Intellectual Humility, 10

Speaking of Thanksgiving, several reported that “Thanksgiving was awful this year. Once again, my aunt and brother went at it with tongs and pitchforks. I think next year we’ll have dinner at our house and it will be ‘by personal invitation only!’” Aside from politics, religion, and gender-relationships, most of the disagreements even related to interpersonal relationships, likely boil down to things that really do not matter. They reflect one’s own belief that our view of the situation is right and theirs is wrong. Brain function research indicates that each brain ONLY HAS IS OWN OPINION. Sometimes that is a unilateral view; sometimes it is a view that has been adopted from someone else. Several years ago I began using the phrase, “In my brain’s opinion,” or “My brain’s opinion is …” They were meant to reflect that no brain can “know” everything much less “know” what it knows with infallible accuracy. And what a brain doesn’t even know it doesn’t know can be lethal. In the light of this new research I have a new respect for this phrase: the words are meant to reflect personal Intellectual Humility . . .