Everyone likes to be right.
In a world where things are often a matter of degree, the mental and emotional safety of being right can be precious. We defend our notions and positions when they are attacked or challenged.
But some thoughts seem to need no defense. Like ancient standing stones, some things just exist through time – impervious to the elements. You know them for certain.
Things we know for certain can have a mystical quality about them. Perhaps that’s because they are impervious to explanation. Certainty requires no explanation. And if you can’t explain it, its no longer science.
It’s been said that life presents us with many areas of “grey.” What job should we do? Should we water the yard? What texture should we apply? For many things it matters less what we choose, but that we do indeed make a choice.
With certainty there is no choice. And having a choice feels empowering. We can’t decide about the things we know for certain – only what to do about it.
Ancient stones will be standing, regardless if we visit them. Regardless if we read books about them. Regardless if we write poems or paint pictures of them. Such stones still stand.
The things we know for certain, the ancient stones of our truth, are impervious to rationalization. We never have to defend them. We only have to acknowledge that they exist.