Choosing our own facts
We all choose our own facts.
Some of us do it with reckless abandon, untethered from any consequence. Others are filled with indignation and shame when we realise that we have built a narrative and life on lies and myths.
I think about the facts I have chosen in my life that I found out were not true.
I did believe in Santa Claus and the tooth fairy. I believed in some form of Christianity for a while. I prayed to an angry white old man in the sky, seeking redemption for small crimes I did not commit, appealing to him to help me when my back was against the wall. I had no idea until well in my 5th decade how enculturated this belief was. This god of my childhood was a punishing god who promised eternal hellfire for the sinners of the world. There was little association in my mind for love and care from this omnipotent male figure. I was a supplicant to this fabrication for five decades, held in fear and lacking all of my agency.
Given my perspective, I know that I am likely at some future time to look back and realise that I have chosen facts today that I will discover in some tomorrow to be untrue.
In this perspective, I can find humility for myself and others. This allows me a degree of compassion and a rejection of my own righteousness.
At the same time, I can listen to someone unable to even consider the facts they have chosen are wrong, and while it makes me mad, I know there is nothing I can do to change their mind. Only time, and life in her infinite wisdom, will take our rigid position and break it.
As happens to the mighty mountains.
Choosing our own facts comes with responsibilities. Few of us accept the price and pay the full fee. To do so is to become wiser.
Photo Taken October 10th 2023
