Consistency has become a hallmark of our society. We place a high value on consistency in our laws and legal system, our public figures, our politicians, our religious leaders. We expect it from our parents, our children, and even expect it from ourselves.
A well placed emphasis on consistency is one of the things that make our society predictable, safe, fair and just; it is an important part of a civilized society.
However, while we depend on consistency to create stability in our lives, we must remember the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson, and make room in our lives for learning and change.
A well placed emphasis on consistency is one of the things that make our society predictable, safe, fair and just; it is an important part of a civilized society.
However, while we depend on consistency to create stability in our lives, we must remember the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson, and make room in our lives for learning and change.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) Essays – First Series, Self
Reliance
"The other terror that scares us from self-trust is our consistency; a reverence for our past act or word because the eyes of others have no other data for computing our orbit than our past acts, and we are loath to disappoint them.
"A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. He may as well concern himself with his shadow on the wall. Speak what you think now in hard words and to-morrow speak what to-morrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict every thing you said to-day.--'Ah, so you shall be sure to be misunderstood.'--Is it so bad then to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood."
