DIFFERENTIATING BETWEEN TRUTH AND “MADE-UPS”,
OR GOING THROUGH LIFE WITH BLIND SPOTS INTACT - AND FALSE BELIEFS



[Extracted from The Underlying Basics Of  Life, Part I (link to the word document by using the search engine).  This piece is copied from a word document of virtually the same title (in a quasi Powerpoint version) but which will not have all the links in this piece.]


Human beings can waste much of their lives based on believing that "things that they made up" are true. 

Becoming adept at identifying what is clearly true (and observably true), what is reasonably true, and what might not be true is a key skill in life.  That skill includes using "Effective Thinking" skills to verify and come to good conclusions and sound decisions - plus it includes knowing, and seeing (of course), that you may have "blind spots".  Since it is logical in the first place that you can't see your blind spots, you will only be able to find them by

1.  Using outside credible observers, and/or
2.  By noting that in some area or particular way you are not producing the results you want in life. 

The latter of course is a "clue" - though many people fail to look for it or see that something is not working and that therefore it needs correcting.  


WHAT IS REALITY/TRUTH VS “NOT REALITY”/“NOT TRUTH?

“The Truth" is only that which is scientifically indisputable (and most often independently observable.  (See  


                  Truth                                               Non-Truth

My stomach feels tense.                        You made me upset.
The red car collided into the blue car.      The driver of the red car is a bad driver.

(Note that feeling tense is an "internal truth", so it cannot be independenty verified nor
can it be determined to be not the truth.  As an outsider we do not have superior knowledge to that person, who is the most qualified to observe his internal state - though he can be wrong also.)
  

                Truth is                                                 Non-Truth is

What actually happened                        Interpretations about what happened
What is (just the facts)                         The “abouts” about the “what is”


In the above table, truth is “what actually happened”, a “what is absolutely so”, verifiable by other observers in a scientific manner.  It is strictly “objective” (just the “facts”) with no personal interpretation added, and hopefully as little misperception as possible.  It is at least your best objective version of what actually occurred.  It excludes what is added “about” the facts, such as your judgment or evaluations or conclusions that you make up from the facts.  Discriminating between them is a key skill for being able to come to what is true.

Another example, with lots of potential for added “made-ups” that aren’t the truth:

What happened:  My son shouted at me (verifiable, indisputable)

What was made up about what happened:   "This is questioning my authority.  I feel insecure (unconsciously, reminds me of when I was a child and I felt I was threatened by not knowing what would happen).  I decide I must control this.  I will shout back and demand respect and punish him.

If you are aware that our primitive minds come up with such nonsense, then we can apply our higher brain to it to ferret out the untruth and determine what is actually true. 


DO NOT BELIEVE ANY OF THE “MADE-UPS”, AS YOU WILL GET “STUCK” IN THEM.

You must know that “made-ups" aren't real.  Therefore, they NEED NOT BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY, for they are not real. 

If a court jester came up to you and told you a “story”, you wouldn’t give it a lot of credence. Well, if you know something is made-up and is not proven factually, wouldn’t you also look at that as not necessarily being true?  Wouldn’t it be true that only an idiot would believe “make-ups” (stories about something) were “facts” or “truth”? 

If someone else perceives (and/or reacts) differently than another person or comes to different conclusions, which of them would be “the truth”?  Probably neither, as each is often just another story or another version of what was perceived. 

So, if you know something is not “the truth” and that it is “made up”, then you surely would not give it credibility, right?  (Duh!)

Use this ability to tell what is and what is not truth in your problem solving and decision-making to create much better results.  [You’ll find this built into the tools, such as those in the Problem Solving section in Life Management and Problem Solving In Relationships (where the worst incidences of misperceptions and stories occur, with each person standing strongly for his/her "side" or what he/she believes is an accurately remembered set of facts).]

I would also suggest the idea that if the story was made up in the first place, one could always choose to make up a different story (or belief) that might serve one better.  This gives one the freedom to create more freely and to not be limited by stories that are not the truth!!!  (You have a lot of "license" here to make up whatever is of benefit to you!
Even affirmations.)

Remember, please:

Know that the stories/made-ups can be changed at any time, since you made them up in the first place!   

[The best treatment of stories and made-ups that I have ever observed, and one that drives the point home enough for almost everyone to “get” it, is done by Landmark Education’s Forum - link to it via my page on Landmark.  See their video vignettes.]

FREEDOM = Knowing they aren’t real, so one can make up something else more workable.

Another aspect to be aware of, relating to this, is the following...


PERCEPTION AND INTERPRETATION ARE NOT REALITY

Perception and interpretation are subject to inaccuracy because we see through “filters”, have blind spots, or just inaccurately observe what has occurred.  Plus, we make up a lot of it based on assumptions and inferences!!!!! (The latter is similar to filling in the details that weren't there in the first place.  Our visual cortex will also do this, filling in the picture even when the optic nerve blanks out the visual image. See The Unconscious and what it does.)

So, accordingly:  

    Don't believe that your perceptions are reality!

(See Perception Does Not Equal Reality - Essential Lesson #1.)

Now, here, we need to clear up a common statement that is incorrect and misleading.  Many people say that “perception is reality”, but they are misstating what is true.  The correct and complete statement is “your perception is your reality”.  In other words, what you see is what you believe to be so. 

Of course, it is often true that what you see is actually so when dealing with things that can be easily observed by other people, such as someone hitting someone else.  But even simple instances that are observed by multiple individuals are seen differently, such as you’ve seen in many court cases as dramatized on tv and in movies.  So it is wise to use the rule and the reality that your perceptions are possibly not the truth. 

And know further that:


THERE IS NO REALITY IN “RIGHT/WRONG” OR “GOOD/BAD” JUDGMENTS.

Reality – The quality or state of being actual or true.  “In reality” means “in existence” “out there” in the “real world”.

Put a check mark in each box where you agree:

__ The only thing that exists (and can be seen) is results (things that happen!) - all else is a figment of our imagination/mind.  And what one makes up about the results does not actually exist out there in the real world; right-wrong/good-bad are only concepts in the mind.  (See Good/Bad, Right/Wrong Vs. Workable - What Is True?)

(If you are to have a firm foundation for an effective philosophy of life, one must know the answer to What Is Reality.)


THE ONLY LEGITIMATE CRITERION IS WORKABILITY
  
Definition:  Workability = Getting results that work for your benefit.

Tangible results in terms of physical happenings and/or feelings comes from doing something real that produces an effect that is good or bad.  If the effect is good, then what was done was “workable”.  If the effect is not as desired (or is “bad”), then what was done was “not workable”.

One’s judgment or proclamations about it in the right-wrong/good-bad sense are completely irrelevant to getting the good result we want – and they are only fabrications (stories) that serve only to make us “right” or to leave us feeling superior, in control, or some other psychological game of ego.

__ Workability (or non-workability) is the only reality - and the only criterion to use. 


JUDGING OR BLAMING ANOTHER HAS NO LEGITIMATE BASIS IN REALITY

Something occurs →  We make up something about it, judge it, but the fact is that... 

__ Everybody does the best they can at the time, given the current limits of their awareness.  This is a “mathematical certainty”, a truth.

    __ Nobody is wrong or bad for doing the best they can
    __ Yes, they could do better if they knew better (i.e. were more aware).
    __ They simply get a result (a "what is") and it works or not!
         __ There is no connotation to it, only an observable fact.

(See and understand and know, as it is essential to living a freed up life: Why There Is No Fault - Whatever Happens Happens For A Valid Human Reason.)


THERE ARE ONLY VIEWPOINTS  AND AWARENESS

       VIEWPOINT = A way of or a point from which to view something

Other interchangeable words might be paradigm, belief, opinion.

We can have a viewpoint about a viewpoint.  (Mainly that our viewpoint is correct!)

But, after learning more about this:  my viewpoint is that my viewpoint is not necessarily correct or workable when I am blind to something.  (And, if it's a blind spot, I won't know it!) 

My viewpoint is only a viewpoint, not reality!   Recall how the viewpoint of the blind men, as in the example below, created their conclusions, which each swore to be correct.  But neither was correct, though each did in fact have a viewpoint (or "viewing point")!


     The classic:  Blind men feeling the elephant: 

           Blind man 1 feels the side of the elephant → the elephant is like a wall
           Blind man 2 feels the leg, conclude (→) the elephant is like a tree trunk
           Blind man 3 feels the trunk, concludes (→) the  elephant is like a big snake

It is valuable to know that your viewpoint, and therefore your conclusion (or 
perception) is not necessarily correct.

Otherwise, you will be "stuck" and hold strongly to the wrong conclusion.  One can get “stuck” in believing one is right, but if one knows one could easily be wrong or even just possibly be wrong, then one is more willing to accept new information and to make better decisions.

It is best not to be blind, or, if you are, to know you are.  

     The first key is to know that you, as a human, must have blind spots.  

     The second key is to discover the most important blind spotsl

     The third key is correct and/or fill in the truth so that the blind spots are gone.

This is a major part of in doing the "Life Mastery" process on this site.  On this site, we use practical business management and scientific thinking combined with the philosophical in order to get the results you want in life!           


CONCLUSION

One should not believe stories are "the truth".  (Duh!)

The truth is only that which is independently verifiable.  Accordingly, all of the rest is stories, or “made-ups”.  (See The Scientific Method (And A Worksheet!) - The Only Way To Go In Life! or you could do the type of thinking many people do in And Then A Miracle Happens... Wanna Bet!  Your choice.)

It seems crystal clear that you would best use only verified facts for decision-making and to know that the only legitimate criterion is “workability” - and that all your right-wrong/good-bad stories are irrelevant and simply represent a viewpoint; there is no actual existing right-wrong in the real world, as it is simply a made-up, a story, a mental construct. 

Don’t use any time/effort on anything other than workability. 

We each have blind spots, so it is possible that anything we believe is true might not be. And know that your perception is not necessarily reality. 

Know all of these so that you are more open to new information and can tell the difference between truth and non-truth.  And then you can make far better decisions and choices in your life.  Or...

Insanity is believing what you make up is real.  Sanity is knowing it may not be real, plus knowing why and how. 

Your choice!