One of the many ironies that I chuckle over quietly every now and then, is how science has found itself turned on its head by the inevitable evolution of humanity. There was a time when science was the new kid on the block, telling retrogressive religion that it had it wrong. It got its way and for the next 300 years ruled the planet as kingpin. But guess what? Times have changed. Today, science is on the run, as spirituality challenges many of its cherished tenets and principles. Slowly, reluctantly, the more progressive elements are acknowledging their ignorance, but the large majority is still keeping a closed mind, fighting to preserve its cherished superiority.

If you want to keep pace with a changing world, it is imperative to keep your mind open. If not, you might find yourself blown away by the winds of change, rendered utterly irrelevant.
Look at the way liberalisation has made so many careers defunct. I still remember the breed of paste-up artists who would painfully cut and paste rolls of typeset matter onto pages. Computers have completely done away with this breed and unless they have been able to reinvent themselves as graphic designers and visualisers, their careers have come to a full stop.

Even the best of us have difficulty keeping our minds open. Our human tendency is to opt for the tried and tested - to prefer the comforting dal roti for the uncertain pleasure of chicken kiev. We prefer to revolve within our known though limited grooves even when life is calling to us to learn a new language, settle down in a different town, change our job, try another bus route, make new friends and so on.
The secret of staying young and enthusiastic, therefore, is to challenge your comfort zone and belief system every single day. You may think that South Mumbai is the centre of the universe but hey, keep an open mind. And give that man with the dreadlocks a second chance, will you? He might open up new worlds for you. And yes, learn salsa or audition for a play or join the local choir. Come to think of it, write a book, do an MBA course, join the Green party, learn Vedanta, go on a padayatra, detox yourself, whatever the inner urge suggests.

Explore the unknown
All true growth and happiness lies in the unknown. We need to befriend it and seek it out. If Deepak Chopra had not given up his very successful career as an endocrinologist, he would never have become the world famous writer and healer he presently is. If Nagesh Kukunoor had not left behind whatever job he was plying back in the United States, he would never have discovered the maverick film director lurking within. If Salman Rushdie had continued to be a copywriter, well, maybe the whole Indian English fiction scene may not have happened at all.

The unknown is the realm of all possibilities, of magic and creativity. Artists know this well and strive to stay alive to the moment, rejecting the temptation to surrender to what they already know. This is the only way to ensure that they and their art continue to evolve. If you study the work of all good artists - writers, painters, musicians, you will find their creations maturing and growing as they develop their own understanding of existence. Whether it is Tolstoy, Charles Dickens, or Beethoven, their later work is their best, as life tests them and in doing so yields its best secrets.

If we want to lead a successful life, one that is constantly expanding and deepening, we must open up our minds. It is all too tempting to form an opinion of existence early and then stick with it. It may be that life is difficult, or people are incorrigible or that the world is corrupt. It could be that there is a God or there is no God. Our world view creates the world we live in and that is why we need at all times to question our beliefs and see if we could possibly be wrong. From my own experience I can testify that truth itself has an evolving nature. What you were once convinced was the truth, may turn out, when your mind has expanded a little more, to be a half truth, and needs to be modified.

Recognise your true self
Equally and as important, give your opinions an airing. Perhaps your driver really knows his way around the city better than you do. Maybe the establishment is not the fairest institution in history. Perhaps wealth and fame are not the highest goals of human existence and probably the stock exchange is not really God. Maybe not all politicians are corrupt. There is nothing more discomforting than to recognise that we are not always right or good. That we are frequently unreasonable, blind, envious, mulish and so on. Hard though this admission is, it holds the secret of our humility, reality-consciousness and eventually peace and happiness.

So give it a shot. Make it a habit to check within and ask yourself, 'could I be wrong?' You'll be surprised how many doors will open, how many friendships you will win back, how many arguments you will resolve and how much peace of mind you will earn.

So is there nothing sacrosanct? Nothing that you can simply lock into? Well, there are the absolute values - these are the values of the soul and they never ever change. What are these? Honesty is one and so is integrity. Self-respect is another, and so are the biggies - love, compassion, selflessness and so on. The nutcase who said, 'Greed is good', in the film, Wall Street, didn't know what he was talking about. Greed can never be good (if we define it as excessive attachment or lust), any more than hate or envy is. These only breed misery and we must transcend them as soon as ever we can.
So stick with the basics, but as for the rest - just carefully watch your space.