The book uses the analogy of immune system with the mechanism in our minds that prevents us change. Our minds refuse to change very often and the reason is very clear. Our greatest mental activity is our long term memory and knowledge acquisition. The need for change comes from outside most of the time and this change creates a tiring process of getting rid of existing habits or behavior patterns which we had spent so much time and energy (here the term energy is used in the literal sense that it is spent by the brain to create synapses which make our long term memory of events and actions)
Therefore just like the immune system our "immunity to change our mindsets" is needed and it's vital for our survival. Nobody will gain anything by changing oneself upon any random outside stimulus readily. However when there's a vital change needed, what will be the criteria to go for the change? When should one start thinking that just like in the autoimmune diseases, the immune system of our mind started acting against our own health?
The book does not suggest that we get rid of all immunity to change. What it suggests is that by increasing mental complexity, the good of immunity to change can be reserved for more complex threats to our mental well being, while overcoming the simple traps which blocks us from making necessary changes in our lives and thinking.
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