Imagine if We Were Responsible for Our Beliefs
Imagine if we taught people that they're responsible for their own beliefs. Not *entitled* to them, but *responsible* for tending them.
Imagine if we taught people to test, support, and update their assumptions and conclusions from early ages, as well as present their views with respect for others.
Imagine if we taught that it's an adult's job to do these things because ideas have power, including the power to harm, and we will all forever be children in the unbounded classroom of the world.
Imagine if we taught that folks should earn pride in their beliefs by examining them, not simply having and loudly supporting them. Not just because they're popular. What if we taught that having pride in a belief comes from time, attention, and effort, as well as the willingness to adjust, like what comes after creating a fine piece of art.
What if we taught that ideas can and should change over time, as we learn more, and that we can relinquish old ones with too many flaws in favor of ones that better suit our needs. That such a process isn't about what we lose but what we gain.
What if we taught that we aren't demeaned by changing our minds, but that it's part of our responsibility to see if it's time to do so. To take our beliefs in for a check-up, as it were.
Imagine.