WHy is the importance of being open to new ideas?
This is a very vague question, but this is my thought:
The question of the importance of being is open to new ideas because it is an unsolvable question. Being unsolvable, new perspectives will always come into play. The importance varies per individual therefore there can never be a wrong or right answer. Personally, I feel that thoughts on the importance of being is actually an indirect way of pondering the meaning of life, but that is because my definition of "being" coincides with my idea of "existence". To others, it is defined as "identity" or sometimes even "spiritualism". There are as many different definitions and answers and variations to that question as there are people in the world, therefore I believe it will always be open to new ideas.
I hope I didn't confuse you. :)
This probably is more a philosophical question than English; however, my opinion is that if not for new ideas we would still be living in the dark ages. No electricity, no cars, no stoves to cook with, etc. I often talk about wishing we had some of the "good ol' days" but I don't want them to be THAT old. With regard to explaining the how and/or why things happen, we need to be open to new theories, new explanations and new facts as we obtain new information. That way society can build upon today for the future just as we have built on the society of our ancestors. As just one example, hurricane Audrey came through the town where I live in 1957 and somewhere near 500 people were killed. Hurricane Rita came through in 2005, but due to better forcasting methods, better meteorology, better evacuation routes, and other miscellaneous reasons, we knew about it days ahead of time. By the time it was huffing and puffing away at my house, I was 200 miles away, serene in the knowledge that it might get my house but not me. One death was attributed to Hurricane Rita but there were no deaths in my city, or parish. So yes, we need to keep an open mind about things. I hope this helps.