Keeping a Mind Open
Is open-mindedness an essential tool for living or does it signify empty-headedness? Mark Tully teases at this puzzle with help from Sufi, Rumi, and philosopher Bertrand Russell.
Mark Tully debates the pros and cons of an open mind - in life, in politics, in philosophy.
Keeping an open mind lies at the heart of Something Understood - or so Mark suggests. There may, however, be advantages to having a closed mind from time to time - to maintaining unswerving resolution and decisiveness, to wearing metaphorical blinkers to maintain a necessary focus.
Mark Tully examines the cases for and against keeping a mind open at all times with readings from the work of philosophers Eric Hoffer and Bertrand Russell, verse from 13th century mystic Rumi, and music by Arvo Part and Bengali singer Paban Das Baul.
The readers are Jasper Britton, Adjoa Andoh and Francis Cadder.
Presenter: Mark Tully
Producer: Frank Stirling
A 7digital production for BBC Radio 4
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Featured Tracks
Title: Tabula Rasa I. Ludus (Live)
Performer: Gidon Kremer
Composer: Arvo Part
Album: Arvo Pärt: Tabula Rasa
Label: ECM Records
Cat: 4763878
Title: Mon Moti
Performer: Paban Das Baul and Sam Mills
Album: Real Sugar
Label: Real World Records
Cat: CDRW65
Title: Viderunt Omnes
Performer: Hilliard Ensemble
Composer: Perotin
Album: Perotin
Label: ECM Records
Title: Nuevo Tango
Performer: Astor Piazzolla & Gary Burton
Composer: Astor Piazzolla
Album: The New Tango: Recorded At The Montreux Festival
Label: Rhino Atlantic
Title: Bamako City
Performer: Damon Albarn, Malian Musicians
Album: Mali Music
Label: Honest Jon’s Records
Cat: HJRCD1
Title: Idyll for String Orchestra: V. Adagio
Performer: Orchestra da Camera 'Ferrucio Busoni’, Massimo Belli
Composer: Leos Janacek
Album: Idyll: Serenades by Janacek, Elgar, Kalinnikov
Label: Brilliant Classics
Cat: 95199BR
Readings
Title: The Guest House
Found in The Essential Rumi
Author: Rumi
Translated by Coleman Barks
Published by Harper Collins
Title: Can We Afford to Keep Open Minds?
Found in The New York Times 11 June 1950
Author: Bertrand Russell
Title: The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movement
Author: Eric Hoffer
Published by Perennial Classics
Title: Welcome Change
Author: Gina Whitacre
Published by Poem Hunter
Title: Democracy and Education
Author: John Dewey
Published by Macmillan
Title: Handbook for the Urban Warrior
Author: Barefoot Doctor
Published by Wayward Publications
Title: Help Us To Hope
Found in Hope Against Darkness: The Transforming Vision of Saint Francis in an Age of Anxiety
Author: Richard Rohr
Published by St Anthony Messenger Press
Broadcasts
- Sun 3 Mar 201906:05BBC Radio 4
- Sun 3 Dec 202306:05BBC Radio 4
