“Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.”

That quote from George Bernard Shaw is also the title of a post pondering its meaning at Philosiblog.

The focus of the discussion is we must be willing to change our mind, especially our opinion of ourselves, if we are going to make progress toward the goals we value.

Consider this:

To move beyond where you are requires change. Progress is what we call that motion when it is in a desired direction (or at least desired to the person calling it progress).

That requires us to be willing to change our minds when the errors in our thoughts are pointed out to us. If we are unwilling to change our minds, there is nothing which can be done for us, right?

This quote is about examining the facts, and changing our opinions when the facts no longer support our prior thoughts or beliefs.

You can take this many directions. Mr. Philosiblog ponders that we need to change our negative opinions of ourselves and the world around us in order to make progress.

I agree.

Coping with change requires the ability to change our mind

I’ll expand the idea to say we need to review the facts in the rapidly changing world that surrounds us. We may find facts have changed since we last pondered any situation.

If we find any facts that have changed drastically, we need to be willing to change our mind to keep up with the brand new reality.

That can get painful.

If we don’t change our mind, the changing realities will give us a major surprise when they overwhelm us.

We must be constantly scanning the environment. We must be willing to change our minds.