“It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.“ - Aristotle

submitted by platonic1 from self.whatever

What regular people do not do is suspend disbelief, assume a position and see what can or can’t be explained by it. Before they will even consider it they want evidence or proof, or they assume it’s a waste of time to even consider. This is why I think most people are not capable of creative, unconventional thinking. I think people are like that because they’re scared if they entertain a thought they’ll believe it.

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[–]chottohen 5 insightful - 3 fun5 insightful - 2 fun6 insightful - 3 fun -  (0 children)

The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function. — F. Scott Fitzgerald

[–]chottohen 4 insightful - 3 fun4 insightful - 2 fun5 insightful - 3 fun -  (0 children)

Suspension Bridge of Disbelief

[–]GeorgeCarlin 3 insightful - 3 fun3 insightful - 2 fun4 insightful - 3 fun -  (2 children)

Its called cognitive dissonance by psychologists.

Once you read up on it, you'll soon realize why the quote "Ignorance is bliss" is true for most sheeple.

Your philosophical approach to this problem is admireable but sadly also rather abstract. So it may have a hard time reaching the audience precisely you are adressing.

[–]monkeymagic 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

you mean idiots?

[–]GeorgeCarlin 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Idiots is a mighty word.

It's more an attitude question.-You just can see, what you wanna see - like.

"Some people have a horizon with radius zero and call it their position." (Einstein) - like.

[–]SuzieHomemaker 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

it is my observation that most people engage a topic having already formed a firm position. Someone that is a capable think tank operative puts aside his personal views and focuses on helping the team to figure out what is the best solution or position for all parties.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5X623xJl84 (Amy Grant - El Shaddai)

[–]scumyaal 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

I just lamped out the phattest shit of my fucking life - Scumyaal

[–]MidWestDutchy 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Same. - MidWestDutchy

[–]wristaction 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

The word "educated" here may be joined with "matured". The reason youths who latch onto an ideology do so with such zealotry is because it's their first and all of the knowledge-based weapons the "enemy" wields are weapons of unknown power. The young zealot only knows he wields the Ultimate Truth, and so any reasoning which confounds or complicates it is unsafe to handle.

A mature, educated person however recognizes that destructive ideology, once given any space to take root, grows, at first in the perifery, until it is too large to easily contain.

So there exist a foolish basis to limit the expression of an idea and a wise one.