Starfish Food

Whether or not we benefit from having an open mind depends on what we think that means. To some it means believing in almost anything regardless of evidence, just from a desire to believe. This results in things like the belief that aliens make crop circles, for example, even though there are better explanations available. That kind of open mind is like an open well, easily polluted by whatever is blown in on the wind. On the other hand, being open to new ideas and new knowledge is absolutely a necessity of human growth, and is not opposed to the skeptical practice of looking for evidence. An open mind of the good kind must above all be prepared to be wrong, and therefore to change.