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Originally Posted by sweetpea
But to challege someone's perspective, your opting to try to change it. That is IMPOSSIBLE.  |
I can challenge people's perspective without trying to change it.
Shucks, you can challenge perspective in order to strengthen it. You can challenge perspectives in order to understand it. You can challenge perspectives in order to establish understanding in the perciever. You can challenge perspectives for the pure joy of competition.
I do not play pool in order to place balls into cups. I do not learn about schitozophrenic thought in order to duplicate it. I do not ask mathematics students questions about their work in order to prove them wrong. I do not invite critisism of my code to justify trashing it.
An unchallenged life is not worth living, and an unchallenged thought is no thought at all.
Secondly, I also do not believe what you describe -- changing beliefs in adulthood -- is impossible. One of my best friends father converted, whole-heartedly, to a new religion as an adult. I do know that most belief systems seek to close the possessor against conversion, but people are far more than mere caracatures of their spiritual beliefs. People are wonderously complex and intersting things, and claiming anything is impossible for the wonder that is a person is, to me, hubris.
I do believe that it is very easy to be rude about changing someone's beliefs, and it may even be useful if people believe that changing beliefs is impossible. But I value honesty more than utility.