Life is the art of being well deceived; and in order that the deception may succeed it must be habitual and uninterrupted.

Much of ordinary contentment rests on things you never examine closely: that there will be time, that tomorrow resembles today, that the people near you are roughly who you take them for. Such assumptions hold while they run unbroken, and wobble the moment you stare at one. That is no reason to tear them all down, since a few are what get you out of bed.

Still, it is worth picking one comfortable belief and asking what it costs you. Hold on to the ones that make you generous or brave. Retire the one whose only job is to keep you from looking at something you already suspect.