A Steady Pace of Breath

I feel that my life lately can be defined most summarily by the near and distant implications of accepting knowable causality in all facets of my life. But what started this? I think there was a tipping point precipitated by a few things:

1) A growing understanding of statistics (predispositions, tails, perturbations, etc...)
2) Somewhat related - a growing understanding of logical rigor and the need for mental consistency, mostly from reading ten years' worth of weekly columns by John Hussman
3) Cognitive and consciousness study and philosophy of the mind, in accepting that there is a science to cognitive thought and behavior, and the concluding acceptance that true free will is incompatible with mathematics.
4) Somewhat counter-intuitively - maturity, and specifically the existential acceptance that whatever happens to me is my own doing of which I am aware.

From all of this, slow changes came about in the way that I see the world and my place in it:

1) I have to be happy with myself first (and urgently), at whatever the cost to others around me. Societal norms do not mitigate this fact when they conflict with it, and in fact can provide perceptually violent opposition to it and should be treated with such knowledge. Compromise of yourself by the pressure of societal norms is an affront to BOTH yourself and society by extension.
2) I must isolate myself from individuals who would threaten my mental constructs, either inadvertently or intentionally. This necessity overrides feelings of loneliness because loneliness fades, while the pain caused by compromising your values or thoughts increases perpetually thereafter.
3) A truly humble nature is unassailable and is exceedingly rare. It is ignored by the impatient but the happiness that humility brings is exceptionally persistent; it is an illusion that a humble person wants for the things that separate them from others, but it is instantly recognizable that others continually want, despite what they already have.
4) Cognitive biases are so ingrained in ourselves and in society that we cannot avoid exposure to them. However, knowledge of biases is a means to eliminating them in our own actions. As an exercise of item #1, it must be concluded that eliminating a bias must always take precedence over conforming societal pressure or memes.
5) It is important to be at peace today, and at peace now, because we are here today, and here now. This is not a commentary on the unknown; this is a commentary on people's belief that there will be a sudden and simple opportunity to change aberrant thoughts and behavior "tomorrow".
6) Personal connection may be impossible, but what is wrong with being your own audience? Ultimately, the joy of a personal connection is just another cognitive bias. Only we will ever truly know ourselves. Understanding this fact is the only way to find joy for things that we can't find other people to share our thoughts with.