Keep Your Eraser Handy
The pencil is mightier than the pen.
Robert Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
You’re wrong!
A significant amount of what you call the truth is wrong.
Some of it is slightly wrong.
Some is completely wrong.
I don’t know what part of your view of reality is wrong.
But I do know there are many mistakes in what you believe.
Of course, I’m wrong, too.
The only thing I can be certain I am not wrong about is that you are wrong.
If your goal is to always be right, then you will be wrong even more frequently.
When there is evidence that you might be wrong, you will ignore it.
Because your identity is invested in being right, it will be too difficult to admit being wrong.
However, if your goal is to discover the truth, then you will be pleased whenever you discover you are wrong.
That discovery allows you to get closer to the truth.
It is embarrassing to find out that you are wrong in a public setting.
But the consequences are much worse when you ignore evidence that you are wrong and suppress the truth.
The truth refuses to remain buried.
It may take a while, but the truth will emerge.
And the embarrassment will be even greater.
Here’s another irony, if you are willing to accept being wrong, you will be more confident.
Because your goal is to arrive at the truth, correcting a mistake gets you closer than you were.
And this gives you more confidence in your grasp of the truth.
If you need to be right, you will be slow to admit to your mistakes, which will prevent you from making any necessary adjustments.
Hiding behind your false confidence will be the nagging sense that you will be exposed as a fraud.
If your goal is to arrive at the truth, you will be able to be more gracious when others discover they are wrong.
This is because you know that admitting mistakes is an essential part of pursuing the truth.
Finding the truth can be a cooperative effort.
When two or more individuals share that goal, they allow each other space to recalibrate and move closer to the truth.
Another trap to avoid is valuing acceptance over the truth.
We all want others to like us, but if that becomes more important to you than finding the truth, you will lose your identity.
And the truth will become less clear.
It is possible to be committed to the truth without being a jerk to those who disagree about what it is.
If you serve the truth, the truth will serve you.
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