The Tool Set
Without exploration we would not be where we are. Without uncomfortable questions we would never have discovered what we have. Without the courage against their society’s madness, nobody throughout all of time would have ever changed a damn thing.
So explore, ask those uncomfortable questions, and find the courage to fight against your society’s madness. Otherwise, you are merely an expendable pawn under the command of a tyrannical player. Awaken to what you are, choose to play, and become your own loving-player. Time is an often useful lie, while now is always true.
The Fool’s journey of a thousand miles begins with one step. The Fool’s discovery of a thousand lies begins with one truth. When you legs are strong enough to cover the distance, it’s time to take the leap of faith, and be recast into somebody new, somebody authentic, somebody happy. Forget about the dreams that were never really your own, because I guarantee you: Nature’s dreams are bigger and better than yours.
A quick point to make about truth: The truth itself is black or white, but your perception of the truth can be any shade of gray. Whether or not a lover cheated on you is black or white. What you think of the situation can be confused and befuddled somewhere in that mucky love/hate shade of gray. As you seek to uncover the truth, you are adjusting YOUR shades of gray to the black and white TRUTH.
You could also think of it as a list, where at the current situation, there is a number 1 possible truth. But as research, experiences, and new evidence comes to light, that number 1 possible truth might just get moved to the very bottom. Never be afraid to say: “I don’t know.”
The following is a list of 21 mental tools than can assist you in discovering the truth, about anything. No one tool determines truth all by itself, and nor will all 21 guarantee the truth will be revealed. This isn’t meant to be a master rulebook, or a list that must be gone through with everything you ever question. It is merely a set of guidelines to help you. Different stories present different challenges, and therefore different tools are needed. And this is by no means a complete list. I’m sure you will see more.
1: Follow the Money
Motivation. Is it money, or morality? Is this guy looking for a quick buck, getting attention, or is he after the freaking truth? Compare when someone is getting paid 50,000 dollars for the lecture, to when someone is giving the lecture for free. Devoted to money or devoted to morality?
Yes, beware the charlatan, but at the same time understand people do have to make money to survive in the Social world. Saying that someone is a charlatan only because they sell books, do lectures, accept donations, etc, is complete stupidity. It is a Logical Fallacy. That is shallow thinking that isn’t concerned with truth. Yes, someday I see humanity no longer needing motivation by way paper and pixels (which is all money actually is) to get shit done, but that day is far, far away. Just because someone has a family to feed doesn’t mean they are a charlatan, or untrue.
Follow the money needs to be taken up to a large scale as well. Are politicians concerned with money or morality? How about the corporation owners and managers? Mafia members? Do these people spend their time and attention on creating a beautiful sustainable civilization for all of humanity? Or do they spend their time and attention on inflating their already fat wallets? Money has replaced Morality, on the large scale at least. There’s your truth.
2: Use Multiple Sources
Some say a new idea has to be heard 7 times before a mind will even consider it as possible truth. Don’t base truth on only one source. Go to various different sources and put them all on the table. When you hear one source talking about something crazy, it’s easy to label it “crazy” and forget about it. But as more and more sources talk about that same crazy thing, it gains more weight, more impact, more value.
Let’s explore an example. If one person told you they saw an intelligent flying purple hippopotamus in the sky with invisibility technology beaming thoughts into people’s heads, that is completely insane. But what if another person told you same thing? And a third? And more and more and more? From all walks of life, from all age groups, from all over the world? What if there was a history of these beings you weren’t told about in school? What if an ancient text from 1,500 years ago mentioned them?
Now, ether there actually are flying purple hippos in the sky, or there is one serious misinformation campaign going on, or somehow everyone is under the same delusion. But whatever the truth is, these same beings are showing up in different people’s minds, and an explanation demands to be found.
What I’m getting at is the power of cross-referencing. If a text from a thousand years ago, that crazy researcher, your wacky friend, your own unexplainable experience, and the eye-witness accounts from thousands of people, are ALL pointing in the same direction, there is something to it. What exactly that something is can’t be determined yet, but there IS something going on.
Listen to what the so called “authorities” have to say, but also listen to what everyone else has to say, and put it all on the table to be worked out. Keep in mind sometimes a lie can become a “super-lie,” and be told very far and wide, and have many different sources—but it’s still a lie. Seek out as many different sources as you can, and keep questioning. Truth isn’t discovered with a switch, it’s discovered through a process.
3: Your Intuition’s Voice
Intuition should never be ignored. Wishful thinking should be, but not intuition. This isn’t the place to prove intuition, nor deduce exactly how it works. So I’ll simply just say it: Your gut feelings are there for a reason. Find them. Work them out. Reveal them. Often times our intuition is not blinded by our conscious wishes, and so it therefore sees beyond the surface.
The kid tells his mommy, “I don’t like him.” And the mommy responds, “You be nice. He is your doctor and he is here to help you.” That is a denial of the kid’s intuition. And when this kid’s intuition is denied over and over again all throughout his life, he grows up into an adult who claims intuition is a silly idea, and doesn’t exist. The kid’s been programmed that intuition isn’t trustworthy.
It’s time to once again trust in your own body, your own instincts, your own gut feelings. Nature isn’t wrong, but it is suppressed in most of the population. Re-tune to your own inherent Nature.
4: Trace Information’s Origins
Trace back where information comes from, as much as possible, no matter where it leads. Okay, so researcher X is making claim Y. Where did that researcher get their information from? Why are they making that claim? What is fueling such a claim? How did they arrive at their understanding? Just who the hell is this researcher and what do they specialize in? Have they spent 10 days studying the subject from every source they could, or 10 years studying the subject from every source they could?
There is an epidemic going on in the mind of humans called repeated comforting lies, otherwise known as “beliefs.” The cure is people on mass challenging every belief with critical thought, courage, and benevolence. Most minds can’t handle the truth all at once, and so a gradual breakdown of the lies is required. All those various different words and ideas that people cling to, have origins. What are they?
The 6 o’clock news is merely someone reading a teleprompter. Who wrote that teleprompter script? Why would they cover story A over story B? Who decides what stories makes it to the news and what stories don’t?
The textbooks in schools were written by people. Who wrote them? Why is subject A more valuable to learn about than subject B? Why do the independent researchers tell a vastly different story than the mainstream ones? Who decides what your children should learn about?
The holy texts of the world have origins. What are the names of the humans who wrote down those words? Who translated them over the years, and are those translations 100% accurate? Why were some texts left out, and some left in? Does God really need to use funny little squiggly lines to speak to us?
Don’t repeat what you’ve heard is the truth, repeat what you know is the truth. Repeat what you have directly experienced as the truth. Speculation is fine, but be clear when you’re being speculative and when you’re speaking truth. You are a radio station. What are you broadcasting? Lies, or truth? Information that makes you money, or information that makes people moral? These are questions to not only ask of yourself, but to ask of others as well.
5: Always Another Angle
Never deny a different perspective in your mind, but never blindly accept a different perspective ether. Deliberately look for a different perspective, a new angle, a “fresh pair of eyes.” A new cup of tea. Again and again. Consider all the angles, not just the ones that are comfy. Don’t be afraid to change your opinion according to however things play out. There is always going to be another variable, and if you yourself are going to see it, you’ve gotta change your point of view.
You didn’t see that one hidden bolt that was still connecting it to the wall, and all that frustration at not being able to remove it could have been avoided if you had just simply looked at it from another angle. A problem needs to be seen at different angles to maximum the manifestation of the solution.
A piece of advice: “become” a believer in a different religion, for just a little while. Read the texts, “wear the T-shirts,” understand that point of view. Do this with various models of the mind as well. Look into how different people have attempted to create a map of the inner world: “The 9 personality Types,” called the Enneagram, or “The 4 modes of Consciousness,” from Carl Jung, or the 12 signs of the inner zodiac, the real astrology, or the 6 neurological levels of NLP. Then move on to another. And another, and another, and another…
If you’re a materialist: start looking into cutting-edge Consciousness studies. Like the work of Anthony Peake, or Roger Penrose.
If you’re an orthodox Christian: start looking into Astro-theology, the Nag Hammadi scrolls, the Book of Enoch, and the council of Nicea. When the lies are so big they’d shatter your entire sense of reality, you tend to just keep accepting them.
If you’re deep into new-age beliefs: look into the work of people like Mark Passio, or Time of Transition.
If you’re convinced money is needed for humanity: get into the work of Peter Joseph, and the Zeitgeist flims. Do humans really need to play money-mind games to have technology and civilization? Do we really need pieces of paper and pixelated numbers on bank account screens to do the right thing? Again, objective right and wrong.
If you’re deep into the UFO phenomenon: plant your feet into the ground and take a look at the hard science and absolute facts. And consider the whole thing might be a deception.
Listening to those you think are wrong, or even know are wrong, can be a powerful way of acquiring a deeper understanding. When you listen to your opponents well enough, they’re no longer opponents, they’re your assistance on the path to truth. Reveal the lies, and you’ll reveal truth.
I don’t necessarily agree with every little thing said by every person and every body of work mentioned here. I’m not “wearing their T-shirts” so to speak. There are some points that I directly and absolutely disagree with. I’m not addressing huge, complex issues on this website, but I am encouraging you to address them. The links, topics, and names are simply suggestions, a place to start, to help expand your point of view. There are countless more sources. Explore them as you will and CHALLENGE your own beliefs, your own perceptions, your own ideas. Or else you’re not interested in THE truth, you’re only interested in staying within the comfy confines of YOUR beliefs.
You ether engage the quest for truth, or you encourage the tyrants. Lies are weapons being used by psychopaths in power. Truth is the only real weapon to counter them. Sometimes, even the impossible is real.
6: Value Your Mistakes
It’s okay to be wrong. Learn from your mistakes. Make mistakes your greatest allies. How does a baby learn to walk? It remembers the pain of fucking up, and changes it behavior accordingly. That’s how. If you were wrong, you were wrong. It happens. Get over it and grow up. None of us are almighty perfect Heroes that can do no wrong. We are students in this universe learning about Natural Law, Free Will, and Love. Authentic Love.
There’s a popular phrase, “We fall down so we can learn how to pick ourselves back up.” But as my beloved Grandma says, “Maybe we fall down so we’ll start looking in the right places. And see that our shoelaces are tied together.” Making mistakes AND learning from them, is okay. That’s a healthy and natural thing. But making mistakes and NOT learning from them, is NOT okay. That is an unhealthy and unnatural thing.
Have you ever had someone say: “I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.” And then sure enough, there they go, making the same mistake. I understand there is a process. I understand things can be tough. I understand this isn’t a walk in the park. But for crying out loud, change needs to happen. Enough excuses. Get your ass to work. As you shed your tears, you will shred your demons.
7: The General Consensus is Usually the Comforting Lie
Do I even need to explain this one? The Earth is flat. These “cells” cannot possibly construct our bodies. Human’s will never fly the skies, Mr. Wright Brothers. Pharmaceutical drugs work really well, just ask everyone cured from placebos. There’s no super-wealthy hidden elite pulling the world’s strings, that’s just crazy. And on and on it could go. The mainstream scientific world is a great place to explore this topic. Just you wait, they’re gonna find that god particle! …Again.
Now, just because it’s a general consensus doesn’t automatically mean it’s a lie. The “everybody knows that” kind of knowledge could be true. History tends to favor the new emerging ideas are true, rather than the old ones, but a general consensus isn’t a master rule for determining a lie. Use all the tools available.
8: Never Stop Questioning
Do not stop asking questions. About anything. About the nature of reality, the truth about the world, what you’re capable of doing, about whatever. It is the question that drives us. No matter where the question might take you, go there. Ask tough questions about the “answers” people have found. Not just to others, but to yourself.
There is no such thing as “graduation” when it comes to life itself. The lessons never end. Serious problems will arise when someone thinks they’ve reached the “ultimate end” of knowledge. You can know some things, yes. You can know enough for your happiness, your journey, your life. But you can’t know everything.
Know Thyself. First and foremost. And the rest will naturally fall into place.
People can get TOO comfortable in their ways, and then stop exploring, stop growing, and stop learning. It’s fine to be comfortable, but don’t ignore the suffering of others. The following is a profoundly effective trap: “Make everyone that could change things comfortable enough so that they’ll never concern themselves with changing things.” The world isn’t gonna fix itself.
9: Value the Eye-Witness
In society, we decide to put people in a cage, and even put them to death, based in part on eye-witness testimony. It’s funny how as long the witness claims they saw things that fit inside the possibility-box of people, people will say that eye-witness testimony has value. But oh, as soon as the witness claims they saw things that go outside of that possibility-box, it’s automatically crazy tin-foil hat wearing crap that can be ignored!
Ether the experiences an individual claims to have had do have value, or they do not. Whether they witnessed a human murder, or a light in the sky performing impossible maneuvers, or Bigfoot almost ate them, it’s still an eye-witness account. The context of eye-witness accounts must be put on the table for determining truth, regardless of the content they witnessed. Of course there are liars, misinformation agents, and people looking for a quick-buck, but when enough people are making the same claim independently (meaning they are not just repeating someone else), the claim must be taken seriously.
Also, keep in mind the eye and brain have ways of deceiving the witness, and this reality must be taken into account as well. (If you want a freaky example of how our brains edit the visual field, focus you attention on the center cross after you click here. It shows how our brains can only handle so much at once.)
As an example, when a person is being traumatized, in fight-or-flight mode, their ability to memorize diminishes in favor pure survival. There are stories of women identifying their rapist, and swearing up and down he did it. But later on, genetics revealed he didn’t do it. It’s not often talked about, but this does happen.
Be aware that your brain HAS to find a pattern, it MUST fill in the blanks, or it will “freak-out.” Explanations can be invented for comfort. Knowledge and survival go hand-in-hand, and the brain is all too aware of this. Some of the most difficult things we as human beings have to do is learn to accept the unknown, embrace the mystery, and above all, admit to being wrong. Beyond “I love you,” there are 3 words even more powerful: “I was wrong.” Because love, in many ways, is the correction of wrongs.
10: The Whole Enchilada
Consider every element needed to construct the truth, no matter what it might be. On one level, this means taking all of these tools being mentioned here into your “mental hands” and putting them to good use. But I also mean, consider every variable of what you’re investigating, to get the complete story. Don’t leave out any element, no matter how insignificant it might seem. Sometimes what doesn’t look connected, actually is. We just have yet to figure out how it’s connected. No puzzle is complete without every piece.
Pull back your point of view, move away from the single pixel and see the big picture. We must be willing to zoom in to find the details, but we must also be willing to zoom out and see the entire canvas, to understand how those details fit together.
11: Seeds of Time
In the beginning, contains the things that will determine the end. An oak seed doesn’t become anything other than an oak tree. If you are looking for the truth about something, reveal the origins of that something. If someone has a criminal history, that is a strong sign they are still a criminal. Since politicians have a long history of making hollow promises, it’s a safe bet those new politicians are making promises just as hollow. If that guy has 30 ex-wives, it’s better to find someone else.
This is a core reason why history is so important. It helps with foreseeing ugly futures, and doing what is needed now to prevent them. Evil contains within it the seeds of its own destruction. Good contains within it the seeds of its own beauty.
12: Recognize the Pattern
People have patterns. Patterns in what they do, how they act, where they go, etc. The universe has patterns. The Social world has patterns. Everything has patterns. Ever notice how many people who talked about love and peace got assassinated?
Details are the primary way to find patterns. Finding the truth is going to be greatly enhanced by finding the details. Of course, when details match up over and over again, that’s a powerful sign of truth. And when details don’t match up, that’s a powerful sign of lies.
Understanding patterns is important unto itself, but it’s when a pattern subtly shifts, or outright suddenly changes, that it’s even more important.
13: Where Patterns Break
If someone is “acting weird,” or not being themselves, if their pattern is broken somehow, something is up. People don’t “go crazy” for absolutely no reason. There is always a reason behind it. In searching for truth, search for those things that don’t fit in. Whether it’s glaring and obvious, or masterfully subtle, any detail could be that last missing link in the chain that will put it all together.
Detecting pattern-breaks requires a “keen eye,” it requires that all your senses be sharp and critical. Sharp means it works really well. Critical means it isn’t afraid to see ANYONE as the bad guy. I don’t care if it’s the President, your Spouse, or a freaking Angel with wings, WRONG IS WRONG. Doesn’t matter what uniform is worn, or role is played.
Sometimes the pattern breaks because actual change is in fact taking place. Sometimes the life-long criminal does change, and becomes a good person. Sometimes the politician does suddenly start speaking the truth (they usually end up dead though). Sometimes a break in the pattern isn’t the sign of a lie, rather, it’s the sign of truth finally shining into a life.
14: Hiding the Lies
Crafty criminals understand the dynamics of truth, such as the dynamics presented here, and so they know how to counter them. The best criminals are the ones who fully understand how crimes are investigated. The best criminals will always go beyond just having an alibi, they will present alternative motivations to hide their real ones. Masks are required for evil to work.
This is the old carrot on the stick idea. You could also think of it as the illusionist’s sleight of hand trick. Get the people to look at X, while you perform Y where they are not looking. This is a key part of the Hegelian Dialectic, otherwise known as problem-reaction-solution. From the criminal’s point of view: “People must be distracted and set off course, no matter how far it needs to go, or else they will start investigating the truth. And up revealing my lies.”
Consider that the apparent motivation might be a lie, to fool you. Truly good liars will layer their motivations. You must consider that the “good guys” are actually the bad guys, or else you’re gonna played, over and over and over again.
15: Imagination and Investigation
Speculation isn’t the truth, but it can be. It’s alright to imagine what could be the truth. Put that on the table, but don’t rely on it. Don’t adjust evidence to fit speculations, adjust speculations to fit the evidence. The main value of imagination, when it comes to seeking the truth, is revealing new ways how the evidence could fit together. This can lead to that “Ah-ha!” moment.
If a person cannot imagine something as true, even as a remote crazy possibility, they will never spend any energy seeking to find that truth. Hundreds of years ago, how many people who were convinced the Earth is flat spent their time seeking to prove it’s round?
But it goes further, it gets better. If it’s not possible within a person’s mind, they will actually find ways to keep that truth from being revealed, because if it is revealed as the truth, they will have to say to themselves: “I was wrong,” which will bruise their precious Ego. Don’t ever check the “impossible” completely off the list. Just change its number, reprioritize it.
16: Different Worlds-Different Laws
You don’t dribble the baseball and throw a 90mph basketball. Different games have different rules, and different goals. Different worlds have different Laws. Depending on the reality, environment, world, society, etc, you’re in, the rules are changed. Like two different video game worlds. And each individual’s mind is its own world. Everyone has a set of personal rules, and personal goals. Everyone’s got an agenda.
The Laws we observe in the universe at large, “the big picture,” don’t have to be the exact same Laws at work in the universe at the tiniest levels, “the small picture.” A Galaxy and an Atom have correspondences, sure, but they are not required to follow the exact same set of strict parameters. The universe is more a work of free-flowing beautiful art, than a linear strict mathematically deducible problem.
To find out the truth about someone, find out what their personal rules, goals, guidelines, walls, etc, are. Everyone has intentions, and it’s within those intentions the truth will be found.
While we can discover every rule of a given world, we don’t necessarily know all of them right away. Consider there are probably more rules to understand, more variables to account for, more Laws at work beyond your current sight. Be 99.9% sure, that’s fine. But don’t ever be 100% sure. You’d be blinding yourself.
When a reliable regularity is shown over and over again, trust it. The reason Natural Law can be known is because it’s extremely reliable. Gravity doesn’t waver to and fro on whims, it’s a constant you can trust will be there, just like every Natural Law. There might very well be other realms of existence with their own unique set of Natural Laws. But the reality you have to deal with is this one. So deal with it.
17: Fear and Hope
Both fear and hope can hinder the discovery of truth. Taken to the extreme and out of balance, fear or hope can delude you, and end up destroying you. Both fear and hope are fantasies about the future, they are not actions being taken to manifest a beautiful future.
Yes, we do need to be aware of potential dangers in the future by having a healthy amount of fear (meaning awareness of what could go wrong), and at the same time we do need to be aware of beautiful possibilities in the future by having a healthy of amount of hope (meaning awareness of what could go right). But neither hope nor fear are going to manifest a beautiful future. Hope and fear are merely dreams.
So when you are seeking the truth, don’t hope too much the truth is what you want, and at the same time don’t fear too much the truth is your worst nightmare. Hoping your old friend didn’t commit the murder doesn’t change the truth. Neither does fearing he did. Truth doesn’t care about hope and fear.
18: Know Your Kinks
You have kinks in your armor. Everyone does, no one is perfect. We all have our strengths, we all have our weaknesses. Knowing them, in full awareness, you can make much better choices in your life. Maximize your strengths, minimize your weaknesses.
Learn how to set your personal desires aside when seeking for the truth. Emotional Self-Mastery is a keystone subject. Feel your emotions at the appropriate times, don’t bottle them up forever, but at the same time don’t let them blind your critical sight of the truth. Overpower the emotional mind control. Security, dreams, desires, comfort levels, pleasures, hopes and fears, they all do not determine truth.
It is easy to accept an answer as true when it comforts you. When an explanation gets you through the day and puts you to sleep at night, it’s very welcome in you life, is it not? But when an explanation puts everything you know and love in jeopardy, it’s easy to fight against it with everything you’ve got and seek to ridicule it. Keep in mind that what you’ve adjusted to and what you’ve come to love do not determine truth. Most people don’t want the truth, they just want a good enough answer to get them through the day.
19: Engage the Challenging
All too often the truth is found by “going there.” To those dark and uncomfortable places. If you are afraid of that, you can forget about finding the truth. If we don’t deconstruct our own views, of our own accord, over and over again, we can never arrive at the truth. The truth is challenging. It will upset you to the degree you are living a lie. The more the truth upsets you, the more you are living a lie. Time we toughen up, without losing our empathy and love.
“Positive thinking” is positively bullshit. It is our Natural state to be positive, you don’t have to “try to be positive.” You’ve got to get under there and get at why you’re thinking negatively in the first place. Negative thoughts have origins. Don’t seek to cure the symptoms of a disease, you’ll get nowhere fast. Seek to unveil the cause, and cure that—the disease itself. Don’t be afraid of authentic human misery. If you truly desire truth, you must be one who embraces the winter winds as much they enjoy the summer breeze. For there is no other way.
A quick word about desire. Desire is not evil. Thirst is evil. Thirst is thinking you lack something (when really you don’t), and then doing ANYTHING you can to “fill it up,” which will lead to evil immoral behavior. Thirst is: “I need it, and I will do anything to get it regardless of morality.” Desire is: “I would like to have that, but if I can’t, I will move on.” Desire is about creation and love. One who desires doesn’t need it, and will place morality before their desires. Thirsts are more important than morality. Desires are less important than morality.
20: Affinity is Communication
Communication and affinity go hand in hand (affinity means emotional connection, emotional trust). The degree you can clearly communicate with someone is directly dependent upon the degree you and that someone “get along,” the degree to which you’re relating to each other, the degree of affinity. The more you two like each other, the more the communication can be complex, in-depth, and touch upon those sensitive emotional areas.
Talking to someone at work about your sexual difficulties is completely different from talking to your sexual therapist, or a closely trusted life-long friend. The emotional connection we have with someone determines “how far” we can go when communicating with them. The nature of a relationship determines the content of the communications.
If you want to get someone to open up and talk about the truth, you gotta get them to emotionally trust you. There is a direct, profound, and invaluable connection between emotions and communication. This is why someone who has embraced their own darker emotions is much better at both expressing themselves and understanding others. They’re not afraid to “go there.”
The more loving the emotional level, the more peaceful the communication will be. Complete love is complete communication. And the complete absence of love… is violence and war.
21: Complete Destruction Required
When all else fails, when it seems there is nothing left to do… burn it all down back to the fundamental core. In all things there must be balance, or else destruction is required. Sometimes we don’t see how our lives are getting too complex, that we’ve let too much in too fast, and now we have to get clear again, one way or another. There is nothing wrong with starting again, especially when it means living a life without lies. Sometimes you have to imagine the board as empty before you’ll see the next move.
The reality before us is about life, but it’s also about death. When I say “death” I’m not talking about corpses and lost loved ones, I’m simply talking about the end of things. We have been sold lies about death, about the ending of things. If the physical universe didn’t have ways to destroy, it couldn’t have ways to create. In order to discover the terrifying truth, you must be willing to embrace the death of comfortable lies.
You even need to be willing to wield the weapon and do the ugly deed yourself. Hack away the lies and don’t hide from the truth. Or else you will remain a mental slave for the rest of your life.
No matter how much you’ve established a truth within yourself, no matter how much you’ve realigned your perceptions, do not ever stop challenging them. Do not ever say, “By God, I’ve reached the end.” The universe is Infinite, it can never stop unfolding into evermore novelty (meaning new things). Not everything in the Infinite Cosmos can show up on our little search engines. Unfold with the universe, or else you will be the one to fold.
Let’s hear a story! (Again!)
It’s lunchtime, and Bob, the everyday news-watching 9-5er who can’t stand all those “crazy ideas” people believe in, is sitting at a table with Dave, one of those “crazy people” who’s into all that alien/ufo stuff. The two start talking yet again, and Dave decides to try something out.
Dave says, “Okay, so if you were to call someone knowledgeable about a given subject, you would expect them to have spent a considerable amount of their time and attention on the subject, as well as any related subjects. Like Calculus, for example. If someone were to claim they know all about Calculus, they would need to have studied it, and all the other prerequisite subjects, like algebra and trig.”
Bob simply nods in agreement, “Yeah.”
Dave pauses, smiling. “So how much do you know about Mind Control?”
Bob doesn’t say a word.
“And now I bet you’re going to try and tell me that you’re not under something you don’t have the first clue about?”
My Top Ten Logical Fallacies
The following is a list of my top ten Logical Fallacies. This is by no means a complete list, and I’m merely skimming over the surface of them. Understanding and identifying Logical Fallacies will vastly assist you in discovering the truth, about anything. They are a great subject to go back to, over and over again.
10: Red Herring
Changing the subject, directly or subtlety. This is a distraction from the real issue. Example: The discussion is about organic vs GMO food, and someone starts accusing their opponent of believing in aliens. Whether their opponent believes in aliens is not relevent to the discussion, doesn’t affect their knowledge of the Organic vs GMO issue, and above all it doesn’t change the reality that GMO foods are bad for people.
9: Emotional Appeal
Replacing valid and logical arguments with emotions. This is when someone “loses their cool,” or relies on happy emotions to be convincing. Of course it’s fine to get emotional, but when those emotions replace the core point it’s a fallacy. Example 1: “He makes me feel good, and so therefore what he’s saying is true.” Example 2: “Well, that idea makes me feel bad, and I’d have to say I was wrong if that were true. So therefore it’s not true.”
8: False Cause
Claiming that unrelated things are in fact related, without any real evidence or logical connection between them. (This is not the place to talk about deeply spiritual subjects, such as synchromysticism, but it must be understood that both coincidence and synchronicity happen. It’s not one OR the other, it’s one AND the other.)
Example: “Ever since humans have been using cars the world’s temperature has been rising and the icecaps have been melting. Therefore, humans are causing global warming.” (This isn’t a subject to deal with here, but a few things: Every planet in the solar system is undergoing global warming. But they don’t talk about that in the mainstream, do they? Yes, of course the climate is changing, but there’s a lot more to talk about than “carbon footprints.” If we’re so worried about carbon dioxide, maybe we should stop chopping down the trees and polluting the oceans of plankton that breath it, and produce oxygen for us? Just a thought.)
7: Character Attack
Also known as Ad Hominem. This is attacking the person rather than the information they are presenting. Making fun of someone’s hairstyle doesn’t edit the validity of what they’re saying. People commit Character Attacks because they don’t have any real arguments to bring to the table. This is a favorite of the vile creature known as a “Troll.” Example 1: “That guy dresses like a moron.” Example 2: “She’s a porn star, she’s stupid.”
6: Strawman
Adjusting the argument of another, and then attacking that adjusted argument, rather than the original argument. This is rephrasing what someone else said to make it look extremist, outlandish, silly, or whatever else. Example: “That Anarchist claimed the mafia and street thugs would do a better job than the government.”
5: Oversimplified Two-Choices
Claiming there are only two options, when in reality there are more. Example 1: “We can ether give up all our cars or destroy the Earth.” Example 2: “We can ether give up all our technology or destroy ourselves.” Example 3: “We can’t have civilization and advanced technology without money.”
4: Ambiguity
Claiming that one small example must reflect the entire whole, or one example must reflect similar but not identical examples. Example 1: “I’m a bad history test taker, therefore I am a bad test taker.” Example 2: “She’s a porn star, therefore she’s a drug addict, was abused as a child, and hates herself.”
3: Hasty Generalization
Speaking on behalf of large populations of people, groups, or demographics. We’ve all heard that phrase: “The greatest good for the greatest number.” I’ll skip the lecture on that saying for now, but it’s a Logical Fallacy. A big one. What’s good for me isn’t going to be the exact same for everybody else. Happiness is always a one of a kind card, unique to the individual. You can’t claim you know what’s best for everyone’s Free Will choices, that’s up to each individual. What’s worst for the greatest number can be established, yes, but not what’s best. Example: “She’s the kind of girl all guys want.”
2: Omission
Not allowing counter arguments or alternative views into the discussion. By not mentioning, investigating, or allowing information that goes against your argument, you are committing a Logical Fallacy. People do this primarily because they are afraid of any explanation that will reveal they are wrong. Example: “I don’t wanna hear it, all that UFO crap has already been explained with rational explanations, and those so-called witnesses are just crazy people looking for attention.”
1: Appeal to “authority”
Because the person making the claim is in a higher class, status, tax bracket, or whatever, they must be right. This is the number 1 Logical Fallacy for a variety of reasons. Example 1: “He’s a cop. Cops don’t do anything wrong.” Example 2: “He’s the manager. He knows what he’s doing.” Example 3: “Politicians don’t get to where they are by lying and cheating. If they tried that, they’d be found out and removed from office. Your theories are nonsense.” Example 4: “He’s got the degree, he’s the expert, not you. So he must be right.”
Ethos, Logos, Pathos
I would like to mention 3 different forms of “attack” when making an argument. When you are making your argument, try to make use of all three. They come from Greek philosophy. Ethos, Logos, and Pathos.
1: Ethos, or Credibility, Trust. “I know I can trust him.” This is the “affinity rating” you have with your audience, spouse, friend, judge, or whoever. If someone likes you, relates to you, trusts you, they tend to listen to the degree they like you. Ethos tends to take time. If you’ve known someone for ten years, and you “go way back” with them, trust is a lot easier than with a stranger. Ethos tends to make use of the positive past, and tends to be personal.
2. Logos, or Logic, Reasoning, “It adds up.” This is making use of logical explanations, common sense, and laying out the mutually beneficial aspects of your argument. If you can convince someone it will be good for both them and you, they tend to listen to the degree that something is “in it for them.” Logos tends to make use of potential futures, and tends to be technical.
3. Pathos, or Emotions, Values. “Damn he makes me feel good.” This is making someone feel good, through whatever ways, to win them over to your side of the argument. Pathos certainly helps to create Ethos, but the two are different. Ethos is the emotional history. Pathos is the emotional condition. As a clear example: Even though someone might not trust a person, they still go over to their place for sex. Pathos tends to make use of the now, and tends to be emotional.
I’ve heard the following phrase: “Kill all the stupid people, and the world would be a better place.” Is that right? Do you personally subscribe to that? Do you really think that’s any sort of a cure for the problems plaguing humanity?
Alright than, here’s a shotgun. Have at it. Go murder that retard in cold blood with your own actions. Go ahead, that’s what you said is right. What’s the hold up?
Oh yeah… that little thing called compassion. Looks like cold-blooded murder is suddenly not okay when you have to pull the trigger, is it? If you were to murder your own compassion, you know what you’d become: Part of the problem.
Claiming an action is right, but than not being able to it yourself, or not actually doing it yourself in day to day life, is a Fallacy. I don’t want to hear about the benefits of exercise from the guy who can barely get up off his recliner. I don’t want to hear about the truth from somebody getting paid 50,000 dollars to say it. I don’t want to hear about honesty from somebody who is paid to lie. And I sure as hell don’t wanna hear about peace from someone who has inner conflicts raging within them.
If you are serious about helping to create a beautiful world for all of humanity, there are requirements for that to manifest. This isn’t about dreaming, wishful-thinking, and bullshit cheerleading speeches from psycho-morons in power. This is about Love, Knowledge, Understanding, and Wisdom. This is about you taking action.
Fy's Blogs 