For the strangest of reason that’s yet to reveal itself, I found myself in debate today with a scholarly woman whom I fully admire and respect. We were talking about several people we both know whom nearly everyone outside their circles have attempted to change the ways in which they conduct themselves in society. She insisted they can be convinced by others. When it was my turn to speak, I shared my full disagreement.
Unfortunately, we cannot change the choices of others simply because they’ve already hard-coded themselves in what they believe to be right and true. THERE IS NO CHANGING THEM! Of course you remember 9/11? The hard-coded choices those terrorist made were absolute. They’d already created their future and there was no going back.
The minds of fanatics are very scary. People believe fanatics are only religious, but fanaticism can infect even the most minor of ideas involving our daily lives. They convince themselves on a near daily basis that what they believe is true and there’s no educating them otherwise, because they’ve created their alternative beliefs years ago.
Look back in your own personal lives at how someone’s treated you with disdain for years because of something you did or didn’t do which in their eyes was the triggering of their fanaticism toward you. It could’ve been some skewed memory of siblings, parents, or even friends and neighbors. Unfortunately they’ll be grinding their axes for those “hated ones” until they draw their last breaths because they’ve branded those beliefs into their sub-conscious. Most of those you know will have similar “victim” stories to tell simply to aid in their convincing you that they’re right, and everyone else is wrong.
Unfortunately, they WILL NOT change unless there’s some great intervening circumstance in their lives that will cause their minds to shut down and re-boot. Look at how some use annoying “tag” nicknames when referring to someone whom they inwardly despise. They’re doing it because they know the injured party finds it insulting—even out in the un-suspecting public!
Is there hope for these people? I believe there is, but only in a way they’d consider to be near sacrilegious to their beliefs. The possible cure would be for them to start envisioning what the future outcomes would be if they’d start looking at the world thru someone else’s eyes while attempting to develop an understanding of them instead of passing blind judgements. If they can actually see a better future for themselves by looking into their own futures, then perhaps there’d be a sort of retro-influencing taking place to where they’ve already “seen” a different outcome they freely and willing went back and changed, because their hard-coded fanaticism would’ve automatically continued on with business as usual. That’s retro-influencing our futures. I do hope this makes sense to all of you.
