Changing one’s mind on a long-held and cherished belief is one of the most valuable things one can do for one’s own development.
If you haven’t changed your mind on anything major recently, you are at risk for intellectual stagnation. Every year, I remind people to pick up a new hobby, explore an entertainment genre that is new to them, change their routine. Unless we force our mind into new directions, it will grow moldy.
What have you changed your mind on this year?
I went to church on Christmas Eve for the first time in decades.
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\ Changing one’s mind on a long-held and cherished belief
Have you done this?
If not a secret, what was the belief?
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Since I read your posts about the end of the nation state, I mock much less the “privileged” Western folks (not completely stopped yet, but the tendency is clear), as I have realized that the world is changing in a way that will be favourable for people like me. This new realization has also helped me overcome my recent migrant trauma, which is good because less frustration -> more time for useful things. I’ve also become more compassionate with those who are from a better background than me. Or maybe I’m not more compassionate with them but with myself, as I recently I began to see this fact less of an obstacle.
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You are absolutely right, aglaonika, we are moving into a model where you will be at an advantage. And everybody who sees and understands the changes will be at an advantage. You and I are not likely to idealize the past, so we win.
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You are so right, Clarissa! One of the big problems with democracy, in the U.S. at least, is that politicians stake out positions during campaigns, and then feel honor-bound never to waver from that position. If a politician does have a change of mind, the media mocks them. It would be much better if we all stated our observations and opinions, but were willing to adapt to new information. And one can change an opinion, even without new information.
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I changed my mind about small things, such as: Asparagus and kale. I used to hate asparagus because I had a bad experience with limp, wilted asparagus in childhood, imported to Hawaii from the mainland, and I never tasted kale because I associated it with the weird hipster class of Victoria that ate salads they packed in mason jars. I tried both again fresh and loved them.
I changed my mind about big things, too, such as transnationalism theory. I used to admire it greatly, now I see its limitations, especially in a period like this when the nation state is so uncertain. I changed my mind about whom I wanted to study under at grad school, opting for a scholar who had research interests that were more varied, since I feel I could learn more from her. I changed my mind about autoethnography, I used to think it was self-indulgent, but now I see its value as a research method. I changed my mind about bell hooks, I used to love her uncritically but now I have the vocabulary to engage her work’s limitations.
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It wasn’t a cherished belief, but I went from denying that I needed help with my depression to accepting that I needed help. I’m working on changing my mind (or not, I guess it’s up-for-grabs at this point) about my major, too.
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You know me the commie Canadian from socialist Canukistan. Right now I’m engaged in an online conversation on a dating site with a card carrying member of a North Carolina chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution who is conservative and writes book reviews for right wing publications. Her heroes are Ben Carson, Phyllis Schlafly and the Politichick website. This should be interesting. (No I’m not joking.)
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“Right now I’m engaged in an online conversation on a dating site with a card carrying member of a North Carolina chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution who is conservative and writes book reviews for right wing publications. Her heroes are Ben Carson, Phyllis Schlafly and the Politichick website.”
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I changed my mind about changing my mind, so that now everything I believe is immutable truth. It took some doing!
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I decided to learn to skateboard – call it a 1/3-life crisis. I never did it before because my athletic coaches would have killed me if I broke a wrist or something. Now that I am no longer competing, I might as well give it a shot! Hopefully it will force me to get over my fears of my poor balance (which may or may not be real). So not really changing my mind, but definitely a change!
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I had another “long night of the soul” last night, thanks to a new dietary experiment of putting powdered Japanese green tea on my tomatoes. That tastes fine enough, but it is not so good to be woken in the early hours of the morning with physical twitches and a high adrenaline rush. I’m just not all that used to caffeine or stimulants anymore. In some sense, I had what Japanese might call “The wrong night of the soul”.
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[…] Clarissa says that “Unless we force our mind into new directions, it will grow moldy.” The part of me fighting against my depression agrees. I’ve already changed a lot of things, but it isn’t enough. I’m still in the process of reworking my life, and it’s very difficult, to say the least. It’s very much a day-by-day battle. Sometimes it’s even a minute-by-minute battle. […]
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A conservative literary critic and college professor
Clarissa's Blog 
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