"The common person fears to think beyond the common"

Bryant H. McGill’s line points to a paradox: what we share as common sense often shields us, but it can also cage us. The “common” is the consensus that keeps groups cohesive and daily life predictable. Fear arises because stepping outside that consensus threatens belonging, status, and the comfort of certainty. Ridicule, social sanctions, and the prospect of being wrong loom large, and our minds prefer the path of least resistance. Status quo bias, loss aversion, and the fatigue of sustained critical thought nudge us back into familiar grooves.

Thinking beyond the common is not about elitism; it is about courage and responsibility. It begins with a small refusal to outsource judgment to the crowd. It might look like questioning a standard practice at work that everyone accepts but no one has examined, probing a stereotype absorbed from one’s community, or exploring an unfashionable viewpoint with honesty rather than derision. Such acts need not be dramatic. They require humility, curiosity, and a willingness to be revised by evidence. Much human progress, scientific, moral, artistic, emerged from people who ventured past prevailing assumptions, not because they loved being contrary, but because they loved what is true or better or more just.

Several forces amplify the fear. Institutions often reward conformity over exploration. Educational habits can prize correct answers over good questions. Digital platforms funnel us into echo chambers that convert common beliefs into absolute truths. Overcoming these pressures involves disciplined practices: seeking disconfirming evidence, asking “What would change my mind?”, reading across divides, and normalizing dissent in families, teams, and communities. It also calls for compassion; thinking differently need not mean thinking against others.

The aim is not difference for its own sake, but clearer sight. When fear loosens its grip, curiosity takes its place, and the horizon widens. The common regains its proper role as a starting point, not a prison.