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The Altar of Ideas

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...and it was about that time in my life where I finally understood.  It finally clicked and all made sense.  You see, people don't actually talk to each other in order to exchange ideas and try to understand one another.  They don't take what you say and mull it over, weigh it, measure it, and see if it is true or not.  They don't answer your questions, they skirt them.  They don't look inward and self-examine.  They do not ever expect to change their mind based on a conversation with you.  Instead, while you are speaking they simple tune you out and begin formulating what they can say to not look foolish.  Doesn't matter what it is.  Doesn't matter if it contradicts what they just said.  Doesn't matter if it holds true to the core of what they believe.  They just want to yell at you for awhile because they disagree with you.  They will not answer any questions that you ask honestly, because that could possibly lead to them looking foolish.  So they just ignore your questions and pose their own.  Even if you answer their questions, disregarding that they did not offer you the same courtesy, it doesn't matter.  Your answer will not satisfy them.  It will only offer them another opportunity to bypass everything you say and start again on a new topic.

Ultimately, I have realized that people believe what they want to believe.  You cannot reason with them.  You cannot change them.  You cannot make them see what you see.  You cannot share your revelation with them.  You cannot even ask them questions about what they believe.  What you are expected to do is just listen to them and then tell them that they are correct.  That is all.  They will only ever change their mind when they wish to.  So debate is wasted.  Your breath is wasted.  Your arguments fall on deaf ears.  You can watch their eyes glaze over as they formulate their retort to a point you aren't even making.  And so I recoil from debating people that refuse to do so honestly.  If you already know you won't change your mind, don't argue.  Do not come to the altar of ideas and give no offering.  Stay in your own bubble.  Your own echo chamber.  For the world needs you not.

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