闲人

One who seeks the truth must first understand one thing:
What happens when one decides to take a piece of information and incorporate it into one's beliefs.

What happens is that the very first reaction to an idea is often an emotional one. If a person is asked why they hold certain beliefs, they will probably have reasons that they, at least, believe are rational and reasonable. But if one observes the process of the creation of a belief, especially those that are important to one's self, the first reaction to a new idea is one of "I agree/like/disagree/dislike this". Then the rational mind kicks in and starts to think of reasons why one agrees or disagrees with something.

As time goes by, if the belief is important enough, one starts collecting information in daily life that supports the belief and discounts or ignores information that goes against it, thereby strengthening it. Or, when one comes across information that goes against one's beliefs, one makes 'exceptions' to place it into one's belief system without disrupting it. But there is delusion in thinking that one is being rational when one is merely collecting rational arguments to support an emotional conclusion.

Perhaps by now some of you reading this already have a response to the above point. If you remain unbiased at this point, whether because of your objectivity or because the point in question is of no concern to you, then you are probably in a position of seeing this issue clearly. Those who already have their own response to the point in question, it may be worthwhile to have a think back at the instant where you started to agree/disagree. Was the decision made after considering both sides objectively, or did the agreeing/disagreeing come first, before a list of "rational" arguments were considered?

If you seek the truth, I think it is fruitful to consider this well. Regardless of whether you agree or disagree, regardless of how you came to agree or disagree, observe the process and consider it well.