Knowledge is not power. It is security.

I see the future through my expectations. They cut through the fog of uncertainty. They are the one advantage I have over the other beasts. The other beasts – with their teeth, and claws, and fur – are better suited to survive, except I can see far into the future and they can not.

Imagine my fear when my expectations are violated. I have lost my advantage. I am at the mercy of the strong, the fast, the hungry. predictability is my fortress and the unexpected is a breach of the palisades.

There must be patterns. There must. I can see them if I just watch closely. What is a break in the patterns I discern? A fluke? An error? Who’s error? I need to understand what is happening. My life depends on it.

If I control all the variables, I control the outcome. I create a world of my expectations for my own survival. I deny my senses when they tell me my expectations have been wrong. My lack of foresight is too frightening to acknowledge. If I am not right, I am in danger.