Hussain Haqqani’s Progress Tip

Hussain Haqqani’s Progress Tip   

 PROF WAQAR HUSSAIN

      On Independence Day, Hussain Haqqani an ex-Ambassador and diplomat tweeted greeting to countrymen. I asked him, Give one “progress tip” to the nation in the light of experience you gained in the western nations. He replied; “Keep an open mind”. As he tweeted, It triggered a discussion among tweeters with queries, allegations; core inquiry was; what does he meant by open mind? Everyone was on blowing his trumpet. I again tweeted to Hussain Haqqani to explain it, but he didn’t reply. So onus lied on me to respond the topic. So, went through various dictionaries to grasp the theme and came to know: Open mind person has mind willing to listen to opinions that are different from or conflict his own;  having mind respective to new ideas, argument, unprejudiced, unbigoted, impartial; having mind receptive to new ideas, arguments , unprejudiced ; open-mindedness is when even if you think you are right, you know that you can be wrong and are always willing to listen to and hear an opposing or contradictory views; keep an open mind to wait until you have all the facts before forming an opinion or making a judgment;  In sum, open mind person is who open his window of mind to well come new ideas and is willing to listen to  or accept new ideas or suggestions.

          Ironically, most people are brought up with the certain set of beliefs, values, tradition, ideas, dogma, etc. They are influenced by these ideas to an extent that they reject all kind of alien ideas irrespective of the fact, how much these ideas are convincing and crystal clear. Throughout their lives, they are surrounded by people who share same ideas. Rather, they prefer to live in the circle which endorses their ideas.

Thus, it becomes a difficult when they encounter ideas that challenge their own. They uncoil and go to shells and fabricate irrational justification or sometimes become aggressive and put an iron cage of rage to ward off criticism. On the other hand, an open mind person opens the windows of his mind and allows the lights of new ideas to enter and glitter his inner self. Most shut the windows and even hang curtain disallowing even a beam of light to get into and thus darkness prevail all inside.

      Hussain Haqqani heuristic hint of progress lay in opening the window of one’s mind and letting new ideas and thoughts to come in. By keeping an open mind, you instantly free yourself from the grip of putrid thoughts, you allow yourself to experience new ideas and thoughts which challenge the ideas you currently have.

           Then you experience changes, more compatible to the surrounding world, but there is the scariest thing of making yourself vulnerable. Amid the new ideas, you admit that you don’t know everything and there are other avenues available that were hidden before. This vulnerability is terrifying, horrifying and humiliating.

          Then, you will learn new ideas and these ideas will mingle with your older ideas and Spengler’s dialectic synthesis will occur. Then working on these newly formulated synthesized ideas, you will come up with the result which are matching to the world and have profiteering results.

          With this blend of new ideas, you will have a strong sense of self-belief. You are not shackled in old ideas and not copying the new ideas. You have cooked your own food of thoughts. It gives you stronger beliefs in yourself, which is the hallmark of prospering nations. You gain confidence as you have learned more and more about the world around you.

         Then you will make mistake viewing things from other perspective, unearthing your potential mistakes you have made but you will make a further mistake being inexperienced to new ideas. You will further fell into a ditch. This is a very embarrassing stage; many feeble individuals succumb but sturdy rise like sphinx from ashes.

      At next stage, honesty pours out of you as you have admitted that you are not all-knowing, master of everything, have an explanation of all world phenomenon.

By believing that whatever truth you find might always have more to it than you realize. This understanding creates an underlying sense of honesty that permeates the character.

          Open mindedness award you realism and pragmatism, the great asset of an individual or nation. History reveals that realism is the shortcut to the destination.

          For some, open minded is easy; it comes as effortlessly as breathing. For others, it is challenging, they have work to break open their shell and resist the mortifying feelings itching their inner self. When you will open minded you will see great benefits of viewing life with an open mind. It is not always an easy thing to do but the effort to think openly embrace new ideas and you will enjoy the benefits that pour out from open-mindedness. It can transform the third world into first world but it is easy to think but difficult to put into practice.