RE: Exploring the Human Mind: Are we manipulable? - Persuasion

This is of inestimable value to me. Some years ago I undertook to assess my beliefs, and was quite surprised at my recalcitrance and seemingly innate resistance to challenging those beliefs. What I discovered is exactly the principle you discuss here: I believed that what I believed was certainly true, and the very idea of questioning my values was insipid. Only by deliberate effort was I able to even approach the matter.

I find the results of great value. I recommend not just doing this, but making doing this a way of life. Every time I do this, I discover more false stories I have believed, that better grasping facts regarding benefits my understanding of reality. We can, and I have, surf on the blithe nescience possible due to the nurturing effect of civilization, people that love us, and fortunate happenstance, dismissing importunate events as coincidence or malice, when the fact is that our misunderstanding belabors our loved ones, diminishes our effectiveness, and prevents our success at achieving our goals, or even conceiving of rational goals, rather than bad luck or the malevolence of others.

If we want to maximize our success, it is undeniable that we should minimize our misconceptions.

Thanks!