I am trying to be less open minded.

I am extremely obstinate in certain beliefs and am in fact actively hostile and discriminatory against counter beliefs.

It goes far beyond being judgmental. There are a few principles where It goes to the core of my very being and nothing will ever change my mind.

The best way to do this for me is to be open to inquiry for a period of time until I’ve figured out what’s going on and then radically close down any further examination.

The critical thing is to be hostile towards the ideas and not the people holding them.

Open inquiry → genuine examination → decision → closure → defense

Being open minded is a virtue as the inception point of this process, but to stay open minded perpetually is destructive.

I usually know I’ve found one of these when a violation of the belief makes me viscerally angry. Not just mildly annoyed but truly angry.

Another is when I find sophisticated counter arguments suspicious rather than compelling.

That last one is particularly useful.

When a clever argument leads me toward a conclusion that feels deeply wrong, and the cleverness itself starts to feel like a red flag, that’s often a sign I’m near bedrock.

So yeah I’m trying to be less open minded, I’d like to find more of these deep load bearing convictions.