One thing that intrigues me is that everyone seems to have their own reality. I personally try to stay on track by constantly asking myself, "Is this really true?"
The challenge is that truth is constantly changing. A perfect example are the food studies that continually come out and make the news. One day a certain food is good for you and the next day it's bad.
When determining reality I use the following rules:
- Follow the rule of the legal system and if the "preponderance of evidence" says something is true, then go with it.
- Try to get your information from the "horse's mouth." If I hear a politician actually say something in the media, I'm prone to believe it.
Chemtrails
In 1997, in the early days of the Internet, I had my first website up, called "Todd's Bulldozer Page." The website focused on suburban sprawl, green space destruction, and human overpopulation. I met some cool people through the site and got some interesting feedback from visitors, which helped me on my journey. One visitor suggested that I give attention to chemtrails, which are the white vapor trails emitted by high flying jets, and supposedly laced with chemicals. I put conspiracy theories in the same bucket as delusions, and chemtrails is one theory that won't go away. The idea is that the government uses jet aircraft to spray chemicals on the public. These chemicals supposedly make people sterile, affect the weather, etc...
The delusions are alive and well today, and we now have anti-vaxers and flat earthers. Social media has become a huge dumping ground for information garbage, and people quickly repost items without thinking. Much of this information is stubbornly accepted without questioning.
Delusion by Definition
As everyone goes through their life with their own reality I find it amazing that our society even functions. You have an exploding world population and every human has their own perception of what's real and what is truth.
A psychological definition of delusion is:
An individual having Delusional disorder holds a false belief firmly, despite clear evidence or proof to the contrary. ... It must be noted that a religious or cultural belief that is accepted by other members of the person’s community is not a delusion.
I disagree with the second sentence because entire groups of people can have delusions. The most amazing delusion right now are the Christians who say, "Donald Trump is a godly man." What? Did I miss something? This is a man who is a brazen womanizer and who plays golf on Sundays. My own research shows he's never been a regular church goer, other than Easter or Christmas Eve services.
I define religion as a delusion as well. One of the ongoing themes of my blogs is that religion does more harm than good for humanity, and is a major roadblock in our forward development. I believe religion creates a mindset that delusional thinking is okay, and then religious people become delusional outside their religion. We hear of extreme cases where parents won't take their kids to the doctor because God will heal them. And with my own ears I've heard five different evangelical leaders praise Trump.
Conclusion
Okay, here are a few more tips for determining reality, in addition to the two above:
- Question everything! Even question beliefs that were drilled into you all your life. Question your religion, government, and culture. Don't be afraid to drill right in and ask hard questions. Then, have the courage to face the facts, accept the answers, and act on what you know is true. This takes courage, and few people do this, but it's important.
- Develop critical thinking skills. Once information passes through your filter process then analyze it for a while. Does it make sense? Does it line up with what you think is reality?
- Get your information from a wide variety of sources. If your only news source is Fox News and right-wing talk shows, you'll definitely get a one-side picture. Or maybe that's what you WANT to get.
Delusions are probably in our evolutionary heritage because they comfort us. When people are spouting off delusional ideas I think way down deep they know it's a lie, but they like what they are believing and telling. For instance, I think flat earthers get comfort from "stirring the pot." And if I hear "water can't bend" one more time I will scream. I believe that TRUTH is always better, no matter how painful and disappointing it may be.
