What If We Don't Know Everything?

 I know this may be a little off topic (i.e. it isn't about animals or healing or other topics I typically write about) yet it feels important to put some thoughts out there for folks to consider. The question is this: How Good Are We At Accepting and Processing New Information? Are we terrified at the thought that we might not know everything?

Lately, I've been observing how much resistance people have to hearing anything that doesn't match their current beliefs. It is as if we expect ourselves to know everything, beyond a shadow of a doubt, and admonish anyone who has a differing view or different information.  

I see people lashing out at a person when they have attempted to shine the light on something. They react by ridiculing the person or flat out bullying them with negative comments, shutting them down, labeling them with harsh things like "idiots, conspiracy theorists, fear mongerers" etc. or demanding that they "prove that with irrefutable scientific evidence." 

It can be incredibly disheartening when you see how downright ugly we can be to each other when we are presented with something that we are not ready to consider. It seems that the more we don't want to believe something is true, the more resistant we can be.

It makes me wonder: Why we are so afraid to open up to the possibility that we may not know the truth about everything?

Over the years, I have come across a lot of information that I didn't want to believe at first. Seeing someone that we have believed in or felt was a trusted authority on something crumble before our eyes can be difficult to wrap our brains around. I get it. I have experienced this myself, when someone I looked up to fell off the pedestal I had put them on. Or finding out something that has you shaking your head in disbelief. Maybe it is something we don't want to see it at first or we don't want to believe that what we are being shown could be possible. 

There's that feeling of overwhelm that comes with it, the fear that everything we thought was true is going to come crashing down around us if we accept this new information. 

How do we process new information? 

What I have learned is this:  Even though it often initially had me reeling, I now just sit with it. I learned to wait and see if more information on the topic came across my path in the coming days, weeks and months. I learned to keep my eyes and my mind open so that if more information DID come along that either confirmed or refuted what I had read before, I would see it.

Given that the only thing we can truly control is ourselves and our reactions to things . . . that's usually a good place to start. When someone says something that riles us up, rather than lashing out at that person, maybe we can stop and ask ourselves "Why is that bothering me so much?" 

Is it possible the person is sharing information that you just don't WANT to believe? What if what was being shared WAS true? What would it mean to us and our life? Would we be able to continue living as we assimilated that new information? or would our world truly fall apart if we accepted a new "truth" into our reality?

If you still think the person is an idiot or a conspiracy theorist, can you keep that to yourself rather than demeaning the person with those labels? Can you just file it away and be open to the fact that everyone has a right to believe what they believe? Can you maybe even consider the possibility that there might be some truth in what they shared?

Sometimes new information forces us to let go of some of our old beliefs. That isn't always a bad thing. Think about how your beliefs have changed throughout your life. (I used to believe that Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy were all real)  :-) 

I have a feeling that many of the things that have been "hidden" from us for decades (and centuries) are going to start coming out with greater frequency - that we are going to be told things we may not want to know or shown things that we don't want to accept. It seems like now is a pretty good time to prepare for it, to look at ourselves and see how we react and respond to information that is outside our comfort zone or outside of our "reality bubble" . . . 

A question to ponder: Can we look for ways to process new information that we might not initially be comfortable with? or believe is totally wrong? Can we dod it in a way where we don't have to make others WRONG? It could shape whether hearing new information is a terrifying experience or an experience that ultimately allows us to begin spreading our wings - it is entirely up to us.