Lisa and I got a room uptown New Year’s Eve. It’s the first time in a long time we had a chance to get away, even for 24 hours. It was nice.

While I was waiting on Lisa to get ready, I watched PBS news, The Journal. It was a treat to watch. It is an English speaking news network with its head offices in Berlin, Germany. If all you watch is Fox News or CNN, chances are you are getting a strictly western version of the world. When you watch BBC news or The Journal from Berlin or  Aljazeera News, you’re going to get an entirely different perspective.

In our spiritual lives, it is crucial and healthy to get other perspectives. Read outside your box. Be informed by people on the other side of the religious globe. Research Muslim critiques of Christianity, for example.

You don’t have to intend anything intentional. All you have to do is notice other opinions of what you thought were hard, cold facts. This alone has a way of softening the barriers, expanding the global reach, and opening new passages of thought, in the mind.