with my thinking about an open mind. They believe it is a rationalization for evil, a weakness, an enabling of danger and cruelty. I feel differently about an open mind. I was upset about the election, and I said so.The election was a fact, a disappointment for me.

But I have always believed in the power of the open mind. To communicate. To learn. To connect. To resolve. To grow and change. What is the point of having a mind if it can’t ever open.

It is not natural to have an open mind. It is a struggle, almost always. It is worth it, almost always.

The election was something that I know happened, and it is perfectly fine to be unhappy about it. Or happy.

The future is not something I can see or predict. 2017 will be as good as I make it, it is not in the power of politicians to determine that. I plan to do good work and good deeds and make good love. I can keep an open mind. That would make it an exceptionally good year for me.

There are different ways of looking at everything, even sacred beliefs I have always held. Issues like immigration, the poor, the environment, the government are complex, there are many ways to look at them. I will be doing a lot of thinking listening, next year. I will do a lot of other things too, like helping refugee families, supporting the rights of women, helping the poor.

I can stew and rage and tremble through 2017 or I can open my mind and seek to understand why so many people have such different views than I do, and my friends do.

Is this conflict all because they are evil and bigoted and stupid, and I am good and noble and brilliant? I don’t think so, that would be an awful way for me to think. Closed minds are suffocating, and something I think our civic life is choking to death.

As we approach 2017, I do not feel catastrophe. I have no idea.

I think it will be a challenging year, sometimes frustrating, sometimes disturbing, sometimes rewarding beyond imagination. I will be called upon to define my self and see the world differently.

Isaac Asimov said that our assumptions are our windows on the world.  Scrub them off every once in a while, or the light will never come in.

All men and women dream, although they dream in different ways. Those who dream at night wake up in the day to a different reality. The dreamers of the day are dangerous, for they may act their dreams with open eyes, and make them come true.

I dream in the day, with my fingers, at my keyboard, in my office. I am comfortable disagreeing with the thoughts and opinions expressed by other people. People disagree with me all the time and are eager to tell me so. But I do not have the right to deny the merit or common sense that others might offer, or to accuse other people of ignorance and bigotry because i don’t like what they are saying.

Everyone is brilliant in one way or another, everyone is ignorant in one way or another. Whenever I see a different opinion, I stop and assume that the other opinion is correct, and that I am wrong. I work my way back and forth, one way or the other. Sometimes I change my mind, mostly I don’t. Sometimes I change my thoughts slightly, sometimes I end up in the middle.

Standing in the shoes of another is a profound spiritual experience. Sometimes the light comes in. An open mind is hope.

That is the pathway to an open mind, to the light, without which truth is lost.