Perhaps open-mindedness isn’t what it’s cracked up to be. Sound-mindedness guards and shields itself from the inner arrows of errors and falsehood that continually fly through consciousness. It rejects and knocks down the fiery darts of deceptiveness and wickedness, like a hockey goalie guards the goal net.

An undiscerning, unguarded, and undisciplined mind quickly becomes chaotic. A mind that’s open to anything is closed to logic and reason. An uncontrolled mind is like a runaway truck. It’s headed for a crash.

The mind works best that is open to good and closed to evil. Feelings and desires often try to get the mind to be the opposite.

A human mind is most effective when it is discerning. A narrow mental focus on what is right is a key to mental health. Opening the mind to freely embrace the wrongful thoughts that flow through it is the broad way of mental torment and self-destruction.

Although human philosophy is hollow and resounds with the echos of emptiness and eternal hopelessness, it’s often a source of misguided pride. Hallowed wisdom that leads to humility comes from inner revelation–a supernatural aha of the heart. Hope-filled, eternal insight is beyond the analysis of the brain.

True sound-mindedness is Christ-mindedness. I’ve discovered that Christ-mindedness is pragmatic. My life works best when I surrender my mind to be led by the inner light of the living Jesus instead of following my own opinions, analysis, and rationalizations.