The Spirit of Joy by Joseph Malancharuvil

Author:Joseph Malancharuvil
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: BookBaby
Published: 2018-07-13T11:13:16+00:00

Openness

Openness is the quality of the mind that is willing and eager to learn, knowing that we do not know everything. It opens the door to the deepening of what we know and the exploration of what is yet to be understood. It clears the pathway for reforming the error of our ways through feedback from those who observe us. Openness helps us to be genuinely remorseful when we discover that we were wrong; it makes it easy for us to forgive ourselves as well as others. A person with a closed mind and heart is as good as fossilized. Openness and receptivity flourish in a person who is self-aware, humble, intimate, and free.

The receptivity that goes with the quality of openness is the foundational attitude for receiving the gift of faith. The seeds of faith, the Word of God, cannot grow on the rocky grounds of close-mindedness. The incident of the cure of the blind man in John’s Gospel (Jn.9) illustrates this. The cured blind man tells the Pharisees: “If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” (Jn.9:33) The Pharisees answered: “You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?” Jesus declared to them when they asked, “Are we also blind?” Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains.” (Jn. 9:46-48). Self-righteousness destroys openness and renders us blind. Transparency is the very condition on which psycho-spiritual integration depends.

Naiveté and gullibility are not the same as openness. They are signs of immaturity and lack of personal convictions. An unwillingness to actively search for the truth and laziness to succumb to the immediate persuasions are factors that foster naiveté and gullibility. Such people are reeds shaking in the wind as it blows in every direction. They take no personal responsibility for establishing solid foundations for their inner convictions. They fall easy victims to every theory or fashion that come along. St. Paul rebukes the Galatians for their quick acceptance of false preaching: “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel…But even if an angel from heaven or we should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.” (Gal: 1:6-9). Openness calls for dialogue and a willingness to change one’s position in the light of new evidence.

While gullibility is an absence of personal convictions, even a convinced person can be deceived and ultimately persuaded into taking a wrong position, an instance of “sincere” deception. “And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light…” (2Cor. 11:14). Openness calls for vigilance and discrimination. One needs to examine the origin, process, and end of a new persuasion. Discernment of Spirits calls for an honest examination of the end-result of a new position. “Their end will correspond to their deeds.”(2Cor. 11:15) A well-integrated person is open and honest, but not easily persuaded.

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