After a crisis we tell ourselves we understand why it happened and maintain the illusion that the world is understandable. In fact, we should accept the world is incomprehensible much of the time.
Interpretation
We often believe we can make sense of events after they occur, but in reality, the world is often beyond our understanding.
Daniel Kahneman's quote highlights the human tendency to rationalize and create narratives around crises and uncertainties, suggesting that while we may strive for clarity and understanding, it is important to recognize and accept the inherent complexity and chaos of life. Embracing the idea that not everything is comprehensible allows for a more realistic perspective on events and the world around us, fostering resilience in the face of challenges.
In practice
This quote can be used in a discussion about the unpredictability of global events during a seminar.
We think, each of us, that we're much more rational than we are. And we think that we make our decisions because we have good reasons to make them. Even when it's the other way around. We believe in the reasons, because we've already made the decision.
The average investor's return is significantly lower than market indices due primarily to market timing.
Banks are run by executives, and executives protect themselves, and that does not always mean that banks are going to behave rationally.
Laziness is built deep into our nature.
Through some combination of culture and biology, our minds are intuitively receptive to religion.
You are more likely to learn something by finding surprises in your own behavior than by hearing surprising facts about people in general.
Wrong does not cease to be wrong because the majority share in it.
Then I repeated these words to my spirits: 'Leave me be; give me peace; and let me do the work of my life. I will never forget you.' Something about that incantation was particularly appealing to me. 'I will never forget you'-- as though one had to address the pride of the spirits, as though one wanted them to feel good about being exorcised.
It is a principle incorporated into the settled policy of America, that as peace is better than war, war is better than tribute.
At death we cross from one territory to another, but we'll have no trouble with visas. Our representative is already there, preparing for our arrival. As citizens of heaven, our entrance is incontestable.
I learned that the search for God is a Dark Night, that Faith is a Dark Night. And that’s hardly a surprise really, because for us each day is a dark night. None of us knows what might happen even the next minute, and yet still we go forward. Because we trust. Because we have Faith.
Life is the jailer, death the angel sent to draw the unwilling bolts and set us free.
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