Intellectual Contamination

Intellectual Contamination is a practice I found through Steven Bradford Long's podcast Sacred Tension. The concept is the act of engaging with difficult intellectual viewpoints for the purpose of increasing empathy, knowledge, and compassion. It is the act of 'contaminating' yourself with ideas that you disagree with to increase your understanding of those ideas and to challenge your set ways of thinking. Doing to leads to more compassionate interactions with people who hold opposing viewpoints. Good for self growth. (Proceed with caution if a particular topic really hits too close to home - i.e. transphobia if you are transgender.)