Serendipity....or Felix culpa?

Serendipity means an unplanned, fortunate discovery.

Felix culpa....
The concept is paradoxical in nature as it looks at the fortunate consequences of an unfortunate event, which would never have been possible without the unfortunate event in the first place.

Before you go there, I'll head you off at the pass (or box canyon in this case)...
This is not some revelation about TBTB at Steem HQ, or a whales penchant for...whatever.
It's nothing like that.

....For 20 years or so of my adult years, I spent time with people. Lots of people. Far too many people, in fact.
All my work life has been 'people person' related in one way or another.

Learning and understanding people and their psychology was never a conscious thing with me .
(I was particularly poor at it - in many ways, in hindsight).

After being royally fucked over (by someone I knew better than to trust - doh!), and other external stimulus, I decided to start looking at people. Consciously learning.
And I mean really looking.
I'd already had the tools and they were well honed from childhood, it's just that I decided to bury them for some reason.
(not for 'some reason', I know full well the reasons, but that's for an entirely different, but connected, post).

So.... after years of much reading- about personality traits, psychology, anthropology, genetics , politics, philosophy - and many subjects all related to this in someway, something happened to me....

Before I tell you what that 'something' was, let me tell you something else as well...Again, it's important in respect to the 'something'.
I was forced (before embarking on this education process ) through circumstances, to reappraise myself.... Big time.
Life's good like that.
I have always been one seriously, seriously lucky person. Or that was how I saw it....All my life, things 'just happened' to my advantage.
Like, as in , ridiculously so.
I was also very aware of it. And so were others....Resentment is a very ugly emotion.
When I look back at it now, I see it very differently than I did then. Things didn't just happen to my advantage, I made them happen.
...but was totally unaware of it. It was instinctive, and not conscious. I can see how I did, indeed, 'create' a lot of my own luck. Throw in some 'very lucky' to boot - and hey, life has been pretty easy for me, in many ways...
But then my 'luck' just disappeared.
Or I thought so, for quit some time. It hadn't. I just couldn't see it because of my own head space.

...back to 'the something'....
I downsized my life as a conscious decision - and shed 80% of the things that were taking up my energies. Things that were, ultimately - just filling a bowl of rice far bigger than I needed to be happy. (Or content, rather).

The lack of distractions in my life was newly re discovered. Distractions that, for years - I enthusiastically threw my entire being into.
I had time.
Time to think.
And time to really see things, and see people.
Time itself is the necessary ingredient to be able to see clearly.

I digress...

Would you prefer to be fooled, or would you prefer to see that you had been fooled?
As the Twain saying goes,' it's easier to fool people, than convince them they have been fooled...'

Most people would give the first response 'I'd prefer to know' . Most people don't know themselves. Most people lie to themselves unknowingly....letting themselves continue to be deceived, rather than hearing truth...

So, I ask again....

Would you prefer to be fooled, or would you prefer to see that you had been fooled?

....the beauty of writing on steemit (I can't say about other platforms as I have only, briefly, been on twitter, just before joining here)...is that over time, over many posts, people reveal who they are. Me included.
If you know what you are looking for, then these things rise to the surface, as sure as a turd with a high fat content...

Would you prefer to be fooled, or would you prefer to see that you had been fooled?

There is one thing for sure that you can never know - A mans heart (or a woman's yeah, yeah).

But you can see inside mans mind ( not too sure about a woman's, though)..... Sometimes even better than the man himself.
Listen closely, examine, and not just 'hear' the words you are reading. It can tell you two very different things...

And reading others writing is one of the best windows into it.
There are no curtains if you know what you are looking for. With every word typed, you are inviting the curious to see whats inside your own mind..

And I'm soooooo, so curious...

Would you prefer to be fooled, or would you prefer to see that you had been fooled?

Felix culpa.....
The fortunate consequences. Seeing.
The unfortunate event. Reading people minds.
Not from clairvoyance, but just by examining the details of what's been written.
What , and how people write, can give you enormous amounts of information.

The 'something' that happened to me wasn't spectacular revelation, it was a slow realization.
I had grown up. It had taken over 40 years...
Growing up, is to know thyself. That can be painful.

Part of that growing up for me, was to realize the adamant, truth telling kid I was, and the person I am know - is the same one.
Several decades of hedonism and partying was a diversion from that truth.
I was hiding from myself.

I preferring to fool myself for years, rather than know that I hadn't been fooled. (as to what I knew to be truths about my family).

Yeah, fuck that...I knew I was right, and I knew what 'gas lighting' was, 40 years before I'd ever even heard the term..

And so I find myself coming full circle in life....

I know the consequences of telling truths about the impersonator. I've been doing it since I was 5 years old with my fucked up family.

You're hated for telling truths...

Would you prefer to be fooled, or would you prefer to see that you had been fooled?

Would you like me, or hate me - if I exposed the uncomfortable reality of you being fooled?
(based on a wild assumption that some people here actually like me, of course..)

The reason I'm asking is obviously self evident - but it's a serious one.
Both for you guys... and me.

You may have noticed I haven't been my usual 'let's have a fight' self, for this last week or so.
There was a good reason for that.
I've been 'getting some of my affairs in order', and that kind of thing.
That's sound ominous! lol.
Nothing too drastic, just organizing some things....

So......Would you prefer to be fooled, or would you prefer to see that you had been fooled?

I will say at this point - I've now realized just how dramatic this sounds, but I'm not gonna tone it down any - I've always loved a bit of drama...( you should see me when I'm drunk - I can be the 'drama queen extraordinaire', I can!)

The why, of why I'm writing this open question....

Answer:

Steemit.

For all my postings about the shit show that I see, I still want this place to succeed.
( I was gonna say more than anything, but that's a bit too dramatic, even for me).
I'm not an investor. If it's a by product, that's great. I'm done with chasing clouds, nowadays.
Living in the now, makes my life taste so much sweeter.

This is the reason for my question.
The chances of success of this platform would - in my opinion- be increased by the telling of truths...

I see the decentralization and the non authoritarian systems of blockchain as the way forward.
This is a very possibly a new paradigm that's being built....

Riddle me this...

When is a Trojan horse, not a Trojan horse?

If you don't know the answer to that one , then you might not even be ready for the other question....
(and I'm not giving you the answer).

....Would you prefer to be fooled, or would you prefer to see that you had been fooled?

Discuss....