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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.