Like someone who can sleep comfortably on either side of the bed, I'm equally at home with ideas and beliefs that I have held for a long time and with new ways of thinking and believing that I'll grow out of my intellectual curiosity.

My sense of knowing who I am and what my place is in the world around me rests on values and principles that are the solid ground I walk upon. I've tested them, they work for me, and much of the time I'm content to trust them, that is, until some provocative new idea slips in from a conversation, book or some flight of my active imagination. "Hmmmm. What's this. Never thought of it before." And off I go, exploring.

Since I love to learn, I've always been teachable; I absorb new information, which means I'm well-educated in things that matter to me. Sometimes intellectual exploring will lead me back to where I started; the "next new thing" proves too shallow or impractical for me. But once in a while a new idea or belief will dislodge me from the ground