WALLS AND DOORS

April 14th, 2020

A closed door you are unwilling to open is as good as a wall that bars you from any opportunity that might exist on the other side.  A room lined with closed doors is a prison cell for the individual who is too afraid to open any of them.

What really is the difference between a wall and a door?

The difference, of course is that one can move, and the other does not.

We can draw an analogy between this wall/door difference and the way we think and speak.  There are certain constructions of thought and speech that are rigid, and others that not only flex and hinge, but crack open a store of possibilities.

Statements are those certain rigid constructions.  The etymology betrays the fact.  Statement, deriving from state, goes all the way back to the Proto-indo-European root sta-, meaning ‘to stand, make or be firm.”  A statement, is the wall of language and thought.  And just as walls are meant to keep the outside world, out, thought and language composed of statements likewise is self-designed to keep out new ideas, concepts and even data and facts.  In this way, our minds wall themselves in until not only is there no way for anything new to get in, but even more frightening, there’s no way to get out.

Where is the door in our thought and language?  How do we open walls and welcome in new information and permit ourselves the ability to gaze out upon the world?  Such construction, would not only need to be flexible, but somewhat open-ended, would it not?  Is there anything better to invite and incite new little clues from reality than to ask a question?

What better tool is there than a good question for blowing holes in the walls of our mind?  We’ve all had that experience when a friend, or loved one, or even a stranger asks a question that seems to open a part of our mind, letting our old stuffy thoughts drain out, making space for a slew of new wondering.

Best of all we can generate these questions ourselves.  Like an inmate trapped in a prison cell who imagines a bazooka, and upon opening their eyes find the weapon in hand and points it at the wall.

We all have this ability, the question remains, are you going to keep fortifying the walls of your mind, or are you going to pull the trigger?