For there to be progress, we have to be open to New Thinking, no matter how painful!

I have always considered myself open to new thinking, even if at times (down the years) somewhat reluctantly. It’s only by making the effort to read, for example, a wide range of books across various disciplines, that I have realised I might not always have been as open-minded as I’d like to think. This is of course is one of the tricks that brains play on us and it’s why reading material that explains how your brain works brings this to your attention.

Whilst I have always endeavoured to be open to new ideas and thinking, my own levels of scepticism in the past might have come across as downright cynicism. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with a brand of healthy cynicism as long as you are not blinded by it.

I for one have always enjoyed various levels of discussion and debate - sometimes passionate, sometimes even heated, but always committed to making the case for what I believed in, even if perhaps a little too vociferously on occasion.

My ‘opponent’ has the right to articulate him or herself likewise but of course that is my assuming that he, she or they even, are as willing as me to engage in healthy discussion or debate. Not everybody enjoys debate and discussion in the manner that I do.

Over the years I have come to realise that such discourse can actually be a needless waste of energy, and in the end up we are unlikely to convince each other but at least we understand where the other is coming from.

Holding the beliefs I do and reaching the conclusions I have, I at least commit myself to accepting beliefs based on empirical evidence achieved through scientific rigour. This is in part, why in recent years, I have started a journey to find out more, reading more and more, only to realise that that journey is essentially never ending and I will still have to continue to reflect upon and review many of the ideas or beliefs I have as I grow older.

Such has been the nature of that journey - the ‘more I know the less I know’ kind of journey - that the more I do indeed discover, the more open I have become to new thinking. As a result, I’m prepared to dispense with any of my out-of-date ‘cognisant convictions,’ which the principles scientific rigour would only expect of me in any case.

I have always been curious – I put this down to my being a Gemini or at least I used too during my early days when I believed that our star signs held sway over our very nature not to mention helped determine our fate. I have since relinquished my subscription to ‘Fate is in the Stars’ monthly, but of course appreciate that many of the answers to our evolution, not to mention our future, might conceivably lie somewhere in the cosmos as we endeavour to discover more about the known unknowns and uncover many of the unknown unknowns.

Something that I used to take offence at (among the many things directed at me over time) was the banal statement, ‘you’ve changed’ or ‘you’ve changed your tune.’ How many times have we heard this from one person or another, or you’ve said it to someone yourself, as if to underscore a contradiction, or that they have let you down, or it’s intended as some kind of insult. You might get hot and bothered about the suggestion or insinuation that you are somehow inconsistent, or can be easily influenced by something, or someone else.

The reality of course is that we do change, every day, at least physically. A change of thinking however is not a sign of weakness, nor a sign of being a ‘turncoat’ or dismissing previous beliefs as invalid is not a sign of treachery. Rather it’s a sign of progress, that you’re open to new information and beliefs and you have entertained the possibility of new thinking.

This however, makes sense when you have been challenged by new information or evidence. To simply to revert to a previously discredited belief or hang rigidly onto a belief that is suspect in the light of new information might be a sign of safety or protecting yourself but to ignore new information to avoid having to adopt or adapt to new thinking is rather a sign of regression.

Prefer yee not to update your understanding of ‘stuff’ as much and as soon as possible, no? Then stagnant you will remain! The easy option is to remain steadfast and strong in your beliefs, even in light of evidence that contravenes those very beliefs. The braver and more courageous step is to critically reflect upon those views, thoughts, opinions, ideas, ideals, values and beliefs that have remained at your side and begin to consider them in a wider context, against a background of emerging evidence that suggests it might be time to re-write or at least amend them.

For us to progress we need to be open to the idea of new thinking, wherever it comes from, so that at least we can critique it. Then we can accept or dismiss it. To simply be closed to new thinking is regressive, not progressive.