The importance of being insignificant (a zero on left)

The importance of being extremely insignificant -a zero on left -or Notes from an intellectual armchair adventurer (inspired by the thoughts of Peter Trainin, Neko Vidal and others)

(I´m) just rambling on as usual and putting my thoughts on cyberspace (formerly paper) by listening to myself and others:

On retirement I was told that I (someone who had teaching in his DNA) would be a zero on left –

We are taught to harbor false expectations from our birth…till our death; from the cradle …...to the grave.  I´m a spiritual atheist…

Any good book is a thinking man's best friend. Beware of the person who only reads ONE book.

Turns of phrase to retire to: Competences, incompetence, evaluation, assessment, marks, tests, multiple-choice, exams, projects, all the latest buzz words and more.

… In uniform these types (like some principal whose name I´d rather forget for good) would be vocationally adapted, but they are not military, they are corporate, plain clothes ordinary specimens and in utter submission to authority and the law.  Not physically dangerous, these people are bureaucratically lethal. I am sure we all recognize the type. Not funny people at all, at all. They are sad, mad and bad. They lack empathy and become dangerous sociopaths. Eventually they´ll ascend the rat-race ladder, helped by the chatterbox HMI or their kith and kin. I never took their authority seriously since adolescence. In fact I harbor a visceral distrust, disdain and repulsion for unfounded authoritarian sheepdogs and those who live in thrall to them and their cider house rules. If anyone feels safer protected by cannibals fine, but do not assume universal moral superiority. Those who live by imposed arbitrary authority will die by it in a dark corner. Their minds live in a separate world from reality (Like the emperor´s new clothes´ story).

Game over for good. Came to a bad end like everything else in life…Brexit wrecks it.

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More bilingual palindromes: OXEN are NEXO, OXEN ERA NEXO; LAMINA ANIMAL; NURIA A I RUN; OI RATON NOTARIO; ANITA ATINA;…

SPAIN´s open wounds: Unmarked mass graves; the long shadow of dictatorship still fresh; cultural and historical fantasies, selective memories, collective amnesia,…

 Utopia and Realities “Just a few centuries ago, when a few people first raised their voices in protest at the human indignity of one person being able to buy others in the marketplace and treat them as if they were just another commodity, not only were they called utopian, gullible and naïve, but they were reminded with a certain (faulty) logic that what had been the custom for thousands of years, since the beginning of mankind, would never change.  Today, the very idea of buying a human being not only strikes us as loathsome but also seems absurd.

Exactly a century ago, in the time of our grandparents, when a debate surfaced in European parliaments about the possibility of extending the right to vote to women, history repeated itself; those who proposed the change were branded utopian, naïve and removed from reality for proposing the granting of rights to that half of humanity, which had been unjustly excluded from decision making on social issues.  The conservatives of the time, while insulting and mocking progressive men and women, maintained that such a thing would never become a reality.  Today we think it so natural that women have the vote that not even those on the extreme right dare question it.

Despite affecting all human societies on the planet, these two social changes, possibly two of the most important in the history of humanity, did not come about as a result of a bloody world war, but primarily through dialogue.

We often forget that our current representative but non-participatory, democratic system has two centuries, born in the American and French revolutions, and our educational system, emerged in Prussia two half centuries, both are obsolete because they were created for companies, with most of the illiterate population and half of it, women, without any social right”.

Surrealism is a very old trick. Accuse your accusers of what they accuse you.

Fake news calling the inconvenient truth, like the gospel (allegedly good news - euangelos-when in fact it´s –pseudoangelos-, fake news).

Unending surrealism. Another invention by fellow humans to deceive us, fellow humans. "Stop thinking of yourself as an ordinary human being who has ordinary problems that need to be solved."

Our mental tattooing has installed disneyfied nostalgia for a past that never existed.

In the year 1800 there were 8 times fewer people than now. And that was only 219 years ago!

But ingrained reverence for mediocre authority figures, well versed in tangling logical fallacies into their self-serving justification for perennial hegemony, has been the engine of modern history, which equals propaganda.

It is beyond some specific case of country or person. It is plain common sense which has been anesthetized by ignorance, fear and greed for several centuries and worldwide. Awesome!!!

Here are those that read something and accept it without research and those that read it and reject it without research.

The first act out of spite for the authorities while the second act out of reverence for authority and to spite the conspiracy theorists.

Truth here is not relevant.

And then there are the spineless sycophants who never had an opinion on anything that was not dictated by their personal economic or psychological dependence on conformity.

The certainty mindset —wanting to have ‘the’ truth — can stop you from growing as a person. Rather than discovering life, you get stuck in what it is familiar.

The world is fluid and unexpected—life is always a surprise. You don’t need certainty; but to be open to challenging your truths. That’s the path for personal discovery — to seeing life sharply.

Certainty can cripple your life

“There is no certainty; there is only adventure.” — Roberto Assagioli

Being certain doesn’t mean that you have the right answer.

The mind is incredibly averse to uncertainty and ambiguity. When we don’t know something, we create our own reasonable explanation. According to cognitive science, we prefer to hold on to these invented justifications than to admit we don’t know what happened.

Having an answer is not correlated to seeing life sharply.

Social psychologist Arie Kruglanski coined the term ‘cognitive closure’, to describe our aversion toward ambiguity and uncertainty. We prefer having an answer as quickly as possible rather than to discover the truth.

During times of fear and anxiety the need for cognitive closure increases.

Studies have demonstrated that, after terrorist attacks, society feels an urge to find who’s responsible. Fear feeds rumors and fake versions — people share stories without any validation. The desire to punish someone gets everyone out of control — it becomes okay to accuse the first apparent suspect.

Being under attack rapidly affects our logic. Anyone is guilty until proven innocent — not the other way around, as it should be. That’s how the desire for certainty can cripple our lives.

The need for closure makes you see the world in black and white — you simply close your mind to new information.

Skepticism is not being in denial

“Do you want to know what my secret is? I don’t mind what happens.” — Jiddhu Krishnamurti

Trying to find an answer is not wrong — being blinded by the need for quick resolution is the problem.

When we overreact, things get out of hands. The medicine becomes more dangerous than the disease we are trying to cure.

The opposite of the need for closure is skepticism. Rather than taking the first answer for real, you challenge the truth. You don’t let irrational fear dictate your answers.

Skepticism is not nihilism or being negative; it’s adding an extra filter. Rather than taking anything for granted, you want to validate the truth. You don’t take social constructs as true no matter how strong peer pressure is.

The need for certainty can shape your perception — your own stories cloud reality. You don’t do it on purpose, of course. We all fall victims to the  mind tricks. Challenging your own beliefs requires training your critical mind.

Developing a critical mind will prevent you from taking the social constructs — rumors or not — for valid.

That’s how rumors get started in the office. One person creates the story and shares it with two different people. Then they wait and see. When someone listens to a similar story coming from two different ‘sources,’ the rumor is validated.

Being skeptical doesn’t mean being rigid, dogmatic, hypercritical, or obtuse. You simply understand that you cannot react to the first given answer, you want more evidence before buying into it.

Skepticism is not denial either. Anything is possible (or not) until proven the contrary. Challenging a theory is how new lines of thinking are created. If you believe that one idea is an absolute truth, you don’t leave room for incremental improvement.

You can be a skeptic without being a cynic.

Cynicism is distrusting most information you see or hear, especially when our beliefs are being challenged. Cynics are tricky — they have a strong argument to debunk other people’s ideas, but have little support to justify their beliefs.

Cynics are intolerant — they have inflexible thoughts that leave no room for additional ideas.

Skepticism is not thinking that beliefs are wrong, but that they may be wrong, as I wrote here.

There are two types of skepticism: negative and positive. By removing bad ideas, negative skepticism allows good ones to flourish.

Positive skepticism goes beyond the removal of false claims. The Greek word ‘skeptikos’ means “thoughtful.” While the need for closure is a reaction in the heat of the moment, being skeptical is less impulsive. It requires inquiring and reflecting.

Positive skepticism fuels critical thinking— it encourages you to get a deeper understanding of events or things.

Instead of taking the truth for granted, you question it first.

The truth will set you free “The truth will set you free, but first it will make you miserable.” — Jim Davis

Our need for certainty might overshadow facts.

People who are certain of an opinion are more likely to act on it. The elections are a great example. When people are confidently in favor of candidate X, they are more likely to vote for that candidate than someone who is uncertain even though they support the same candidate.

The surer someone believes he/ she is right; the harder it is to persuade that person that he/she might be wrong. When people feel sure, it’s harder to change their minds.

Certainty can get you stuck in a position; you shut down to new alternatives.

You have the freedom to choose. But the truth is not optional, right?

Neurologist Robert Burton argues that certainty is not a conscious choice, nor a thought process, but a sensation — it’s the ‘feeling of knowing.’ Like anger or fear, it doesn’t rely on a deep state of knowledge. The author explains how most times we are wrong even when we’re convinced we are right.

Ulric Neisser, the father of cognitive psychology, conducted the “Challenger study” to question what he called ‘flashbulb memories’ — how shocking, emotional event leave a vivid imprint on the mind. Students were asked how they’d heard about the disaster, where they were, what they were doing at the time, etc. Neisser collected information the day following the incident. He repeated the experiment three years after. Students expressed high levels of confidence that their false memories of the explosion were more accurate than the descriptions they had written down one day after the explosion.

One student commented, “That’s my handwriting, but that’s not what happened.”

The autonomous rational mind is a myth. The answer, Burton argues, lies in accepting the limits of our ability to know and in “playing by the rules of scientific method.”

The concepts of the self and free will are innate useful fictions that allow us to function. As Samuel Johnson said, “All theory is against the freedom of the will; all experience is for it.”

Modern neurophysiology tells us our decisions are made subconsciously before we are aware of deciding.

The way of the skeptical mind

“In order to seek truth, it is necessary once in the course of our life to doubt, as far as possible, of all things.” — René Descartes

Embrace positive skepticism

Turn challenging the “truth” into a habit. Once again, I’m not asking you to become a cynic and distrust everyone. Positive skepticism is about finding the other side of the story.

 To understand whether the sources and analysis are impartial.

Listen to both sides of a story. Look for heterogeneous sources. Set your conclusions aside before read all the information. Ask: What if? In order to explore different hypothesis.

Avoid reacting as mobs do

Most crowds belong to an identifiable group — the collective beliefs dictate the crowd’s action. Fear and anxiety erase logic and rationality. All the mob cares is to find a scapegoat.

Beliefs blind individuals. When the mob is blind, the behaviors are even more damaging. Try to calm the mob before things go out of hand.

Be open to change your mind

It’s okay to believe something and then, after reviewing the facts, realize that either you were wrong or your memory was playing tricks. As it happened to the participants of the “Challenger study.”

Changing your mind is wise. People who get stuck to what they believe is true, stop learning.

Turn challenging truths into a healthy habit

Continually question the truth, especially yours. There is never a 100% guarantee that we are right. Burton suggests we use the words “I believe” instead of “I know.”

Admitting that ‘your truth’ is actually a belief will set you free. It becomes easier to challenge your interpretation of real events.

Adopt a ‘maybe mindset’

The world is uncertain and continually mutating. What was right yesterday, will not be okay tomorrow. Scientists are constantly discovering new theories that debunk previous ones.

The same happens with life events — what seems positive today might unexpectedly turn into negative tomorrow. Truth is ‘provisional’ ,  adopt a ‘maybe mindset,’ as I explained here.

We don’t control life events.

Life is about discovery, not about being certain. Being skeptical will prevent you from taking things for granted — you will see life sharply.Increase Your Self Awareness

 Stretch Your Mind. Knowledge does not bring wisdom, It brings a higher quality of ignorance.

The wilfull ignorance of the lumpen  is evident in their arrogance.

The unwilling ignorance of the bright  is evident in their humility.

Being offended  to defend the politically correct is psychic cancer.

To comprehend is not to learn.

To understand is not to have insight.

To inculcate is dog training. Ideological bromide.

To share skills is deeply satisfying. Like being a true teacher. Synergetic love.

These are loaded words. P T.