The Three Gates and the Eye of the Storm

I have a new designation that helps me determine when I’m talking to someone who is so deeply mired in a political or philosophical position that they can’t even see it. The “Blind Fish” who cannot see he is in the water. Surrounded by water, breathing water. Sometimes they are really blind, and sometimes in denial. They shift the definitions of terms so that the undesirable state is always just a little more than whatever THEY are doing. Obesity is a little more than their weight. Old age more than their number of years. Racism or sexism an attitude a little blunter than their own.

If they cannot see it, there is no point to having a discussion, and you are smart to cut it short.

“Is it True? Is it Kind? Is it Useful?” Are harder questions than they seem on the surface and one of the reasons is that we lie to ourselves to decrease discomfort. If we need to do something and it is painful to others, we lie about that, or convince ourselves they deserve it, or would do the same thing in our circumstances. That the law of nature is “fang and claw” and we have the right and perhaps even the RESPONSIBILITY to hoist the Jolly Roger and slit throats.

Sometimes we lie about our own capacities. If fear stops us from accomplishing something, it is better to believe it is impossible to have it than to say “I’m a coward”. It it is difficult, it is better to believe it impossible than to face the voice that says “you are lazy.”