The secret to being right all the time is: When you discover you’re wrong, change your mind.

It’s really that simple. People hurl that epithet a lot: “You think you’re right! You always think you’re right!” Well yeah, if I thought I was wrong, I’d change my mind wouldn’t I? See, that comes from people who wouldn’t, which is why they struggle so much epistemologically, and why they live bewildered lives of quiet chaos. If you want truth, if you want it more than you want pride, if you want it even if it means you’ve been wrong all along with all that might cost you, if you want it at the expense of everything, then the moment you discover you’re wrong, the moment your argument is defeated, the moment you detect a failure to correspond to reality, change your mind. Even if it means you “wasted” years. Start now. And change your life accordingly. The other option is more years of being wrong, coupled with knowing that you know better. You see, that fear, along with pride, is why people cling to things they know don’t really hold up. You may think I’m arrogant for referring to bewildered lives of quiet chaos, but it’s what psychologists call cognitive dissonance – living as though something were true, when you know deep down, that it’s been shown to be otherwise, or that it doesn’t hold water, or that it doesn’t correspond in some way with reality. Everybody does it – well, except Asher, which is one of the things that makes him such a freak in people’s eyes. This is Asher’s First Maxim, and it hangs over the entrance to the Arena. It is also why friendship with Asher mostly centers around a mutual commitment toward truth.