Nobody intentionally says or believes something they think is wrong. Not even those who play the Devil’s advocate believe their actions do not ultimately constitute some semblance of good.
It is only understandable, then, that admitting our mistakes and receiving criticism can be quite uncomfortable. Often, the discomfort gets attributed to the devaluation of one’s credibility and authority, but the biggest source of discomfort should lie in having to face the fact that wholly believing something to be true doesn’t mean it actually is.
It is this confrontation of the limits of our perceptions and knowledge of the world that ultimately discourages the feeble-minded from admitting to and confronting their own mistakes. To become comfortable with seeking criticism and learning from mistakes is to live in an uncertain reality—a reality where no compass of certainty can ever be fully trusted to lead you in the right direction; a reality of constant, measured doubt.
However, the world is—and always has been—filled with uncertainty. It can only be prudent for us to align our psychological realities with that of the real world as much as possible, instead of expecting the real world to align with ours. We have to learn to seek criticism and correct our mistakes as early as possible before we find ourselves too late and staring down the barrel of reality’s consequences.
