Sometimes I Let People Talk Nonsense

Sometimes I let people talk nonsense. Just like that. Without objection. Not because truth has stopped mattering to me — but because I’ve learned where it belongs.

The other day I stumbled across one of those typical Facebook calendar quotes. Eye-roll material, really. And yet it stuck with me.

It was essentially about staying out of arguments. Even when someone is clearly talking nonsense. In the past, that kind of thing would have made me angry. Today? More of a quiet nod. And at the same time, an inner contradiction.

Truth hasn’t become irrelevant to me. But my relationship with arguments — that has.

For a long time I believed every false argument needed a response. Silence is agreement. You have to set things straight. At some point I realized how much energy that costs. And how rarely it leads to genuine insight. Most arguments aren’t shared thinking. They’re power games in disguise. And I’ve lost interest in those.

Today I distinguish differently. Not between right and wrong — but between: Does this lead anywhere? Or does it just create friction? Some statements I simply let stand. Not because I agree with them. But because I no longer need to fight them internally.

The key is inner clarity. Silence only works when I know for myself where things stand. The moment it becomes self-denial, the calm tips over. Then it’s conformity. Then it eats away from inside. I feel that boundary quite precisely now — and I hold it deliberately.

Here in the Philippines, I notice this especially. Harmony matters. Disagreement is quickly taken as a personal attack. In the past, that would have irritated me. Today I recognize something in it — something I’ve been living myself for a while. Hesitantly at first, by now quite consistently: the separation between what I know and what I react to.

Not every argument deserves my presence. Not every opinion deserves my resistance.

Inner peace doesn’t come from everything becoming irrelevant. It comes from choosing where to engage. And where to simply stay quiet.