Human behavior is being affected by the information that people perceived and the beliefs they established. Data and knowledge empower humans. Thus, as Manson’s Law of Avoidance explained people will avoid something that will threaten their identity.
Nowadays, people can easily feed themselves with the information they needed. However, with much certainty about something will lead you to become uncertain and insecure. In the book of Mark Manson which was entitled, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck, Mark cited that people have unshakable certainty in their ability.
He also pointed out that the more you embrace being uncertain and not knowing, the more comfortable you will feel in knowing what you don’t know. It is also in the feeling of uncertainty that humans long for growth because a person who knows everything learns nothing.
Moreover, Manson’s Law of Avoidance emphasized that the feeling of certainty has a good and bad side. Good, because you are being affirmed. When you get your dream job, it reminds you that you are hardworking. On the other hand, you do not want to decline your friend’s invitation despite the things you need to do for your presentation because it will conflict your identity as a loyal person.
“We all have the values for ourselves. We protect these values. We try to live up to them and we justify them and maintain them. Even if we don’t mean to, that’s how our brain is being wired,” Mark Manson stated.
Human as we are, we have biases of what we already know. Keep in mind that it is fine to look for yourself but never know who you are. When you accept that you are wrong or you do not know about something, you let yourself strive and discover things. Most importantly, it allows you to keep your feet on the ground.
