“Who is more humble? The scientist who looks at the universe with an open mind and accepts whatever the universe has to teach us or somebody who says everything in this book must be considered the literal truth and never mind the fallibility of all the human beings involved?”
— Carl Sagan
Simplified Meaning:
Imagine you have two people trying to understand the world around them. One person is like a scientist who is always curious and ready to learn new things. They look at the world with wonder and are open to discovering whatever the universe has to show. They understand that humans make mistakes and that it's important to keep an open mind. The second person, however, believes that everything written in a certain book is exactly true and cannot be questioned. They think this book has all the answers and don't consider that the people who wrote it could have made errors. Being humble means acknowledging that we don’t know everything and being willing to learn and grow. The scientist shows humility by being open to new information and understanding that our knowledge is always changing. On the other hand, the person who blindly follows the book shows less humility because they're not willing to consider that there might be more to learn or that the book might not be perfect. In everyday life, it's better to be like the scientist. If you're open to new ideas and ready to admit when you don’t know something, you can learn and improve more. This approach makes you wiser and helps you grow as a person.