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Krys C

TEDCRED 20+

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What are 10 things YOU know to be true?

I was interested and intrigued by Sarah's '10 things you know to be true' list exercise, particularly with the pattern she observed in hearing others; that you would continuously see items exact and opposite to your own, items you've never heard of, or thought about before in exactly that light.

I'm fascinated by our definitions of what we consider to be 'truth', and the disputes between our definitions.

So I propose we post a couple lists of our own here, and experience our agreements (and disagreements), learn some new ideas and lines of thought. Personally, I think it best to write your own list BEFORE reading the ones posted here to avoid influence ;)

I hope a couple people will be interested in participating in this miniature project. And, hey, if you see something in someone's list you'd like to ask about, or learn more about, or debate. . .we now have the TED conversation platform to make that possible.





My list:

1. These are the most exciting times in which we could ever hope to be alive which have already occurred.
2. Too often, we allow inertia to control our actions.
3. Everyone should travel.
4. 'Because that's the way things are' is not a valid reason.
5. Whenever you say 'I had no choice', you're lying.
6. It is possible to have an honest and even pleasant relationship with someone you do not like.
7. Loving someone or something heart and soul does not necessarily make it good for you, or them, or it.
8. There are ideas and inventions yet to come which will make into reality what we consider to be fantasy today.
9. Everyone has at least one story worth hearing.
10. My truth is not final.

Related Talks:
Topics: curiosity poetry sharing truth
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  • Monica Bunnay

    • +4
    Mar 28 2011: 1. When I travel, even if it's just a day trip, I'm happiest.
    2. People are pretentious for believing that they will every truly know, without a shadow of a doubt, whether or not there is a god or some form of higher power/being.
    3. We are so much smaller than we would like to make ourselves out to be.
    4. Education is the key to almost everything.
    5. Society, politics, etc will always be flawed because we as individuals are flawed, and when you put a bunch of individuals together, their flaws escalate with each new person added.
    6. We are all hypocrites.
    7. We hardly ever learn from our history, and therefore we are playing the same basic game now that we did 1,000s of years ago.
    8. We are overpopulating the Earth, and hardly anyone wants to deal with it. If we look at our population growth in the past 100 years, and then think of those dots as insect (cockroaches, for example) population growth instead of human population growth, people would freak out. We are the said cockroaches to the rest of the species on the planet.
    9. I know very little, and it saddens me.
    10. What is "the truth" to me today may not be "the truth" to me tomorrow.
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      sachin kamat

      • 0
      Mar 28 2011: I love 4. Education is the key to almost everything. In India, where I am from, it is one sure way, that people can make a break from the lower economic segments and towards a better quality of life

      • Monica Bunnay

        • 0
        Mar 29 2011: Exactly. I'd say your example of India is true for the rest of the world.

      • Charlie Chen

        • 0
        Mar 29 2011: To fear the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.

        • Monica Bunnay

          • +3
          Mar 30 2011: That may be a truth for you, but it is not for me.
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          Tao P 50+

          • +1
          Apr 4 2011: 'Your belief in God is merely an escape from your monotonous, stupid and cruel life'
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          Thomas Pisarchick 10+

          • +2
          May 2 2011: kinda harsh there Tao, to each their own. I'm sure you could easily be cut down for beliefs you hold dear.
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      Francesca Farris

      • +1
      Mar 29 2011: You are very wise, Monica. I especially love numbers 2, 4, 9, and 10. All are so true. As to number 2, I've been doing a lot of "soul-searching" lately in the way of religion, and this is what I've come to find. People can say that they do or do not believe that there is a God or gods or any kind of higher power, but no one really knows or will ever know. My heart wants to tell me that there is a God or gods or something up there, but my brain tells me that there isn't, that there can't be. And I've come to find that the brain is often a more reliable source than the heart, as cynical as that may sound. But I really don't know, and none of us do. I don't know if it makes people pretentious to believe that they do know though. If they are preaching what they believe and will listen to no other opinion, then maybe, yes, but I think a lot of people are raised with it so strictly that they can't break out of that mindset that there is or isn't a higher power or powers of some sort. That's what bothers me the most about religion - that hardly ever do we get to decide for ourselves what to believe. The people and societies that raise us decide, and it's so difficult to break free from that.

      • Monica Bunnay

        • 0
        Mar 29 2011: Why, thank you. :) I'm pretty young on here compared to most of the members, so I really appreciate that compliment. I have actually had the exact same thought process when it comes to religion. My heart wants there to be a God, which, because I grew up in Christianity, means there will be a heaven, therefore I will always exist. I will not cease to exist. Basically, that my life will not just be a little speck in time but rather that I will continue to "be". However, my head says this is most likely not the case, and I am merely a mortal being, as much as I'd like not to be. As far as being pretentious, I mean that in a way to say that we as humans both collectively and individually think we know more than we actually do (generalization), and to say that any single human knows with certainty whether or not there is a god (or gods) is giving human knowledge and placement in the universe too much credit. Then again, you could get into the theory of knowledge and look at how people know what they know and one could argue that it's not pretentious of them because of the ways they know what they know, but that would be a discussion way above and beyond the character limit on here. And, when I say people are pretentious, I mean that in an idealistic, philosophical way. I don't actually look at my religious friends and go, "Wow, you're so full of yourself and your confidence in your beliefs of God. How pretentious of you". I completely understand what you mean when you say people can't break from religion. I'd say Western religions are more geared towards not allowing people to make up their minds than Eastern religions, but I'm sure both have the characteristic of "this is what is true and this is what you'll believe" to a certain extent. I mean, they have to after all, because they're organized religions.
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          Thomas Pisarchick 10+

          • 0
          May 2 2011: "but that would be a discussion way above and beyond the character limit on here" made me chuckle. I agree with you entirely that we think we know so much more then we possibly can with what we actually know for sure. Also there are people who truly know there is a god, people such as the pope. Just as there are people who truly know that there is not. These people evaluate all their knowledge and it proves to them that they are correct about what they think, but I'll give that they are pretentious.

    • Charlie Chen

      • 0
      Mar 29 2011: on No. 10, do you mean you may not think stealing is wrong, but you'll change your idea when your money is stolen?
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        Francesca Farris

        • 0
        Mar 29 2011: I don't think she means that. But there are certain things that we consider truths now that may not always be truths. The time's are always changing, and everything has the capacity to change. Even if you took your example of stealing - in the future, for all we know, stealing could be seen as acceptable. It's not likely, but we don't know that it won't ever happen. I think more of what she means is that we may believe we have a certain knowledge about something, but that may one day change. For instance, centuries ago people believed that the earth was flat and that the sun revolved around the earth. These theories have since been disproved, so what people used to believe was the truth is no longer the truth. What we call truth can often be just an opinion or belief that isn't necessarily even provable, but that people feel so strongly about and trust in so faithfully, that we don't even realize that it may not be true.
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        Jim Moonan 30+

        • +1
        Apr 17 2011: No, I don't think she means that. I think Monica means that, as you grow and learn you leave the door open to revising you values and beliefs and have the courage to change them when you know they need changing.

    • Autumn Frisco 10+

      • 0
      Apr 4 2011: People are made of their experiences: often people do not question what they are raised to 'know' until they are faced with extreme loss whether percieved, threatened, or actual

      Remember with your number 2 question the power of example: we limit ourselves by judging the ability of another to change their world view/ a mind stretched to a new idea can never go back to it's original shape (famous quote by someone I'm bad with names) What took a while for me to really learn is the power of seaking first to understand, often people hold beliefs that they do not realize they carry that may be unrational and they dont see it until they say it and then try and rely on that belief at a later date.


      #10 and overall
      Congrats you are growing and doing a fantastic job of dismissing all that you know and challengingallthat society makes us believe, some day you will find that truths are meant to be everchanging but a solid set of personal values will keep the integrity of your changing beliefs and you will not be cast as a hypocritical like you see the world right now because you may value something but it is teething you honor more than that one thing you dismiss in a prioritization of those values. You are never wrong for doing what you value as long as your values are not based upon a fleeting emotion like anger, personal happiness and even pleasure.

    • Siva Gurusamy

      • 0
      Apr 4 2011: Monica, I admire you thoughtfulness in point 10

    • Sven Svensson

      • +2
      Apr 6 2011: I agree with number 7, but if you think about it it's not really that surprising, is it? You can read something somewhere or have it taught to you but in reality, I find that the most important stuff I learn comes from my mistakes. I mean, we only live for 70-80-90 something years and the further you go back in time the shorter this span gets, how're we supposed to learn so many of these things when we reboot ourselves all the time?

      • Monica Bunnay

        • 0
        Apr 16 2011: That is a very interesting way of looking at things! I've never really thought of that before. Thank you for your input. :)
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        Christian Larrea

        • 0
        May 6 2011: I agree. History has not to be a just subject, it has to be our DNA re-codification tool. Ancient cultures knew that passing knowledge through chants and stories leaded to better generations. We do not even talk about our own past mistakes to our children, worst being caught talking about our ancestors' mistakes. Recognizing to your children that we are fallible is a good start. Even better when we learn to ask for forgiveness from them.

    • william lucas

      • 0
      May 2 2011: Hi Monica
      You are right about #8 (you may be right about several others, but I'll just address myself to the number concerned :-) Albert Bartlett says it well in his talk 'Arithmetic, Population and Energy'
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      Sean Kennedy

      • 0
      May 5 2011: Hey Monica
      Although it has some merit I disagree with #5. One cannot look at the world's most powerful and harmful dicators and say flaws escalate with the more individuals involved. I believe in respect to most governments the root of ignorance or ill will comes from a select few and is perpetuated by group thought/ mob mentality. The larger numbers would certainly increase the strength of an idea, but for the most part one's individual flaws don't attribute to the flaws of a government.

      Very great list though!

    • Skanda Shridhar

      • 0
      May 6 2011: Totally with you on #1. I feel an incredible sense of calm and purpose when I'm traveling as well.

      Maybe it stems from a sense of detachment. There's not as much commitment to the people/places we encounter on journeys, so we aren't distracted by injecting ourselves into the mix. Kind of like watching a movie. Lots of people enjoy watching drama. Not that many (that I know) enjoy being in the midst of it.

      I guess that's the charm of traveling. For the duration of your trip you become a witness.

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