What was the last time you realised you were completely wrong?

- I used to lump meditation in with homeopathy, crystal healing, and theism.
– Related to the above, I once believed that human happiness was directly connected to experiences.
– I also used to think – up until recently – that I could think my way out of any problem. That all problems had a solution – and that a solution was within reach if I only thought about it hard enough.

I don’t think there was ever a time when I was completely wrong. But I may be mistaken about that. :-)

Seriously, I have often been wrong about details or ramifications – some of the tangential stuff that has happened as a result of my assumptions. But in the main, my instincts have been pretty good (and proven over time). I seem to make good decisions on the principle idea. But sometimes the secondary stuff doesn’t occur the way I had thought I would.

Here’s a true story but hardly life altering. When I was very young, I was ‘taught’ how to use a shower by my older brother. One bit of advice he imparted: When turning off the shower make sure your head isn’t under the shower: the last few drops would take longer to dry than the rest of the shower.

Years later, in University, I was ducking my head to avoid those last drops when I suddenly realised how ridiculous that bit of advice was and cracked up laughing. I am not an idiot. Rather, he had told me something when I was like 4 and I had adopted it unquestionably. I never even thought about what I was doing until that day in college.

I have a lot of little examples like that.

It happens all the time. I can’t even think of a specific example right now. Sometimes I am very glad I was wrong. Here on fluther I have been corrected several times, which is part of what I like here, learning something new and questioning my own thought process.

I never changed my world view 100% and I can’t imagine ever doing so. I am and have always been a skeptic. The only way to change that 100% would be to become a believer. I think I’d need a lobotomy to become a believer, or have some other kind of traumatic brain injury or drug-induced brain chemistry change.

Sorry, @ro_in_motion. The chances of that happening are very slim. Though not zero.

I think I was wrong about a less important issue once, but I’ve blocked that out of my memory. Sorry again. Oh wait. There was the price control thingy. But I’ve documented that elsewhere.

I was raised in a belief-rich environment. They were piled on me from an early age, as a well-intentioned gift, no doubt. Living and growing has been one long, ongoing process of shedding beliefs, sometimes in little flakes, sometimes in bloody heaps. I’ve found all of those purges to be a little painful at the time—a kind of exorcism—but ultimately clarifying and helpful.

I’ve also been careful to resist replacing old beliefs with new ones. Instead, I’ve made my peace with the uncertainty that’s left when a belief falls away. I’ve come to see truth as being incompatible with “knowing”. Knowledge so often turns out to be belief wearing a good disguise. Truth, insofar as we can think of it as a noun, has more to do with uncertainty than with certainty; with questions more than answers.

Oh man, I’ve completely shifted in many of my beliefs over the last decade or so, too involved to go into details. Also, I have discovered that I am almost always wrong whenever I make an assumption. Defragging from the programming is the most important “work” we will ever do in this life.

Yesterday

@Coloma I love your answer.

@ro_in_motion Aaah, well, I could write a book about my shifts, but, best to incorporate it into comedic relif no doubt. ;-) Shift happens!

I’ve never really felt I was completely right about anything and the upside of that is that I have never felt I was completely wrong either.

About 10 seconds after voting for Ronald Reagan.

IDK.

The last time I argued with a woman.

Duhhh @Blondesjon!

@Dutchess_III . . . that’s what she said . . .

When I was little, I assumed a lot of things about life.

- Graduate from college in four years.
– Have a career related to my major/studies.
– Friendships were simple. Two people like each other. They decide to be friends.
– Relationships were simple. Two people love each other. They decide to get married.
– I would be all very adult-like by the time I was married.
– My siblings would all be married with kids. And all of us (with our spouses and children) would get along swimmingly.

@Nimis I definitely suffered from this misconception as well.