THE philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer stated that all truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed; second, it is violently opposed; third, it is accepted as self-evident.
Some intellectual fun would be to identify such cycles in our own lives. Creative individuals who bring forward ideas for open debate and discussion enter this three-part sequence at its most difficult phase. Periods of ridicule can be protracted, and they require resilience and patience to navigate. The final transition to a social discourse of the entirely self-evident can be even more remarkable. Crowd-thought and mass narrative may execute an about-turn without so much as a by-your-leave. Accountability or apology for propaganda later dropped from mass circulation is rare. Some creative individuals who advance truth may never enjoy wider acceptance in their own lifetime.
