Rather than talk about open-mindedness in viewing photography, I wrote about open-mindedness in life in general. I also went way overboard.
How to open your mind.
An essay by Jadin.
This...
This...
This is going to be a hard essay...
(post writing - meeting my expectations of this essay I failed miserably. this is what's left of it...)
Imagine a child born in a bubble. As he grows the bubble grows with him. It protects him from possible dangers, negative influence, etc. The only problem is he can't see anything outside of his bubble. Some children spend their whole lives living in the bubble, and most are quite happy without ever knowing of it's exsistence. (Ignorance is bliss)
Some children, however, can see the bubble. They look at it. They probe at it. They see how it stetches when they poke it. They see what it does and what it's capable of. And when they are ready, they decide they want to see outside of their bubble. The bubble bursts.
Instantly you are overwhelmed by new thoughts, ideas, concepts, emotions. It's a whole new point of view. You run around taking in as much as you can of this whole new world you never knew exsisted before. You see people in bubbles everywhere. They walk around, go to their jobs, live their lifes all in the comfort of not knowing they are trapped inside a bubble. Trying to talk to them about this whole new experience, they look at you like you're crazy and think nothing more of it. You find talking with them can be unfulfilling, you don't relate as well as you used to.
But as you look deeper you also see other people running around in this new space bubble free. With those you discover you can relate to them on a whole new level. They understand when you talk about your new ideas, and have some of their own that make you think, "Woah! I never would've thought of that!".
Once freed you realize that you will live life with a greater variety of emotions. You experience happier highs and sadder lows. You can't relate to your old friends the way you once could. Sometimes you wish you were still in the bubble, but you can never return, It's gone. Oh, you can close your eyes, pretend, and make it real, but it's not the same. The very knowledge that it's there makes it useless to you.
Years later you are living your life and you slowly realize the space you've been living in is actually just another bubble, much larger than the first, surrounding you. But now you know how it works. Do you run at it with scissors? Or live in the bliss of never knowing what's on the other side. Will you regret popping this one? How many more bubbles will there be? Only one way to find out...
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Being open-minded is a never-ending process. Simply because the layers aren't linear. Being open-minded about sex, for example, will not make you open-minded about art, and vice versa. Because of this, noone can walk you through it. You have to open your mind as each opportunity arises. Then you will be an open-minded individual (forever a work in progress). The biggest mistake you can make is assume that you're open-minded. Doing so closes your mind to the other layers you haven't even discovered yet. Only after you've opened your mind do you realize it was previously closed.
The more I think about this, the more I realize you can't teach it. Simply because it usually requires an epiphany usually from a life-altering experience. A close call with death. A new baby. A mid-life crisis. Etc. I've been trying to think of ways to help the process along, the only way I've thought of is catharsis. I found this definition I rather like...
Catharsis is a form of emotional cleansing first defined by the Greek philosopher Aristotle. It originally referred to the sensation that would ideally overcome an audience upon finishing a tragedy. The fact that there existed those who could suffer a worse fate than them was to them a relief, they felt ekstasis (literally, astonishment), from which the modern word ecstasy is derived. Their spirits are refreshed through having greater appreciation for life.
Basically you can watch a movie or read a book and feel as though you've had a life-altering experience (in many ways you have). During that ecstasy is the perfect time to meditate not only on what you just saw, but on your own life.
Here is some things you can check out that changed who I am today.
Films:
- Fight Club (cathartic + makes you think about your life)
- American Beauty (cathartic + makes you think about your life)
- Amelie (cathartic + makes you think about your life)
- American History X (cathartic + makes you think about your life)
- I <3 Huckabees (makes you think about your life - for whatever reason wasn't cathartic for me)
- Baraka (cathartic)
- Life is Beautiful (cathartic)
- Twelve Monkeys (cathartic)
- Donnie Darko (cathartic)
- Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (cathartic)
- Lost in Translation (cathartic)
- Hero (cathartic)
- The Matrix (cathartic)
- Pi (cathartic)
- Requim for a Dream (cathartic)
- Serendipity (cathartic)
- Shawshank Redemption (cathartic)
- Fallen (cathartic)
- Se7en (cathartic)
Books
- Princess Bride (yes the book, not the movie, movie was good, but the book is exponentially better)
- Siddhartha (cathartic + makes you think about your life)
- The Old Man and the Sea (cathartic)
- Wow. I don't read enough, I can't remember any others right now.
This is by no means an exhaustive list, just ones that moved me to re-think how I think
Post what's changed your life (hopefully for the better) and I'll add them to the list.