Soulful Sundays: Accounting

“Responsibility is accepting that you are the cause and the solution of the matter.” —Peter Shepherd

The ability to learn from past mistakes is an important skill. An even higher one is spotting errors in the first place. We will remain victims of the forces that we do not see or refuse to acknowledge. Maintaining a clear picture of events is foundational to interacting effectively with the world—outwardly and inwardly. Many problems are created by refusing to face glaring asymmetries in our own character. We must strive to face uncomfortable truths and be impeccable in our personal accounting.

Numbers do not lie, people do. The stories that we create around numbers will always be false, yet we are compelled to create them. As truth seekers, we must search for the most honest version of the lie—the one that holds up to criticism the best—knowing all the while that it is still a lie. Thus, we must always be open to changing our mind when new evidence challenges the old. The more honest we can be with ourselves, the less sway our bias will hold over our discernment. But new is not necessarily better.

A hierarchy of concepts is implicit in our understanding of the world. There is no such thing as a de novo discovery, as each novelty can only be understood in the context of those that preceded it. Revolutionary wildfires do occur, but only because the fuel was already laid out ready for the spark. Accounting for how the kindling has been arranged is, in part, understanding the future. If we desire to shape our destiny, then we must pay attention to such subtleties—pursuing both the obvious and the unobvious