This thread reminds me of the conscious competence learning model. I am sure many of you are familiar with it:
Conscious Competence Model
Thinking back to my exit from the Mormon thinking world, it was a distinct trip from the unconscious incompetent to the conscious incompetent. I became brutally aware of how little I really did know. The last paragraph applies to how open-minded a person can be. Generally, it is a dance between the mind and the heart as to whether or not one finds themselves open and accepting to new ideas.
And also as it applies within this model, I know quite a few believing members (lots of family members included) who live and breathe their entire religious life within the unconscious incompetent box of this model. Yet they feel like they are very knowledgeable and prefer to remain in the box where their view of the facts are indisputable and sure rather than being exposed to any other data which might potentially threaten the integrity of their world view. Their scope of knowledge remains safely within the narrow confines of this box. I should clarify that these people are not stupid or uneducated people at all.
From the website:
Unconscious incompetence
As an unconscious incompetent, you do not know what you do not know. You lack knowledge and skills in the area in question and are unaware of this lack. In this state, where you can exist for a very long time, you are not as competent as one or more of:
You think you are
You actually could be
Other, more competent people
In this state, you may be in one of two positions. Ignorance is bliss, as they say, and you may well be happily naïve, not realizing that you are not competent.
You also may be in a faking state, where you believe you are competent, and either do not realize that you are in this state or are covering up your incompetence (in which state you may be in the next stage).
Conscious incompetence
As a conscious incompetent, you realize that you are not as expert as perhaps you thought you were or thought you could be.
The transition to this state from being unconsciously incompetent can be a shocking and sudden realization, for example when you meet others who are clearly more competent than you, or when a friend holds up a metaphorical mirror to your real ability.
You can also exist in this state for a long time, depending on factors such as your determination to learn and the real extent to which you accept your incompetence.