Discernment

In civil society, I find it best to say precisely the opposite of what I think. This serves as a good filter, for those who are able to discern that I mean the opposite of what I say are usually more willing to hear the unpleasant truth, while those who can't tell are often the ones who would take the most offense.

Within society, there exists a wide range of mental refinement and astuteness of observation, with the strange and unfortunate corollary that there is no quick and easy way to distinguish the sharp-witted from the crass. Due to this, one must devise certain universal tests that quickly and reliably separate those who are observant and discerning in thought from the more common and plain-thinking folk amongst us.

Let it be known: those who are most wealthy are not the most refined, and those most poor are not the most undignified. Similarly, there is no such generality regarding the development of one's judgment and discernment according to occupation or culture or gender. Character is to be found within, seemingly without any relation to the circumstances of one's life. Thus, in a paradoxical twist of fate, it is only by the cultivation of one's own judgment that one can grow to discern the character of others; only by developing one's own virtues that one may become cognizant of the virtues of others.