I'm reminded of one of the many great things I read, wow, it's been almost 18 months but feels like yesterday, in Alan Arkin's brief (I read all 100 pages in one sitting in a hammock swing) memoirish "Out of My Mind." In the first chapter, Arkin talks about several transitions from belief set to belief set over the course of his life and how with respect to each one he would have vigorously or comfortably tried to change the whole rest of the world to his way of thinking. Then he says:

“After a few years of this, it occurred to me that it might be a good idea to stop believing in so many things. I looked back and realized that for the first half of my life I’d been ready to change the world three times with three sets of beliefs, each one of which I’d outgrown and discarded, so it seemed a better idea to just shut up. I started to slowly let go of my needs for the rest of the world and began living more and more in my feelings and my intuitions and concentrating on the enormous faults within myself that needed addressing and correcting. As I did so, and it was a slow and painful process, I could see that whatever work I did on the inside was slowly taking root, making me saner, more patient, somewhat more compassionate and all of this began to affect a new view of the world which I tried hard not to concretize and make rules for. As a result, everything started to become more fluid, less frightening, and more surprising, both inside me and around me, and I started thinking maybe that was enough for a while. Belief systems, I started to realize, were wish lists. Things you’d like to be true. They were not immutable laws.”

Here's one of mine I wrote a bit after I read it that I don't think you got to enjoy: https://thetaoist.online/hermann-hesse-alan-arkin-and-marcus-meet-in-a-bar-to-discuss-philosophy-with-marcus-7582ce0bad14.

Here's another I wrote 13 months ago, https://medium.com/channspirations/this-vivid-dream-saved-esther-raabs-life-ed37b1637d23, which builds off of this quote from the book:

"We hang onto our belief structures as if they are real and tangible things. These beliefs. These huge hunks of granite edifices in our consciousness upon which we base our lives. It’s enough most of the time that our beliefs comfort us, make us feel part of a group — help us get through the day, never mind whether or not they are true."

The story I go on to tell from the book, that of Esther Raab and how a dream she had, and her unshakable faith, enabled her to escape a concentration camp and save the lives of the few that followed her, and a heart warming reunion on her escape path, is worth the price of admission.