THE CENTER OF THE UNIVERSE . . . NOT!

Thubten Chodron, Open Heart, Clear Mind, with a Foreword by His Holiness the Dalai Lama (Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications, 1990) ("Closed-mindedness is an attitude that doesn't want to look at a new idea or event. It makes us tight, prejudiced and defensive." Id. at 54. "With open minds, we'll be tolerant. Having logically examined a new idea and checked for evidence to validate it, if we decide we don't agree with it, we can still be calm and friendly with another person who does. Disagreeing with an idea doesn't mean that we hate a person who accepts it. The idea and the person are different. Also, people's ideas change. We can appreciate what others say--be it correct or nonsensical--because it challenges us to think and thus to increase our wisdom." "When we find ourselves across the table from a person talking about a new subject or idea, we decide we don't agree we can approach the conversation with joy in learning, rather than with a judgmental attitude that has already decided the other person is wrong We'll let ourselves listen, reflect, grow and share, while we re-examine our previous ideas." Id. at 55. "The primary tenet of the selfish mind is that we are the center of the universe, the most important one, whose happiness and miseries are the most crucial. Why do I feel I'm the most important> 'Because I'm me,' says the selfish attitude, ''I'm not you.' " "I feel I'm the center of the universe (although I'm much too discreet to say that publicly). But so do you, and so do many other people. Just feeling that our happiness is the most important doesn't make it so." Id. at 71.).