We're terrified of not having the answers, and we would sometimes rather assert an incorrect answer than make our peace with the fact that we really don't know.
Interpretation
This quote highlights our fear of uncertainty and the tendency to cling to wrong answers for comfort.
Kathryn Schulz's quote underscores the human tendency to fear the unknown and uncertainty. It suggests that rather than accepting our ignorance on certain subjects, we often prefer to hold on to incorrect information because it provides a sense of security. This speaks to a deeper psychological struggle where not having definite answers can make us anxious, prompting us to fill that void with false confidence rather than confronting the uncomfortable truth of not knowing.
In practice
In a discussion about science and discovery, this quote can illustrate the importance of acknowledging our limits.
As a kid, I lived almost entirely inside books, and eventually the books started returning the favor. A lot of my internal world feels like an anthology, or a library. It's eclectic and disorganized, but I can browse in it, and that hugely shapes both what and how I write.
The point isnβt to live without any regrets. The point is to not hate ourselves for having them.
Our love of being right is best understood as our fear of being wrong
To err is to wander, and wandering is the way we discover the world; and, lost in thought, it is also the way we discover ourselves. Being right might be gratifying, but in the end it is static, a mere statement. Being wrong is hard and humbling, and sometimes even dangerous, but in the end it is a journey, and a story.
Regret doesn't remind us that we did badly. It reminds us that we know we can do better.
George Bernard Shaw was right. He summed it all up when he said: "The secret of being miserable is to have the leisure to bother about whether you are happy or not." So don't bother to think about it! Spit on your hands and get busy. Your blood will start circulating; your mind will start ticking-and pretty soon this whole positive upsurge of life in your body will drive worry from your mind. Get busy. Keep busy. It's the cheapest kind of medicine there is on this earth-and one of the best.
I have been given eyes to see and a mind to think, and now I know a great secret of life, for I perceive, at last, that all my problems, discouragements , and heartaches are, in truth, great opportunities in disguise.
I was never more hated than when I tried to be honest. Or when, even as just now I've tried to articulate exactly what I felt to be the truth. No one was satisfied
For the one and only time I caught a glimpse of a great heart as well as of a great brain.
I must congratulate myself, in passing, for never having lost the ability to examine my conscience, never having lost the gift of finding myself wanting & defective. Why fear the criticism of others when you, yourself, are first out of the critical gate? If self-denigration is the race I am the winner, even before the starting gun. Collect the bets.
India has known the innocence and insouciance of childhood, the passion and abandon of youth, and the ripe wisdom of maturity that comes from long experience of pain and pleasure; and over and over a gain she has renewed her childhood and youth and age
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