Or perhaps a part of wisdom is not letting assumptions blind us to evidence? Letting go of the idea that answers must precede action, that we must deduce before we decide? Taking a beat before we jump to a conclusion?
I just saw a nice statement of what propels the plot in the Coen brothers movie Blood Simple: nobody knows what’s going on, even though everybody thinks that they do. It’s true: every crazy plot twist (and there are many!) could have been avoided if the characters involved had just taken a beat at that moment, thought twice about whether they might be wrong in what they’re assuming.
I keep going back to that passing reference Keats made to a quality
which Shakespeare possessed so enormously—I mean Negative Capability, that is, when a man is capable of being in uncertainties, mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact and reason …
Sometimes I think a universe of life lessons is contained in that grain of sand. One thing I think it says: thinking I know what’s going on can easily blind me to what’s actually going on. Suddenly I see clearly all the evidence that supports the conclusion I jumped to, while evidence to the contrary fades into the background.
It’s hard for me to resist the urge to be the smartest guy in the room, to have the blinding insight first, to solve the puzzle before anyone else does. More often I have to settle for immediately questioning my assessment, beating it back. Sometimes that clears my vision just enough that I can see what doesn’t fit.