Everything You Believe is a Lie

Perpetual Motion Waterfall
MC Escher … Wikipedia

None of it is your fault. It is just the way the human brain is made. The brain tries to resolve ambiguities in the best way it can, using all the innate quirks of our senses, emotions, and rational thought processes.

Early (at least partially deluded) beliefs take precedence in shaping later beliefs, until in the end we are unable to comprehend what a confused mess we have made for ourselves. The article excerpted below goes into more detail of the different mechanisms of how beliefs are built and shaped.

Humans cannot perceive reality directly. Instead, the outside world is filtered through our various senses. Significant filtering and pre-processing occur in the sensory organs themselves. Inside the brain, “primary” areas are devoted to each of the senses, where further filtering and pre-processing of information take place — under the influence of feedback from “higher” brain areas. From the primary sensory cortex, the information proceeds to “associative” sensory areas and other cortical and sub-cortical parts of the brain, where an incredible free-for-all of clashing and matching information occurs deep below the level of consciousness. __ Everything You Think You Know Just Ain’t So

The challenge to each of us is to let down our shields which protect our castles of belief, and to reacquaint ourselves with the arts of observation, hypothesis generation, and testing of our hypotheses in merciless fashion.

It Doesn’t Help When “Authorities” Claim Too Much

We Really Are Empty Cups

The field of [] is still in its infancy, and we’re just beginning to develop a true science of []. Unfortunately, we still have a long way to go in that regard. There are hundreds of competing schools of [], and every school claims to have the best approach. I’m convinced that many of our most cherished theories about the causes of [] will eventually be proven false, and that our best [] techniques will be eclipsed by vastly more effective models in the future. So we really are empty cups. If we can work together with a spirit of humility, mutual respect, and creativity, I’m convinced that we can do some good work — and maybe brilliant work at times — to []. __ David Burns MD (workshop materials)

David Burns is talking about the field of psychotherapy, but what he says can as easily apply to climate science, human biological diversity, gender differences, cognitive science, and dozens of other areas of science which have been at least partially suppressed and biased by corrupting political influences.

You Cannot Trust What You Are Told Anymore

Of course you never could trust what you were told. But you were too young to understand that in your early years. Most of us came to discover the need for scepticism in our teens and early adulthood. But those with the wisest parents were led to that discovery much earlier, by the age of 10 or 12.

The earlier a child can be led to self-discovery, self-teaching, and self-authenticating of information, the earlier he can safely step into the swift currents of modern scholarship, entrepreneurship, and serious social relationships.

As Adults, We had Best Be Able to Check the Veracity and Validity of our Sources

Nothing is more distressing than to observe how herds of young adults are coerced and intimidated by university faculty, staff, and administration into a politically correct groupthink — at the expense of their ability to decide and think for themselves. Recent college riots and witch trials are only the surface manifestations of a deep rot which extends throughout academia, media, government, foundations, and other cultural institutions.

Avoiding all the traps of groupthink is not easy, even with the best parents, mentors, teachers, and coaches.

My students have learned since their early school days how to evaluate the facts the world holds out to them. They are often masters of logic and technique, accomplished debaters, and skilled at choosing between weaker and stronger claims. Yet, like children taught to believe that babies are brought in the beaks of storks, they have not learned to question how facts are made. This moment calls for an end to that dangerous innocence. Only through sustained reflection on why we know what we think we know can we find ways to strengthen, even augment, our collective knowing—and so push back against those who would dismantle the human institutions we have entrusted with the hard task of making public knowledge. __ Judith Curry

No wonder so many young adults are postponing the normal responsibilities of adulthood, choosing an existence of perpetual adolescence instead. No wonder so many choose employment as paid protestors and agitators in the pay of shady organisations financed by super-rich insiders linked to corrupt political machines, such as the late Obama administration. Lacking the perspective that comes from a true education and life experience, these psychological neotenates become oblivious cannon fodder for cynical manipulators among the politically aggressive wealthy elite.

Brains Mustn’t Miss Their Chances

Young developing brains pass through many sensitive windows of formative activity. If they are not given the proper chances to experiment, experience, and master the successive rites of passage, they will struggle unnecessarily with some of these issues for many years.

Sensitive Windows of Development

This is what much of The Dangerous Child Method is about. The most dangerous weapon a child can wield is a well honed mind. Particularly a mind which he has honed for himself, out of his own mastery of self-learning and doing.

Wise persons understand and take as a point of departure that everything they think they know, just ain’t so. Or put another way, everything they believe is a lie.

Understanding why it is true and how they can compensate for the problem is the starting point for wisdom and achievement.

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3 Responses to Everything You Believe is a Lie

  1. Craig says:

    Check out Dr. Jordan Peterson’s YouTube videos on the subject of personality and especially his ‘Maps of Meaning series’. He touches on some of the subject matter mentioned here and goes into depth on many aspects of how and why we perceive the world the way we do. And yes, much of what we believe or are told to believe is wrong.

  2. John K says:

    Butler Shaffer from Lew Rockwell always harps on asking the right questions and rexaming the answer.

    Like to see you quoting Doug Noland, he is one of the people always questioning everything.

  3. Pingback: This Week In Reaction (2017/05/14) - Social Matter

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