“I Changed my Mind”

I had a really interesting experience this past week: I changed my mind. I know that this might not seem like much, but early on Tuesday morning while the rest of my family was still nestled in their beds, an essay I was reading changed my mind concerning a position that I have held since my grad school days. Let me be perfectly clear, I am not the kind of person that dogmatically holds on to every opinion with a death grip. My wife would attest that she convinces me of things all the time. What I am referring to here is one of those kinds of opinions that has tendrils that connect to all kinds of other issues, and opinions, and if carefully considered changes my view of the world and how I (or we) exist in it.

Though it may seem like the changing of my mind came in an instant, upon further reflection, there have been a number of people and essays and books over a number of years that were leading up to this shift in my perspective. It did not just happen in an instant. This is also particularly interesting to me because I consider my role as a writer to convince others of positions and ideas that I hold (and yes, this recent shift in perspective does affect some of the things that I have written about in the past, I will have to now reconsider). So, this got me thinking, ‘how did this happen?’ And ‘why now?’ There are longer answers to these questions, but one of the most encouraging things I am taking away from this experience is that I am still a person who is open to learning and having my own view challenged by others. This idea of ‘openness’ as a prerequisite for learning is something that goes back at least to medieval spirituality. The virtue of docilitas (the Latin word where we get our word docile), is a posture of being open to learn. It is a recognition that there are things that I need to learn, and that other people play a large role in our education. One who is ‘closed’ cannot learn.

I have been really encouraged this past week that my mind on something has been changed. It reminds me that life circumstances along with other people’s input and wisdom can resituate us in such a way that we can see (perhaps for the first time) a light shining through a crack in our own worldview. If we are willing to pay attention and be thoughtful, these cracks can lead us to consider something that may have seemed farfetched or implausible at some earlier time in our lives.  On the other side, as a writer, I am reminded that interactions with others through the written word or through conversation are only steps along the way. Something I say may not be the moment of existential crisis that changes the mind of someone to whom I come in contact, but stating what I think clearly, concisely, and charitably can be one in a series of encounters which make others reconsider their worldviews. The takeaway for me is that it is important to continue to learn from others, and to talk with others about deep things. In doing so we may actually learn amazing new things and also develop the much needed capacity for empathy.