In this autobiographical narrative, the author discusses the evolution and trajectory of his social and philosophical thought through a series of critical meditations on race, education, and society. A core element of this intellectual development is a critique of various hegemonic social imaginaries that operate as extreme forms of bad faith. The concept of bad faith is defined as a multipronged and protean allegiance to false views of reality, which subsequently makes it easier for all of us to tell lies to ourselves. Education, then, as a set of pedagogical imperatives, emerges as a struggle against bad faith in all its subtle and not so subtle forms. The author argues that a failure to take heed of the pedagogical imperative of expanding our horizons, of being receptive to learning, results in what he calls “disciplinary decadence,” which involves a turning away from reality through a variety of obsessive absolutes among which is the fetishizing of our disciplinary practices and ignoring the specificity of their methodological reach. The necessary effort to construct human institutions that could take on the imperative of liberating our pedagogical imperatives is an option that we are fortunate to have as our choice.