Photo by Over the course of my journey of self improvement, I have realized that my ultimate goal in life is to be the best version of myself that I can be. The process that I must adopt to achieve the goal is to be a little less wrong tomorrow than I am today. To do that, I need to assess who I am today, and who I want to be tomorrow. To know the latter, I need to have strong opinions on what is right and what is not.
Nothing good ever came from meekly following the general consensus unquestioningly. All the advancements we have today were all born from a single question - "Why?" Aristarchus believed that the Sun was at the centre of the universe. He believed that at a time when everyone was certain that everything revolved around Earth. Today, we know better than Aristarchus, but only because people dared to challenge him.
Having strong opinions provides people a helping hand in their quest for truth. However, it must be mentioned that having strong opinions without being open to criticism and introspection causes more harm than good. Keeping an open mind and being ready to change your opinions when they have been proven to be wrong is healthier than being steadfast in your beliefs.
To establish a strong opinion, one must be brutally honest to themselves. Arriving at a strong opinion requires the individual to be able to make a series of logical arguments to justify their conclusion. The process of constructing logical arguments will allow the person to test their own opinion for any gaps in the reasoning.
You are not entitled to your opinion. You are entitled to your informed opinion. No one is entitled to be ignorant.
- Harlan Ellison
Having strong opinions is good, but having one just for the sake of one is not good. One cannot form an opinion on a subject they know nothing about. The prerequisite to forming an opinion is research. Whether it is politics or religion or anything else thought up by man, to form an opinion, let alone a strong one, an understanding of the topic is mandatory.
One must also realize that neither do most people need to agree with your opinions, nor do you need to change your opinions to satisfy most of the people. To appear acceptable to most people, one must present their views in a moderate way. But this approach puts you on a path further away from the truth. If you are looking for your truth, you must be willing to articulate your extreme ideas to others because they may not share your views and can offer you perspectives that you may have missed.
When your opinion is proven wrong, it may make you feel ignorant, but that could be your signal to stop and learn a bit more with an open mind. You must remember it is the cost you must pay in pursuit of the truth. The goal, after all, is to be less wrong tomorrow than you are today.
Until next time! Hoping to meet you as a better person than I am today!
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