Don't defraud yourself

A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by littlestatesmen and philosophers and divines.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson, writer and philosopher (1803-1882)

A foolish consistency means staying with something when we know it doesn't make sense.

There's no reason why a religion, a political philosophy, a business policy or a personal way of life should not make sense. Something that does not fully make sense should be thought through until it makes sense. If even then it doesn't make sense, it's time to change to a position that does.

The two keys here are to think it through and that what we settle on must make sense. We cannot live comfortably in an environment where what we believe in doesn't make sense. Deep inside we know that we are defrauding ourselves.

You don't have to "have faith" in something that doesn't make sense. Faith is the fall-back position for those who cannot justify what they believe with the criterion of making sense.

Most positions that ask us to have faith can be rationalized so they do make sense. Some cannot. The ones that can't should be discarded.

Bill Allin
'Turning It Around: Causes and Cures for Today's Epidemic Social Problems,' striving to give people the tools to evaluate whether things and beliefs in their lives make sense.
Learn more at http://billallin.com/cgi/inex.pl