It's that time again, almost February. Deep winter in New England. Not only is it bitter cold and everything's covered in ice and snow, we're still months away from spring. Although calendar says it's spring at end of March, if you live in New England you know spring doesn't reliably show up until May. Ok, late April if we're lucky. Anyway, in addition to my obvious struggle with climactic reality there's another factor that make this time of year particularly significant for me. My husband leaves for a three-week vacation/vision quest (alone) to southwest. Every year for past 16 years he packs up his truck, decked out for camping and drives off on what he calls a pilgrimage.

It's time to lighten up.

People love attaching themselves to ideas. We can get pretty feisty when one of our beloved beliefs is challenged. We're too busy defending to spend our time analyzing.

Truth has a tendency to get in way of our beliefs. We like having our rules to live by, our reasons for feeling righteous, and our excuses for ending intellectual exploration. Just as we climb up a ladder, we like counting on certain rungs to hold steady. Thinking about cracks just makes us uneasy.

That approach works if your goal is to reach top, but it doesn't allow for much examination or lateral growth. Plus, there's always risk that you'll come crashing down.

Quick quiz: What fills you with more satisfaction-- being right or discovering truth? Of course, best scenario is discovering that you knew truth all along. Validation is a huge motivator. That's why we find it more exhilarating to win an argument than to learn more about other side.

It's kind of like that whole "life is about journey" concept. The thrill is in seeking. We've forgotten that. It's as though we went on a treasure hunt, stumbled upon what we thought was hidden booty, and now we've become complacent.

What if what you found wasn't real treasure? What if whole point was to keep looking?

Thinkers have been wrestling with concept of truth for ages. Socrates was fond of saying that there are only two kinds of beings who do not need philosophy: gods, who are already wise, and fools, who think they are wise. We want to be in that large middle group of people who recognize their lack of wisdom and continue their quest for truth and knowledge.

It's helpful to be reminded that our role as humans isn't to figure things out--it's to KEEP ON figuring things out. Don't take my word for it. Here are some truisms about truth from some formidable thinkers.

#1 "The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence whatever that it is not utterly absurd; indeed in view of silliness of majority of mankind, a widespread belief is more likely to be foolish than sensible." Bertrand Russell, British mathematician

Can't think of any widely held absurd beliefs? You're not trying hard enough! Fashion, pop culture, politics(gasp!) religion, and virtually every other arena of modern life is full of examples of ideas that have somehow taken hold but defy logic. Good Thinker rule number one is simply this: Never accept an idea just because everyone else does.