Assurance
You are never dedicated to something you have complete confidence in. No one is fanatically shouting that the sun is going to rise tomorrow. They know it is going to rise tomorrow. When people are fanatically dedicated to political or religious dogmas or goals, it’s always because these dogmas or goals are in doubt.
- Robert M. Pirsig - Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values
Fanatics talk a lot. They want to believe. They want to assure themselves that they are right. They usually don’t let others get a word in edgewise, for fear of hearing an opposing viewpoint.
Robert Pirsig put into words what I have been thinking for a while now. People who talk about their faith all the time don’t really have faith. People who often talk about their idealistic political beliefs are trying to convince themselves.
At a U2 concert 15 years ago, five simple words popped up on the video screen at the end of a song:
“Everything you know is wrong.”
They remained there for several seconds; I let them sink in; I gave in to the possibility that those words may be true. When I start to sound like a fanatic, I remember those words.