When people talk about being serious, there is very little humour in it. For many, sincerity cannot be delivered through happiness, it is reserved for difficulty and struggle, death, sickness and business. Exactly the kinds of times a little humour and lightness is required.
Seriousness for me is not devoid of joy and laughter, if anything, it is a source of it. To me, if one is serious about anything at all, they do whatever it takes to improve the situation, find alternatives, develop new methods. To be serious means to not turn away. Not stop.
This creates a fundamental problem. What if we are wrong?
And this is very likely. It doesn't matter what you want to get serious about, what you know today and what is possible to know about it, are different. There is likely no way to ever know all there is to know about any subject. There is always more, new angles slight changes in perspectives, testing methods, precision.
Being wrong is not comfortable. It is not the recommended position to be yet, that is where we stand at any given time. Different degrees of wrong. If perfect is flawless in every way, we are not it. Well, at least we are unlikely to be acting it.
We may be flawless as creations with each difference, curve, bump and blemish perfectly placed through evolution. But in our thinking, ideals, beliefs and theories? They are wrong. All of them.
This can be also viewed as different degrees of right where with what methods, tools and skills we currently have, we can do and be no better. This may be a practical way to look at it also but, the issue remains. We are still going to discover that we are not perfectly placed.
There is always a discrepancy between perfect and knowledge because knowledge is forever bound to be limited, it can never be complete. If knowledge was complete, than there would never be a reason to move again, grow, discover, speak, evolve at all.
But most are not interested in this view as they believe themselves already on the right side of wrong. They cannot entertain the possibility that they may need to adjust, reformulate their position or, destroy it altogether.
They will argue their views earnestly, with honesty and seriously. This does not make them correct. It does not make them wrong either but, if they are not willing to take the position that they may be wrong, in my opinion, they are not serious at all.
There are many of them in this world. Zealots. Arguing with these people is futile for they will do all they can to protect themselves in order to maintain their assumed position of correctness. They will deny until there is no opposition left to argue with, and they will think they have no made their point clearly, that they have been proven right, that they have won.
Being right and thinking you are right are two different positions. If the house is on fire and one inside denies this, they can maintain their conviction until they are ashes but, they burn just the same as the kitchen chair with no understanding of the danger at all.
If one takes the position of denial over the chance of being wrong, they are not serious. If one backs away from discovery for it threatens their position, they are not serious. If one will not entertain the thought that they may not be correct, they are not serious.
The joy is in the journey, to deny there is a journey takes away any chance of joy. And to take a position of infallibility means no journey, no gaps to close. When there is no joy, that is a serious matter indeed.
How serious are you?
Taraz
[ a Steemit original ]