The Believing Game

In college, I read an essay by Peter Elbow called “The Believing Game” that changed the way I think. The believing game stands in contrast to the doubting game.

When we confront new ideas, to judge their validity, we can not just play the doubting game, attempting to poke holes in what we hear. We also must suspend our disbelief to play the believing game (”were this to be true, what would that be like?”).

These lines from Evan S. Connell Jr. quoting Augustine reminded me of that essay.