Truth can come to us in many ways if we’re open to new learning—but it can be hard to embrace when it differs with our current thinking.

This quote from Carl Sagan addresses the conflict between truth and beliefs—how fear and pain make people resistant to change:

“We kill each other, or threaten to kill each other, in part, I think, because we are afraid we might not ourselves know the truth, that someone else with a different doctrine might have a closer approximation to the truth.

Our history is in part a battle to the death of inadequate myths. If I can’t convince you, I must kill you. That will change your mind. You are a threat to my version of the truth, especially the truth about who I am and what my nature is.

The thought that I may have dedicated my life to a lie, that I might have accepted a conventional wisdom that no longer, if it ever did, corresponds to the external reality, that is a very painful realization.

I will tend to resist it to the last. I will go to almost any lengths to prevent myself from seeing that the world view that I have dedicated my life to is inadequate.”

The answers are out there—if we’re willing to accept the messages.

“Truth is universal. Perception of truth is not.”  – Anonymous

Aren’t you going to open it?