Wondering about my Wanderings

Open and Closed

October 8th, 2023

I have a lot to ponder as I begin another day. How do I determine the difference between being open and closed?

I first ran into this issue smack in the face when I took a chaplaincy course as a requirement for graduating seminary. There was one guy that was considered very open. He was into shutting down nucleur power plants and loving everybody in the world. He was over the top open as far as I was concerned. He wanted everybody to live in peace and harmony and was convinced that God was going to use him to lead the way. I always thought I was more open. After all I am always wanting more information before I decide on whether I agree with someone or not. I did give out opinions to persons unless I trusted them. I get the impression that George would invite the world into his living room. Those who refused to come......

I am very aware of the closed perspective. As the lone baptist in my chaplaincy peer group, I embodied this way of thinking without even saying anything. Some persons thought I had nothing better to do than beat them over the head with the bible in the name of God. As a chaplain I had the most trouble with persons I would classify as closed in their perspective. I saw them as very opinionated, which right or wrong was how I understood the judgemental universe. I could never measure up to their expectations. The only people in their living room were people that believed like them and family members privileged enough to belong to the right way of doing something.

I have learned over time to stay away from both of these view points even if I feel more kinship to the open concept. When they talk about the open concept on HGTV I am sure this is not what they are talking about. I have learned above all I want to be safe and I want others to be safe with me. Life can be stressed enough without a need to put on others an agenda to be more opened or closed. Over time maybe I will understand how these concepts can wed and have children. Until then lets sing a song together or eat a pot luck dinner together. Over time I am guessing we will discover we are more open and/or closed than we ever dreamed possible.