Cognitive dissonance is the psychological tension that occurs when holding two contradictory beliefs simultaneously, such as loving cows, but also loving hamburgers. The discomfort experienced when holding two incompatible cognitions isn't necessarily a bad thing, and in fact can act as a catalyst prompting positive changes. It becomes problematic however when people experiencing cognitive dissonance instead display denial, angst, anger, incredulity, or exasperation. Those suffering from crippling cognitive dissonance will often blame other people or outside factors, avoid certain subjects, and rationalize poor decisions. The psychological tension of cognitive dissonance can be relieved though, once the seemingly contradictory cognitions find a way to sensibly coexist. If you love cows, but also love hamburgers, for example, you might try cutting down your consumption, or switch to some of the many vegan hamburger options. Aristotle said, nothing is more challenging than the ability to study, debate, and think through a concept without immediately accepting or rejecting it. It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it. And F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote that, the truest sign of intelligence is the ability to entertain two contradictory ideas simultaneously. In other words, the ability to ponder opposite ideas without experiencing crippling cognitive dissonance is the mark of a balanced mind. The capacity to consider contradictory cognitions without immediately accepting or rejecting one of them is one of the surest signs of intelligence. Every issue has at least two sides, often three or more, and if you have only researched or thought about one side of a subject without ever giving due diligence to differing perspectives, that is nothing but willful ignorance. Those who are able to refrain from judgment long enough to genuinely research and weigh the evidence from all sides of a given issue are the most likely to arrive at truth. For a truly insightful concrete case study and cognitive dissonance, I recommend delving deep into the subject of cosmology. Consider this. We have been taught that we live on a giant sphere floating in space, tilting on its vertical axis, wobbling through a procession, and spinning through the seasons. This spinning ball earth reaches speeds of over a thousand miles per hour at the equator and causes an optical illusion of the sun, moon, and stars revolving over and around us. The spinning ball earth also revolves 67,000 miles per hour around the sun, while the whole solar system spirals 500,000 miles per hour through the Milky Way. And the entire Milky Way galaxy shoots off millions of more miles per hour from a creationary explosion 14.7 billion years ago. These astronomical assumptions are taught as gospel truths, while differing perspectives are not only not considered, they are condemned. And as Einstein said, condemnation without investigation is the height of ignorance. So let's attempt an investigation without condemnation, denial, or ridicule, and try to examine a different perspective, your own common sense everyday experience of the world. First, just sit motionless for a moment and feel the absolute stillness of the earth under your feet. Now imagine that the earth under your feet is actually moving at millions of miles per hour in multiple different directions simultaneously. These are two opposing ideas, two contradictory cognitions, but you can consider them both without choosing between them, because one is your everyday experience of the world, and one is what we are all taught in school. Now look up to the sun, moon, or stars, and watch them slowly revolving over and around you as you sit stationary beneath them. Next, try to imagine instead that the luminaries above are actually more or less motionless, but it is you yourself that are slowly revolving under and around the sun, moon, and stars. Again, these are two opposite ideas that cannot technically both be true, but we can at least consider both perspectives without immediately accepting one and rejecting the other, because one is your everyday experience of the world, and one is what we are all taught in school. Looking up at the sun and moon, notice how they appear almost exactly the same size and distance, and follow similar paths over and around the earth. Now imagine instead that the sun is 400 times larger than the moon, 400 times farther away, and that they trace very different paths, the moon revolving around the earth, while the earth and moon revolve around the sun. Again, one is your common sense everyday experience of the world, and one is what we are all taught in school. The next time you go to the beach, climb a mountain, or ride in a plane, take notice of the horizon and how it is always horizontal, perfectly flat, 360 degrees around, and rising to your eye level no matter the altitude. Then try to imagine an altitude at which the horizon falls far below your line of sight. Imagine looking out your plane window and seeing a curved hump of horizon, so low you have to be pressed to the glass looking down to even see it. As high as you will ever experience, or amateur balloons can capture, the horizon always rises to eye level and remains flat, 360 degrees around. But we can easily imagine otherwise, because we have seen images of outer space showing a spherical earth. Everyone on earth, regardless of what they believe about reality, is able to understand both of these opposing perspectives without experiencing any kind of cognitive dissonance, because one is their everyday experience of the world, and one is what they have been taught about the world. What happens, though, when people who have been taught one thing for their entire lives, are then told what they were taught is wrong. What happens when they are told that their common sense was correct, and that their everyday experience was reality? What happens when tens of millions of people start doing personal experiments, collecting empirical evidence and showing demonstrable proofs against what they were taught in school? Would you too do your due diligence in researching different perspectives, or would you just double down with denial and decide you already knew the truth? There has been a recent resurgence in the subject of cosmology for just this very reason. Tens of millions have realized that what we were taught to imagine about reality is just one possible perspective, and our common sense everyday experience should not be so casually and callously discarded.