Why Changing Your Mind is Good

Converts to new ideas reach their deepest personal convictions by swimming upstream.

The most worthwhile journeys usually take unforeseen detours.

While the quickest route to any destination is always the straight line, such uncompromising intransigence also tends to be boring. Taking the path of least resistance ultimately provides few rewards and little, if any, satisfaction.

I tend to be skeptical of those who say they never change their opinions. In fact, I find that disclosure to be frightening.

Anyone who insists his or her mind cannot be changed isn’t a person I like to be around.

I’m even more suspicious of someone who was born into a well-defined religious order or a certain political philosophy and never challenges those basic assumptions over the course of an entire lifetime. The straight-line approach certainly doesn’t require any additional time or effort, so it’s the easiest path to follow. That’s why it’s so common everywhere. Those who take such a predictable path without considering alternatives don’t offer much in the way of critical thinking, creativity, originality, nor innovation.

Oddly enough, changing one’s mind about something is often viewed with distrust and skepticism. Weighing evidence and pondering decisions are judged as indecisive. For instance, politicians who change their minds on issues get accused of flip-flopping. Religious believers who depart one faith for another (or abandon faith) are judged as heretics. Members of nationalities and ethnic groups who chose to affiliate themselves with another culture are labeled as traitors. We don’t take kindly to the evolution of beliefs, whether involuntary or not. Changing one’s basic covenants is not only discouraged. It’s sacrilegious.

So too, we often look upon curiosity with intense cynicism. In some societies, certain natural curiosities are even against the law — sometimes punishable by death. The sexual repression of citizens, especially women in many parts of the world and the downright oppression of gays in most societies stand as sufficient proof that the majority of people on this earth aren’t free to simply ask questions or explore any alternative possibilities. Not just our bodies have been shackled. So too, are our minds, and by the billions. Rigid conformity, in all its hideously restrictive forms, is a curse. And the opposite of rigid conformity is liberal thought.

Nietzsche famously said, “that which doesn’t destroy me, makes me stronger.” Those who ended up changing their belief systems often end up far more passionate about their new set of beliefs than those originally born into the caste. For example, the activism of many religious and political converts tends to be considerably stronger among those who joined the movement voluntarily, often later in life, rather than being born into a rigid set of beliefs and then going along with the flow.

Indeed, converts reach their deepest personal convictions by swimming upstream. Going against the current builds strength. It’s not easy to abandon the belief systems we were born into and pressured to remain a part of. Hence, those of us who converted to new ideas are often more passionate than those born into the tribe and who never once departed it. Flowing downstream in what amounts to a lazy river doesn’t instill much devotion. This is why converts to various belief systems, whatever they are, tend to be far more passionate, yet also flexible to alternatives, in their approach when discussing issues important to them. That’s because they’ve seen the other side. They were on the other side. And they don’t want any part of it. They don’t want to go back again.

From Moses to Paul to Constantine, all converted from Paganism and ultimately became champions of Judeo-Christian thought and practice. More recently, nearly a century ago, jurist Hugo Black converted from being a former member of the Ku Klux Klan, eventually becoming one of the most influential liberal jurists on the U.S. Supreme Court of the 20th Century. Then, there’s the former president regarded as one of the patriarchs of the American conservative movement, who spent the first half of his life as a New Deal Democrat. His name was Ronald Reagan. Innumerable other examples from human history prove the point that converts tend to more dogmatic in their beliefs than their one-route brethren.

And so we should take great pride in our conversion(s) — for philosophical evolution is a good thing.

I’ve made the my own conversions over the years.  In some cases, crossing onto the opposite side of the philosophical railroad tracks, so to speak, was a relatively easy process. I was fortunate to be raised in an inquisitive family, which liked to ask lots of questions. I was encouraged to be my own person (now much to the horror of some). We were always interested in the affairs of the world, beyond our own selfish interests. I was taught to seek, to read, to travel, to explore, and to think. I think that’s the greatest gift my parents gave me that was more important than anything else, other than life itself.

Unfortunately, many families (and by extension — local communities) don’t provide an opportunity for exploration. Alternative points of view are shut out. Intellectual challenges aren’t looked upon with intrigue, so much as suspicion and even fear. Islamic fundamentalism, Orthodox Judaism, evangelical Christianity, and the dogma of Catholicism don’t open many doors. They slam doors shut, and keep them padlocked. A cursory glance at societies, states, and localities where one religion predominates most human activity essentially proves this. Those religious societies are far less free and open than their non-religious or multi-religious counterparts.

Unfortunately, global problems are an extension this collective intransigence. For example, many societies desperately need a detour. Saudi Arabia needs a detour. So does Iran. So does Uganda. So does Mexico. So does Israel. So do the Palestinian Territories. So do parts of Texas and Alabama. I’m not seeing a lot of good things happening in these places right now. Perhaps if more of those people were to go through a conversion process, they would be better off. The world would certainly be a more peaceful place.

People who don’t change their minds about anything aren’t just shallow. History proves — they’re dangerous. This is especially true when the close-minded try to impose their beliefs on the rest of society through everything from the imposition of laws and restrictions to social pressures. No matter what the belief, rigid conviction is no virtue, except the conviction that we must continue keeping our minds open, exploring, and occasionally trying out detours.

The next detour you take could take you closer to the truth than the path you are on. At the very least, it’s probably worth exploring. The avenues of alternative thought are not to be feared. They are to be welcomed and sometimes taken when the evidence compels us to do so.