It has become the norm in liberal society to admonish each other to remain Open-Minded – to be willing to see the other person’s viewpoint, to be open to new experiences, and ways of being in the world. We’d like to believe that we do this exceptionally well, but in truth, probably most of us average a C+. But as a mentor once told me, awareness is 90% — so if we are aware we desire to be open-minded, we are at least in the right neighborhood.
Open Heart is a bit trickier – this involves being available to care for and hold compassion for all sentient beings, not just the ones that we find appealing or like-minded. Allowing ourselves to embrace each person on the planet as struggling to grow, evolve, and live according to their own spiritual Light. This is a tall order. On a good day, I’m able to hold empathy or sympathy, but true compassion – to be able to hold them in the heart of Spirit, without any judgment, that is the stuff of ‘gods’ or ‘saints’. I experience flickers of possibility and settle for caring deeply for the human condition.
Open Will. Not to be confused with Free Will (which gets a bad rap, so many interpretations and explanations). Open Will is a state of Being – a desire to merge, blend, flow with the Will of Heaven, not so much surrender as become open to the experience that God/Source as the core of our being. This doesn’t mean that we ‘give up’ or ‘set aside’ our own desires or needs, but to expand to such a degree that we open ourselves to receive a more inclusive stream of consciousness.
Our individual desires and needs thus find larger expression of purpose, and in so doing, we become available to be used and feel useful as our Soul’s purpose finds itself in the here and now.