Looking Back to 2007: The "Great & Powerful" Wizard of Oz

The "Great & Powerful" Wizard of Oz
Original post date: February 20, 2007

For me, one of the scariest things a person can utter is, "I don't care what you say or do, but I'm not going to change my mind". By making such a statement, the person is stating unequivocally that -- regardless of any new knowledge, experience, insight or sensation -- this person has decided to close their mind to any and all other possibilities. For them, the case is closed.

If we humans understood all the complexities and nuances of this process we call life, then such a statement might be warranted. If we had examined all the potential variables and all the possible stimuli, we might well be able to make incontrovertible assertions.

Let's be frank though. Not only do we not understand everything, we actually understand very little. If all the knowledge in the world was represented by 100 million gigabytes, all the human knowledge and insight throughout history might represent 1 teeny weeny byte!

Therefore, to close our minds on any given topic is foolhardy, at best, and insanely stupid, at worst.

Imagine if the lead characters from the Wizard of Oz had adopted this mentality. Near the end of this classic film, Dorothy and her friends have presented the broomstick of the Wicked Witch of the West to the "Great & Powerful" Wizard of Oz.

While the fiery spectacle of Oz -- who never expected that the foursome would return with said broomstick -- fumbles around with upholding his end of the bargain, little Toto is pointing the way toward a startling revelation. You see, there is a man standing behind a curtain who appears to be operating the controls that project the visage of the great Oz.

If Dorothy and her companions approached this situation with a closed mind, they would have ignored Toto's efforts and remained fixated on the visage itself. In fact, I dare say that Dorothy would have scolded little Toto for his attempt to uncover new information.

Fortunately, Dorothy and the crew acted upon Toto's discovery and confronted the wizard face-to-face. It was only because they were willing to allow new information to influence their current comprehension of the unfolding situation that the confrontation was allowed to progress forward in a successful manner.

Each time any of us close our minds to other possibilities, we are in danger of becoming fixated on the visages of our own construction. And, if we are indeed connected to all other life, we invariably cut ourselves off from the flow of that life.

It's one thing to be relatively sure of something; it's another altogether to know something absolutely. We each tend to confuse the former for the latter and we do so at our own peril.

To read the intro to this retrospective series of posts, go here.