The 'Great Soul'
In a striking form of "self-fulfilling prophecy," people see what they want to see, believe (and collect evidence to support) what they choose to believe, and find what they search for.
A few decades ago a barefoot lawyer became a potent spiritual and political force in the world. His family name was Gandhi, and his parents named him Mohandas. He came up with a way of creating social action and change that he called Satyagraha which advocated tolerance and nonviolence. To draw attention to his causes he gave a certain number of speeches, held a certain number of fasts, and made a certain number of marches. Some people saw those fasts and heard those speeches and concluded that his parents did not give him the right name. Instead of calling him Mohandas, they called him Mahatma, which means "Great Soul."
Other people saw the same fasts and marches, listened to the same speeches, and watched the same events unfold and concluded that Gandhi wasn't fit to draw breath. One of these people, upset over Gandhi's tolerance for all creeds and religions, walked up to him, shoved a pistol into his stomach, and pulled the trigger.
One group of people looked for the good in the man and saw a Great Soul, and another group looked for the harms they thought he was doing to their culture and saw a threat.
Same speeches, same fasts, same marches, same soul. The difference was not in the "evidence", but the interpretation of the evidence. Each group saw what they looked for.
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