Live your life using an open mind or ” the empty cup principle” .Any given moment will teach you everything you need to know , if you can just keep your eyes and ears open. Paying attention and being present “here and now” is like what the masters of all times have done. The best description of the empty cup principle comes from an old Zen story,retold by Bruce Lee.

“A learned man once went to a Zen master to inquire about Zen. As the Zen teacher explained, the learned man full of knowledge continually interrupted the master, going on about how he was taught and what he himself had mastered. Finally the Zen master stopped talking and began to serve tea to the learned man. He poured the cup full, and then kept pouring until the cup overflowed.
"Enough!" the learned man once more interrupted. "No more can go into the cup!"
"Indeed, I see," answered the Zen master. "If you do not first empty your mind, how can you taste my cup of tea?"

The empty cup story is about being open to new ideas, moreso than it is about which ideas you actually or eventually subscribe to. The learned man had to empty his mind of preconceived ideas in order to hear the ideas of the Zen master.

To remain open-minded use the principle of Socrates:” I am the wisest man alive, for

I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing. I know nothing except the fact of my ignorance”

On another occasion Socrates:” Well I am certainly wiser than this man. It is only too likely that neither of us has any knowledge to boast of; but he thinks that he knows something which he does not know, whereas I am quite conscious of my ignorance. At any rate it seems that I am wiser than he is to this small extent, that I do not think that I know what I do not know. (Plato, Apology, sct. 19.) The only good is seeing and the only evil is blindness(not ignorance). True knowledge exists in knowing that you know nothing [when you are still blind] (Socrates).

Feigning competence is human nature, but unveiling your ignorance about a subject may lead to myriad learning opportunities and an accelerated path toward craftsmanship. This approach to learning is not an easy process, and exposing your ignorance can be risky, but the ability to stay open to new ways of thinking by accepting your limitations is what sets great developers apart from good developers. If someone began asking questions about how to proceed is one attitude.But if he interrupt and takes an attitude of defensiveness with long diatribes about the current system and "the way things really are," negating the unfamiliar process with a mix of curiosity and incredulity we are dealing with a closed mind..

The empty cup principle is interesting from a business/social point of view,but has a lot of technological ,scientific and spiritual ramifications.

I believe most of the trouble we create for ourselves comes from our own assumption that we know best, a subtle kind of arrogance we can all practice daily. Being afraid to admit to others, or not knowing what you don't know is an insidious threat to personal growth. Surely most of the trouble in my own life has come from assuming that I knew or understood something before I really did - I end up like the man in the story.

Most of us never end up subscribing completely and exclusively to any one school of thought, instead we pick the best from what we know. I suspect many of us do as such because no one structure felt sufficient, all things considered. A common criticism is that it's a belief system of convenience and surely some must use it for that, but I believe most people are generally good and just looking for what works best for them.

So what most of us choose to believe most of the time is like a cherry pick. We take what seems like the best, safest or most sound principles, as we see fit. If you look at it in that light, the empty cup principle can provide some helpful structure. The empty cup principle is more like the basket itself: you can put cherries in, but the more you do the less room you have. So pick wisely.

The empty cup principle can be helpful in a fast paced, rapidly changing business world. So many people feel threatened by new applications of technology and a changing workplace, that they pass up great opportunities. It doesn't matter if you're in marketing, production, finance or customer service: things are changing and we all have to adapt to stay competitive. Today it may be outsourcing key business functions, dealing with customer and client blogs or making your web site ready for mobile devices. Tomorrow it will surely be something else. We can react to new opportunities (call them challenges if you must) with much greater success if we use the empty cup principle