Blog 3374 – 01.28.2025

The Two-Minded Man

In the book of James, chapter one verse eight, the writer of that letter, probably not James, writes:

I have often found the opposite to be true and that being single-minded, obsessively sure of one’s own opinions, and justifying our acts in spite of overwhelming evidence they we have erred causes a great deal more instability and chaos than trying to see both sides of the coin. Someone has said that the mark of being truly adult is being able to hold two opposing opinions in your mind at the same time, expressed in the statement, “I am of two minds on that subject.

Philosopher Yogi Berra, who is also remembered for his days as a Yankee catcher and later manager of the great American League and World Series winning baseball club is often quoted. One of my favorite Yogi quotes is: “When you come to a fork in the road, take it.” We in the West are brought up to be single-minded believing that every thing is either/or, black or white, hot or cold, negative or positive, good or bad. Eastern philosophy on the other hand, I think has a better take on life, that in every instance it is not a matter of either/or but both.

In high-school English class over fifty years ago we were taught to debate and to use rhetoric. Often in situations where we do not know the answer or what to say we just try to bully or BS our way through never realizing that most choices are hardly if ever either/or but most often a bit of both. Practicing this philosophy helps us to be more tolerant and to hear people out who hold differing opinions from our own.

I often remark that if one has not changed their mind in a while that that person has ceased to learn. In order to learn we must stay open to the possibility that it does not have to be always my way or the highway.

Well, that is my opinion, yet it too is subject to change.

Your friend and fellow traveler,

David White