Southern Kross
Away with the fairies
- Joined
- Dec 22, 2008
- Messages
- 2,910
- MBTI Type
- INFP
- Enneagram
- 4w5
- Instinctual Variant
- so/sp
^ ThisI like to try out a variety of ideas, lifestyles, and mentalities on for size--it's a way to 'test' principles. The good ones get solidified, refined, and confirmed; the 'bad' ones get ditched. Often, the details of a belief get cast aside, but the core remains.
For example, a person may have identified with some particular political movement at some point in time and espoused its virtues. Over time, he was attracted to another political movement that had seemingly opposing ideals. This could very well be because he valued one particular general principle (e.g. freedom of personal choice and liberty) all along, but life experience taught him to refine the nuances and assumptions that he'd attached to that core value--and, as such, he found the same ideal better incorporated in a different political movement.
I believe I only had major shifts when I was more immature. Back then I was more prone to bias and was more reactionary. I also learned the importance of informing myself properly on a particular issue, especially if reflection alone couldn't give me sufficient answers.
I remember having some big swings in my opinions towards the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in my late teens to early 20s. Then a few things made me feel I should learn more about it. I ended up reading about a dozen books on it and realised how stupid my previous judgements were once I saw the complexities of the issues/history involved. Still, my values hadn't really changed much (even in the big shifts), it was just how I applied them.