Dissent

Are you right all the time?

How about just 99%?
Maybe 85%?
70%?

Or would you say you’re right 50% of the time?

And now, how often do you know with perfect certainty that you are right?

Probably nearly 0%.
(Unless you score high on narcissism, maybe.)

So, isn’t it nice to live in a world where people of different views can exist?

While you were born white, Lutheran, rural, on a farm, with 7 siblings, had a full family in your life, and never wanted…

Someone who disagrees with what you believe on a topic you are absolutely certain you are right about may’ve been born to a prostitute in South Korea, lived on the street until they were 8, were adopted, had to learn a new language, had siblings of different creeds, and sometimes went without.

You are not right all the time.
You aren’t even sure when you are or aren’t right or wrong.
You can never be certain you are right.

You and your beliefs are artefacts of myriad facets of your history.

Lighten up and be willing to accept that there are alternative views.

Follow for daily philosophical meditations.

These are distillations from my coming book “YouDaimonia: the Ancient Philosophy of Human Flourishing.”