While in deep meditation, I had a striking revelation. Accidental rhyming there. Anyway. That revelation is that our thoughts are HIGHLY based on context. Context is like a perceptual, judgmental filter through which every thought gets poured, and accounts for much of the difference between people's beliefs and opinions. Let me explain.

The easiest example of this to fathom is the whole optimist/pessimist thing. An optimist sees a certain event as good, a pessimist sees the same event as bad. Yeah, yeah, nothing new. But wait, extrapolation yields great things.

Here's a trickier one. Let's say one person has spent years reading Buddhist teachings and is rather knowledgeable (entrenched) in the field. Then one day they pick up a book on general magick. Assuming they buy into its contents, they are then likely to place their conception of magick into their larger context of beliefs, which for the sake of simplicity we'll say are mainly Buddhist. This theoretical person might have a (simplified, for the sake of this post) conception of reality that looks something like this:
"Reincarnation through many lives, with a final goal of enlightenment. Experience of human attachments and desires is necessary in order to experientially realize that detachment is the only way to attain liberation. Distractions from liberation include the material desires, the carnal desires, and other spiritual means by which to manipulate one's surroundings. When one first starts to become spiritual, one might be tempted to pursue a religion like Wicca and bring good things to themselves, but that is simply another level of distraction from the pursuit of enlightenment."

Ok, now another theoretical person. This person has spent years reading general magick books, and is entrenched in this field. For ease of argument, let's say they're rather fond of Aleister Crowley in particular. Then one day, they pick up a book on Buddhism. If they buy into its contents, it then factors into their larger conception of reality, which might look a little something like this:
"Do what thou will. If everything is just a cycle, as religions like Buddhism acknowledge, then why bother to release desires? Why not assume command over their fulfilment?"

Given that this is a theoretical situation, I'm sure you can still see what I'm getting at. Assimilation of new information is totally based on the context we (usually subconsciously) place it in. Assimilate information, and you add to your stock of mind fodder. Change your context, and you practically change your world.