An inconsistent inconsistency

Absolute consistency is in practice identical with fanaticism, and inconsistency is the source of tolerance

In 1963 the Polish philosopher Leszek Kolakowski wrote a short provocative essay, In Praise of Inconsistency. I came across it after I decided to call my book In Praise of Inconsistency and idly Googled the term. Kokakowski is writing about political developments (he was an east European revisionist) but gives me support for my view that in a world where consistency is both demanded and dangerous, inconsistency is a necessary counterweight. ‘Absolute consistency is in practice identical with fanaticism, and inconsistency is the source of tolerance’. If people with ADHD have a tendency to be inconsistent, then they should be sought out and promoted into positions of power.

Kokakowski’s inconsistency is not quite the same as my inconsistency but it is an essay well worth reading, if not from an ADHD perspective then from the perspective of contemporary politics. For what is the consistent man if not a fanatic, and what is the inconsistent man if not the one who undermines that fanaticism?

Kolakowski explains that in his view, in his essay, consistency is making sure that everything you do remains in alignment with your general principles of life. He points out that that this consistency is often expounded on the extreme right (although of course it does not have to be) and he uses the example of Joseph de Maistre who believed in the order created by God and ‘showed astonishing consistency by applying his general principles to all concrete questions’. de Maistre wrote that ‘all social order rests upon the hangman’. de Maistre’s consistency was so great that he ended up writing a eulogy of the tribunal which tried Galileo and condemned him to death. That is where consistency can take you.

Kolakowski says that consistency ‘does not hesitate to contemplate the practical application of its own principles’. (Remind you of anything that happening in the USA at the moment?) ‘What is demanded of the citizen of a state? That he be consistent in his loyalty to the state or to the regime. Such a citizen, therefore, will always be proud to collaborate with the secret police. Any citizen who hesitates to make regular denunciations to the secret police is clearly inconsistent.’ He goes on to point out that in the face of a consistent belief, the holder will ‘impose our belief by war, by aggression, by provocation, by blackmail, by murder, by intimidation, by terror, by massacre, and by torture.’ So much for consistency then.

Then he gets to the bones of it: ‘it is only thanks to inconsistency that humanity has kept alive on this earth’. This is really where I come in. My view of consistency, and it's relation to ADHD, is that consistency is by its nature uncreative. When I was an entrepreneur running a growing buiness I had a mentor who used to say to me, ‘You need to be more consistent’. In order to push back on him I invented the phrase, ‘Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative.’

Of course, we need ‘uncreative’ people to do all the stuff that keeps the world running. By this, I mean we need consistent people to run my bank and produce my electricity, to ensure the modern world just keeps arriving. Nothing at all wrong with that. But similarly, we need inconsistent people to invent all this stuff in the first place. Not just the art, but the science and the businesses and the systems and the operational stuff.

The people who came up with most new developments were almost certainly neurodivergent. As one example, Nikola Tesla ‘was an innovator and thinker whose creative genius led to many of the advancements in technology that we still enjoy today. He also had ADHD which gave him the incredible ability to hyperfocus and pour his energy into incredible inventions and ideas.’ And not just the famous people. There will have been millions of people in history who pushed the world forward while never quite understanding how or why they didn’t quite fit into the mould the world had created for them.

In ADHD world there is a concept that people with ADHD have justice sensitivity. This is an interesting subject that I will return to later, but for today I wanted to suggest it might be related to the concept of inconsistency being the source of tolerance. In other words, whatever inconsistency does to us, maybe it generates justice sensitivity alongside tolerance. And maybe that inconsistency generates of Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria (RSD)? ADHD certainly is a strange beast and there’s a lot more to draw out.

So I assert that inconsistency is worthy of praise. I’m writing a book called In Praise of Inconsistency which is about ADHD but also about creativity and also, it seems, about a lot of other stuff.

We need more inconsistency in this currently dangerous world. Beware the consistent, they have designs upon your life.

Don’t forget I’m coaching creative people with ADHD at neurotivity.com and please pass this newsletter on or I’ll get RSD!