Now Is the Time for 'Beginner's Mind' Mickey Z.

[Tace]

Kyoto Ryoan Ji. By Cquest - Own work, CC BY-SA 2.5

Mickey Z. -- Now with Purpose

July 16, 2020

“In the beginner’s mind, there are many possibilities. In the expert’s, there are few.” (Shunryu Suzuki)

Has there ever been a more urgent time to embrace many possibilities? This age of pervasive uncertainty and division is fertile ground for questioning our assumptions and beliefs. In fact, we just might be living in the ideal time to accept that there are limitless ways to perceive even the most contentious issues.

Expert vs. Beginner

The Expert’s Mind is over-secure. Such a mentality may promote shortsighted habits like confirmation bias. Many “authorities” will only seek out (read: cherry-pick) information that validates and justifies their behavior because expertise -- real or imagined -- makes us less curious. If we already feel well-versed in a topic, we tend to pay less attention to it. We ask fewer questions. This is a stifling choice even if we know 95 percent of what there is to know about a particular subject. Ideally, this is when we should be paying more attention to it in order to discern the nuances that remain to be learned.

Conversely, the Beginner’s Mind is ever-hungry for input -- regardless of its source or its tendency to reinforce existing beliefs. In the Beginner’s Mind, there are fewer limits and fewer expectations. There is much more room for revelation and awe. Nothing is taken for granted and even the tiniest detail has the potential to inspire reverence.

The Beginner’s Mind is basically the polar opposite of today’s social media algorithms, mainstream news headlines, and popular political discourse.

3 Benefits of a Beginner’s Mind

(more)

https://worldnewstrust.com/now-is-the-time-for-beginner-s-mind-mickey-z

[Hestia]

1. What nonsense - here's another viewpoint. Usually I like Mickey Z

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/johnbeckett/2020/07/how-to-stop-overthinking-your-magic.html?

Step out of the magic realm and read about overthinking - it seems the more intelligent you are, the more you overthink.

This is a time more than ever when we need expertise - the more the better. We cannot run a government or a civilization without expertise.

There has been absolutely nothing that millennials have suggested that hasn't been suggested since the 1960s; the difference, is that people then didn't get on twitter in order to shun people who have a differing viewpoint and get their friends to docx or suggest violence. Then, people had to meet face-to-face and *compromise* on getting shit done. Now, people have anxiety attacks to get their way. That doesn't work in real life situations, even threatening someone's life. Makes them dig in even more.