Discourse Part 3 page 16-17 paragraph 29

"... as for the rest of my opinions, I could freely undertake to rid myself of them. And inasmuch as I hoped to be able to reach my goal better by conversing with men than by staying shut up any longer in the stove-heated room where I had had all these thoughts...I meanwhile rooted out from my mind all the errors that had previously been able to slip into it.

Descartes keeps his autonomy while also interacting with a diverse amount of people in order to build his thoughts. While secluded he clears his mind of anything and everything and in order to build new thoughts or mind sets he goes out into the world and begins recollecting information and forming new ideas about old things. This is kinda crazy.

"And just as in tearing down an old house, one usually saves the wreckage for use in building a new one, similarly, in destroying all those opinions of mine that I judged to be poorly founded, I made various observations and acquired many experiences that have since served me in establishing more certain opinions." 

This is the one thing that could stop a lot of the crime and hate that goes on today. If people stop and clear their minds only to leave themselves vulnerable to absorbing a new and more accurate opinion they could begin to really use their minds instead of their impulses or their first impressions. Its almost like a second date. The first time you build these ideas and conclusions in your mind good, bad, or both, but the second time around is what really reassures you of what you came to understand the first time around.