When I was younger, I would hear or read a convincing portrayal of things or an expression of ideas or ideology, and, if it was convincing enough, I would then think it was my own, as if I had thought it through and come to that conclusion, rather than just taking it from what I read or heard.
Looking back, I can see that that was the case, which is pretty amazing because it means that my mind continued to hold those ideas but wasn't wedded to that way of viewing them.
It was kind of about trust. Certain writers won me over, so I adopted their arguments. The first time you hear some really good reasoning (or reasoning you think is good) about something, you're won over because it's the best you've seen. It could be wrong but it's compelling.
It's pretty amazing - that sense in which your mind can hold certain ideas and, later on, your view of them, or your understanding of them, changes and grows, but the ideas themselves held water when you first came across them and still do.
The mind can hold a very nuanced concept of something. It can incorporate the subtlest of hints. It's like how, in your dreams, you can speak what really sounds like a foreign language, but if you try to do it when you're awake, it's not convincing at all.
The mind has a power of its own that we claim, but is actually independent of us in some ways.
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