"I have lived in this world just long enough to look carefully the second time into things that I am the most certain of the first time."
Josh Billings - 19th Century Humorist
Take a moment and look at the picture above? What do you see? Trees, nasty water, and grass? Nice place for a picnic or a peaceful boat ride, right? Now, look a little closer at the middle of the picture just off to the left. See it? The crocodile that nobody sees at first is simply lying in wait for someone or something to come along that was not patient enough to be certain. Imagine if you had taken one passing glance to determine the safety of this location instead of taking a second or third look to be sure.
How many times have we walked down a dark hallway or into a dark room and our brain is certain that it is safe to walk through there? We don't turn on the light because we are so firm in our certainty that it would just be a waste of charged particles to flip the switch. We take one step without issue and then throw caution to the wind and start walking faster. Step three or four is when we impale our foot on the Lightning McQueen car.
The decisions to look before you leap and to judge the book by what's between the covers are character traits that to a certain extent we all lack experience with. It is only by doing these things that one can be certain of anything. Certainty implies effort on our part. One can never be sure of anything unless they have the patience to view something from all angles and the character to accept when someone shows them an angle they didn't initially think about.
It is interesting that I can't find a good way to end this post... one thing is for certain that this isn't it...
Josh Billings - 19th Century Humorist
Take a moment and look at the picture above? What do you see? Trees, nasty water, and grass? Nice place for a picnic or a peaceful boat ride, right? Now, look a little closer at the middle of the picture just off to the left. See it? The crocodile that nobody sees at first is simply lying in wait for someone or something to come along that was not patient enough to be certain. Imagine if you had taken one passing glance to determine the safety of this location instead of taking a second or third look to be sure.
How many times have we walked down a dark hallway or into a dark room and our brain is certain that it is safe to walk through there? We don't turn on the light because we are so firm in our certainty that it would just be a waste of charged particles to flip the switch. We take one step without issue and then throw caution to the wind and start walking faster. Step three or four is when we impale our foot on the Lightning McQueen car.
The decisions to look before you leap and to judge the book by what's between the covers are character traits that to a certain extent we all lack experience with. It is only by doing these things that one can be certain of anything. Certainty implies effort on our part. One can never be sure of anything unless they have the patience to view something from all angles and the character to accept when someone shows them an angle they didn't initially think about.
It is interesting that I can't find a good way to end this post... one thing is for certain that this isn't it...
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