cognitive loneliness in the pursuit of truth

Today I was reading Vinoth Ramachandra regarding discussions about religious and cultural pluralism. He believes that among so-called secularized men and women, such discussions run into some common misconceptions.

Ramachandra discusses some of the misconceptions in the form of an answer to a question. For example, you might look at the diversity of beliefs about the world (for instance, religious beliefs) and conclude that perhaps there is no one truth. Suppose you find someone who thinks they know the truth. You might ask,

'How can you be right if so many others think differently?'

Ramachandra's answer is:

'First, there is the assertion that since we live in a world of diverse and competing truth-claims we have to give up any notion of ultimate truth where our own beliefs are concerned. This is sometimes based on a confusion of the notion of plausibility with that of truth. The plausibility of our beliefs depends on how much social support they receive. For a believer in, say, a heliocentric view of the solar system, life in a society consisting of fervent geocentrists would be almost unbearable. He would be assailed by doubts over his own position. In moving to a society where the great majority share his beliefs, that discomfort would be greatly eased. But these feelings of cognitive ease or unease, and the degree of social support that we receive for our beliefs (which are related to those feelings), are not indicators of the truth or falsity of the beliefs in question. All successful scientific theories were born in circumstances of cognitive loneliness, and the same is true of most of the great world faiths.'