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April 7th

EXPECT TO CHANGE YOUR OPINIONS

“There are two things that must be rooted out in human beings—

arrogant opinion and mistrust. Arrogant opinion expects that there

is nothing further needed, and mistrust assumes that under the

torrent of circumstance there can be no happiness.”

—EPICTETUS, DISCOURSES, 3.14.8

ow often do we begin some project certain we know exactly how it
will go? How often do we meet people and think we know exactly
who and what they are? And how often are these assumptions proved to be
completely and utterly wrong?
This is why we must fight our biases and preconceptions: because they
are a liability. Ask yourself: What haven’t I considered? Why is this thing
the way it is? Am I part of the problem here or the solution? Could I be
wrong here? Be doubly careful to honor what you do not know, and then set
that against the knowledge you actually have.
Remember, if there is one core teaching at the heart of this philosophy,
it’s that we’re not as smart and as wise as we’d like to think we are. If we
ever do want to become wise, it comes from the questioning and from
humility—not, as many would like to think, from certainty, mistrust, and
arrogance.