It's My Opinion That This Is A Fact
Is there a difference between facts and opinions?
That seems like a question with an obvious answer, but I saw it posited on someone’s Twitter feed earlier.
They were suggesting that what we consider to be facts are nothing but very strongly held opinions.
If that were true, it would suggest that what we believe is simply what we believe - ideas that we’ve come to accept as fact based on our own observational, anecdotal or experiential learnings.
It would suggest that at some point, in some way, we could even be dissuaded from our ‘facts’, in favor of other ‘facts’, with the right argument, approach or mental state. Which would allow us to then build our entire worldview around those ‘newer’ facts.
My point, whether you accept the idea that the Twitter user was trying to make or not, is that it’s worth considering, at least every now and then, whether our collection of facts, in our own corner of the universe (business, family, community, etc.), is indeed the collection of facts that we think it is.
Because this might allow us to see another point of view.
Which might allow us to understand whether there may be a different way of doing things. Which might allow us to see the world through someone else’s lens. Which might just allow us to learn to work and live with those around us in a more harmonious fashion.
That doesn’t mean complete alignment and acquiescence. It just means more harmonious and understanding.
The dangerous thing about our ‘facts’ is that they entrench us and, many times, limit us. It might, more often than not, be good for us to peer over the divide and see what’s actually out there.
