Unless you are Perfection itself, you will over the course of your lifetime, many times, change your mind about something important, for many possible reasons, some valid and some less so. While it might be embarrassing, even humbling, to go back upon one's word, or to contradict the very things that you have previously represented, when one is in a situation to which he is presented with evidence or wisdom which obviously points out that one is in error, changing one's mind about something, is the prudent as well as the right thing to do. One must remember, that nowhere is it written, that we are all born with perfect wisdom or impeccable vision, consequently, it is normal within the course of events, to change one's mind. This means that there is virtue in having a mind that is open and receptive to receiving knowledge, which may sometimes contradict things that we have previously learned, and that by listening as well as learning and discerning, we can increase our knowledge to our own as well as to other's benefit.
While there is something to be said about being decisive and sure of one's actions, there are also times that one is far better served by reflection, wisdom seeking, and quiet contemplation. A fool, on the other hand, has great difficulty in seeing things other than the way that they wish to see them, without taking into consideration other possibilities or errors in judgment. A fool, often gains no additional knowledge because a fool will repeat the same error in thinking, the same error in action, without ever comprehending that the error lies within him, and not in the vicissitudes of life itself. Part of a fool's problem, is that pride will often get in the way of a fool making the correct decision, as a fool, for whatever reason, often feels unable to change his mind or his ways, because to do so, would signify an implicit admission that they had been in the wrong, something that would wound their pride. Consequently, fools will do everything within their mindset, to convince themselves that their thinking is still correct, even when they know that it is not.
It takes a wise man to change his mind, especially on things of real importance; it also takes a big man to admit his errors, especially in front of peers that he respects. For a fool, however, this type of self-analysis is foreign to his constitution, and so he blithely ignores it, day after day, situation after situation, thinking that within this willful ignorance, that he somehow has escaped his rightful fate. The difference between a trickster and a fool is the con-man will beguile you by pulling the wool over your eyes, whereas the fool will voluntarily pull the wool over his own eyes.
In Proverbs 10:14 we read: "Wise men lay up knowledge: but the mouth of the foolish is near destruction." The proper receiving of wisdom is a process of maturity, that all must go through, sooner or later, as none can expect to know all. The gaining of true knowledge comes from an active interest in learning, listening, receptivity, feedback, and discernment. The pathway to wisdom involves effort as well as the overcoming of obstacles, whereas a fool will divert off the true pathway of knowledge, in the mistaken delusion that he knows and sees all.