Don't go to war over the color of a hat.

There is powerful wisdom to be found in our oldest stories, even the silly ones.

I talk about narrative all the time. I love stories. Stories are literally the framework in which our species thinks. I say that all the time too.

It’s my love of narrative that attracts me to our oldest stories, the religious and mythological ones. Our oldest stories often contain useful insights into our nature and how we should act in the world. I think that’s what those stories are “for”, mostly.

I heard a new (to me) old story recently while listening to a Martyrmade podcast. I’ve recommended his series on the formation of the state of Israel called “Fear and Loathing in the New Jerusalem”. This one was (mostly) about the Aztecs and is called “Human Sacrifice and Cannibalism”.

Fascinating stuff. Also gruesome.

But along the way, Darryl Cooper told of an ancient myth from some ancient civilization — I forget where — that I just love. It goes something like this:

One day a god decided to walk down a road between various fields full of farmers. Feeling like sparking a bit of mischief, the god wears a hat that is red on one side, and blue on the other. When he gets past all the fields, he reverses the hat and walks back down the road the way he came.

Later that evening, the farmers in the village ask each other, “Did you see that fellow on the road earlier? The one with the red hat?”

“What? It was a blue hat!”

“No! It was red, you fool!”

Before too long a huge disagreement bubbles up, with different factions on different sides and things are about to get very violent.

Just then, the god appears, laughing hysterically. “It was me!” he shouts with glee, revealing the hat. “Causing trouble and confusion is my great joy!”

The god departs, and peace returns to the village.

I got the feeling that Cooper (and most analysts) took from that story something about how the god(s) that create the world are also tricksters… or something. Perhaps I didn’t get the point exactly.

But I immediately heard a very pragmatic meaning to the story, a very down-to-earth point that was (I think) being made.

As humans, we aren’t given omniscience. Not even close. We are given these senses to perceive the world and these minds with which to try to interpret these sensory inputs. And these tools are great. They allow us to accomplish great things.

But they are also horribly unreliable and prone to failure and misinterpretation.

So, be aware of that. Take our epistemological imperfections into account when dealing with others. If you see a man with a red hat and your neighbor swears it was a man with a blue hat, don’t get upset. Don’t go to blows over it. Instead, mark it down as a curiosity.

Consider that our senses and our minds are imperfect and that your relationship with your neighbor is much too important a thing to throw away over a matter in which for all you know, both of you could be in error.

It’s a silly little story. Kinda funny. Takes no time at all to tell. Fun to tell, in fact. And in doing so, man pushes very important wisdom forward through time to be of use to generation upon generation of future humans.

I love that stuff.

Naturally,

Adam