I am struck less by the frank admission of ways in which I have changed my mind, as by an underlying resistance to admitting that I have done so. I think this is a common trait. We may admit to 2 or 3 major shifts in our lifetime – which we would have to be blind not to see – but on the whole prefer to believe that we are consistent human beings rather than seaweed tossed around by the tides. We believe – we have to believe, otherwise we would be lost – in the integrity of the personality; also in the continuity of our lives making narrative sense. We don’t like to think we have lost the plot.

We don't like to admit we changed our minds

f it’s the brain, the mind that gives birth to what we think of as ‘I’, then the phrase ‘I changed my mind’ doesn’t make much sense. You might as well say, ‘My mind changed me.’ And if we see things this way round, then changing one’s mind is something we don’t necessarily understand ourselves.

Changing the mind is not as straightforward as it may seem

Generally, I’ve been confident that I was right to change my mind. This is another characteristic of the process. We never think: Oh, I’ve changed my mind and have now adopted a weaker or less plausible view than the one I held before, or a sillier view. We always believe that changing our mind is an improvement. It seems to make us stronger and more mature; we have put away yet another childish thing. Well, we would think that, wouldn’t we? We make these decisions – or these decisions make us – constantly, though they are often camouflaged by the momentousness of the acts that provoke them.

Righteousness of mind-change

If reading is one of the pleasures – and necessities – of youth, rereading is one of the pleasures – and necessities – of age. You know more, understand life better, and have the additional interest of checking your younger self against your older self.I don’t think you are a more intelligent reader at sixty-five than at twenty-five; just a more subtle one.There is a rarer changing of the mind: when a writer to whom you had previously been indifferent, indeed almost despised, suddenly makes sense to you, and you realize, with, yes, a kind of joy, that at last you have seen the point of them.

Reading doesn't guarantee changing of the mind

We need to forget what we believed before, or at least forget with what passion and certainty we believed it, because we now believe something different that we know to be truer and deeper. Memory, or the weakening or lack of it, helps endorse our new position; it is part of the process.

Memory plays vital role in mind-changing process

Some people, as they get older, become more conservative; over the years, among my friends and acquaintances, I’ve sometimes heard the familiar soft-shoe shuffle to the right. Those idealistic principles they had in their twenties have been rubbed away by exposure to the realities of life. Or, they’ve now got more money and want to protect it, and hand it on. Or, they start hating young people’s principles because they are remarkably similar to the ones they had in their own youth, now foolish delusions. Or, they simply don’t want any more change in their lives, thank you very much.

Aging usually shifts people towards nservatism

Short but insightfull book about thinking.

Bestselling author Julian Barnes illuminates the process of how minds are changed—about politics, books, words, memories, and more—in this wise and fascinating new book. “We always believe that changing our mind is an improvement, bringing a greater truthfulness to our dealings with the world and other people. It puts an end to vacillation, uncertainty, weak-mindedness. It seems to make us stronger and more mature. Well, we would think that, wouldn't we?” In these engaging and erudite essays, critically acclaimed writer Julian Barnes explores what is involved when we change our minds: about words, about politics, about books, about memories, about age and time.

Memory plays vital role in mind-changing process

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