Sunday Star Trek

The world wears you down simply to get what it wants out of you. That's why it's important to be obstinate in accepting, believing, and promulgating what is true. When you know what is true you must cling to it as though nothing else matters, because the world meanwhile will continually insist to you that what is false is in fact true. The world is a master at gaslighting.

How obstinate should you be? I would go so far as to say that even when you begin to doubt, review in your mind what the facts are and hold your ground tenaciously.

I am reminded of the famous scene from Chain of Command, an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Here it is: Picard's Lights Captain Picard is held captive and tortured, and his will is tested when his captor asks him how many lights he sees in the ceiling. Picard yells, "There are...FOUR...lights!" which was correct, even though he really believed by then there were five, as his captor pressured him to say. 

Picard stubbornly stuck with what he knew was true, even as the world, so to speak, almost made him bend.

I pray for such courage if I'm ever tested.