The ability to honestly assess something—casting aside ideology and viewing phenomena through the clear glass of evidence/experimentation—is essential in propagating personal development, a sound democracy, and critical thinking. Unfortunately this is a painful thing if one has muddied their perception by lying to themselves—choosing empty platitudes instead of sussing through unpleasant causalities. But once refined, this ability is used in every endeavor and every arena…from building complex structures to understanding the difference between what’s humorous and what’s not. It keeps problems small and manageable, rather than allowing them to mutate into giant beasts. It enables one to adjust for context and harmonize with the environment, and it also builds consensus—for evidence-based truth can slice apart pretty-sounding crap and invoke widespread function. When our baser nature cries for the seductive comfort of self-deception, being honest with oneself can be an act of heroism; it adds another clear mind into the whirlpool of falsity that many drown in. Sure, there are personal benefits, but being willing to sacrifice obsolete views and seductive self-deceptions is, I believe, the very key to unlocking harmony. The implication that one must sacrifice or kill their useless aspects can be extrapolated from a plethora of belief systems from both the East and the West.
Nested in many of those implications is the idea that when an individual decides to fix him/herself, it is a heroic endeavor, and has the potential to fix the world. I happen to agree with that.
Dirty Sci-Fi Buddha 
Good post. Interesting. It is difficult for people to honestly assess themselves, the possibility of real change slight.
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I agree too.
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This is a very insightful and erudite post.
The human capacity to wrap oneself in self-justification, blame of someone else, herd instinct etc,etc might not be limitless but has a large reservoir to work from.
I agree to work through this is a very hard task. Sometimes the journey has to start with a long hard look in the mirror and say with a sigh ‘Twit,’
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Indeed! The willingness to be a fool precedes the possibility of being a hero.
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well said. So hard to do especially when our main inner focus and drive is based on our opinions.
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Very hard! But I think in the end, the alternative is harder.
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All of this! Sadly, so many will not dig deep because it’s hard to replace comfort with the unknown.
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Indeed! And as the unknown is represented by the dragon’s lair, so to speak, it’s necessary to go in there and make friends with the dragon so it doesn’t grow too big and burn our castles down.
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The people at the top disseminate scripts that re-enforce what benefits them! If they hate being laughed at they demonize laughter!
When everyone else around you is singing the same tune in harmony, are they all brainwashed or do they all freely believe in the story and the song?
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Rather than demonize all authority, I like to take people on a case-by-case basis. Whether I hew to tradition or not, I try to evaluate if what I’m doing is an effective mode of action. I find that to allow me to adopt tactics from the entire spectrum and employ the best strategy I can, rather than condemning one as the product of brainwashing or totalitarian paradigms.
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All authority means is that people follow you. The larger your flock the more authority you have.
I prefer finding the truth myself because authority is usually wrong or in genuine.
Truth is my authority, authority seldom involves the truth
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Truth is a subjective term. I prefer “evidence-supported data.” Authority can be garnered by reliably instantiating results upon demand. And then it can be abused. I do not think it is inherently good or bad, but to your point: yes, if it is abused, things can get very, very bad.
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Light is not emitted randomly because it is the exchange particle of the electro-magnetic force. This means that when you look at a star a million light years away that the light hitting your eye was sent to you a million years before you were even born.
The signal was determined in irrational time and the photon travelled in rational time.
Are you a free agent and choose to look tonight causing an retro causality event. Or is your destiny foretold in the stars?
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The debate between whether we have free will or not is, for the moment, unable to be proven to the point where we can satisfy the burden of scientific proof. However, my opinion is that we should act as if we have free will, for if we have so much as a smidgen of it, then it would be a terrible thing to waste. And if we don’t, then we have lost nothing.
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“The debate between whether we have free will or not is, for the moment, unable to be proven to the point where we can satisfy the burden of scientific proof.”
Oh, the amazing revelations getting an answer to this question would create… WOW 😀
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I know! It’d settle a lot of stuff really quick!
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