Man In Progress

photo credit: Clive Arundell

In order to allow for the continual expansion of your mind, you must learn to set aside your need to always be right. Show me someone who thinks they know everything and I’ll show you someone who really knows next to nothing. How can one learn if one believes that there is nothing to be learned? How can a mind make new discoveries if it is content to merely defend what is already known?

The Most Arrogant Person You Know

Think about that person at your workplace or in your extended family who is extremely arrogant and obnoxious. This shouldn’t be hard. Hint: It’s the one who interrupts a lot and is always telling you what to do with your life. Now, you might respect this person. You might even love them. But do they strike you as very intelligent? Would you characterize them as wise? Do you seek them out for advice?

I’ve found that in most cases the greater one’s ego, the greater one’s ignorance. Ego can be an important agent in personal productivity, but ego gone wild will prohibit you from discovering a more truthful and meaningful life. It is only when you allow some humility to guide you that you can acknowledge your shortcomings, which then can lead to self-improvement and a more enlightened perspective of yourself and the world at large.

There Is No Greater Tragedy Than The Stunted Mind

It’s always a bit depressing to me when I see people who refuse to grow mentally and personally. If at 40 you have exactly the same opinions and thought processes as when you were 20, then I pity you, because you are wasting your mind. You are satisfied with a worldview that, at best needs tweaking, and at worst needs a total overhaul. I can’t think of a worse existence than to consciously refuse to meet that more aware version of yourself. I think of what I was like when I was 20 and I can’t imagine spending my whole life in that mindset. I’ve tried to challenge myself to consider different viewpoints and ways of thinking, and it has made a greater difference than I can even articulate.

Approach Your Life Like A Scientist

Look at your life like a scientist looks at his research. Have strong opinions that are based in logic and direct observation and testing, but be willing to accept that occasionally your theories will be wrong. Just as the scientist must be willing to change his mind when new evidence presents itself, so too must you have the courage to face and accept new and sometimes groundbreaking evidence which flies in the face of what you once thought true about life.

If you refuse to do this, if you refuse to accept that you might occasionally be wrong, you’re only cheating yourself in the long run. You’re like the scientists of centuries gone who refused to believe that the earth was round because it didn’t fit neatly into the worldview that they had spent a lifetime constructing for themselves. In the end the world left them behind, and now we amuse ourselves with their foolishness.

Stop wasting so much time defending your old ideas that everyone and their brother can now see are flawed, and instead get on with the work of incorporating new information into your life. You’ll gain a more fulfilling and stimulating existence, and the people closest to you will value your opinion more. The honest mind is more respected than the stubborn mind.