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Undermining Our Own Self-Righteous Certainty
Having too much confidence in our views is a sign we need to grow up.
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
William Butler Yeats
Self-righteous certainty is always a problem. Its opposite, self-doubt, can also be a problem, but is much less dangerous.
As the great Irish poet pointed out, back in 1919, “passionate intensity,” what I am calling self-righteous certainty, can lead to violence, “The blood-dimmed tide.” Conversely, self-doubt, when we refuse to engage in verbal extremism, can be seen as a lack of conviction, which paralyzes action.
Those of us over a certain age sometimes do “lack all conviction.” I am much less certain of my views at 60 than I was at 30. I am even more certain of my values than I was at that age, but not so sure how those values should be realized in social structures or political actions.
I have just seen too many political and social experiments fail in my lifetime. I no longer believe in certainty. I no longer believe that any one ideology will save us from our…
