Why is it, do you think, that most people have preconceived ideas about almost everything that they do not have prior experience with?

Human nature being what it is, the short answer is most likely fear or the moving out of one’s “comfort zone”.

Whatever the answer, let us agree that a closed or clouded mind is tainted and an impediment to learning, self-improvement, or actualization.

The question posed in this article’s title and the concept I am emphasizing is the need for a specific mindset to experience new and novel things as well as grow spiritually.

There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all arguments, and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance – the principle is “contempt prior to investigation.” – Herbert Spencer

This principle can be applied to everything from the most mundane to the most serious of issues. That is from, “I don’t like asparagus to I don’t like Arabs, African American or Jews.”

Now even though I have no interest in another’s dietary aversions, I am concerned with racial  prejudice and injustice, the underlying principle being the same.

I am concerned with those that, “look out for their own” at the expense of all others; I am concerned with those that adopt religious dogma at the suggestion of another and then castigate all other beliefs for being wrong or misguided.

I concerned with these things and more as they are the behavior of “small minded” people, the kind of people that blow up abortion clinics, killing innocent people because they are trying to protect the sanctity of life. Am I making my point?

These people scare me as well as well as solidify, in my mind, the kind of person I am trying to become, the kind of people I am trying to surround myself with, as well as the kind of people I abhor and try to stay clear of.

Lastly, in addition to sharing my thoughts, insights and opinions, The Lang Report also enlightens, entertains and educates and with that I would like to close with sharing with you the accepted origin of the phrase, “contempt prior to investigation.”

The story begins in 1939 when the book Alcoholics Anonymous was published and the phrase was used as a chapter head and attributed to the 19^th century British philosopher, evolutionist and sociologist, Herbert Spencer. In later editions of Alcoholics Anonymous, the chapter was replaced but now appears in Appendix II titled “Spiritual Experience” to encourage people to keep an open mind about the religious or spiritual remedy that Alcoholics Anonymous prescribes for its members.

Interesting?

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