E- | PsychologyZenFreedom

THE TRUTH

Explore the maps controlling your life. If you don’t like what you find, change them. But beware of Ayn Rand.

1. Mind maps---they shape and control your life.

2. Play with your Maps---but beware of Ayn Rand.

3. Here is the key to your prison cell---give freedom a try.

4. The Truth---are you sure you can handle The Truth?

MIND MAPS

They shape and control your life. Your awareness of Reality is created by a blend of information flowing from your five senses, brain structures---and your Maps of Reality.

Well and good if life is preserved and furthered. However, animals must sometimes find new paths when locations of suitable food and water, and areas of danger change. Humans must sometimes break out of the boxes their maps create---to bring more joy, creativity and adventure into their lives.

You easily notice aspects of yourself and the world consistent with your beliefs and overlook those which are not. For instance, if you believe you are dumb you will overlook times when you act with intelligence. Your memory and imagination will torture you with the dumb things you did yesterday, and the dumb things you will do tomorrow.

You will easily and automatically cherry pick Reality to support your belief. The world will go along with your apparent wish and treat you as not too bright.

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As that disreputable character Seth put it:

Quite without any inductions, you have "hypnotized" yourself into all the beliefs that you have. This simply means that you have consciously accepted them, focused upon them, excluded data to the contrary, narrowed your interest to those specific points, and accordingly activated the unconscious mechanisms that then materialize those conviction through physical experience.

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Choose one of the 10 contrasting beliefs. Imagine that A is true for a few days. Then shift to B. Go back and forth a few times.

Experiencing the contrast will give you a vivid awareness of the power of Maps of Reality to structure your thoughts, emotions and actions. People will change how they react to you right along with your shifts. There might be a bit of delay and confusion for those who know you.

Don’t shift when it might get your into trouble. You don’t want to serve time, lose friends, flunk out of school or blow your job.

No need to do them all, but the more you do the more fully you become aware of their power over your life.

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To prepare, use the mirror trick. For instance if you start with the first pair, stand in front of a mirror and say in a loud voice a few times, "I'm a very outgoing person." Then say in a quiet voice a few times, "I'm shy and not very outgoing”.

Watch the changes in your face. Hear the changes in your voice. Notice the changes in how you hold your body. Go back and forth a few times to clearly see, hear and feel the difference.

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Go Zen

Glance at the possibilities and go with the pair that waves and sings to you. Let your behavior, imagination and emotions flow.

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A. I’m a very outgoing person.

B. I’m shy and not very outgoing.

WHAT DID YOU FIND?

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A. I decide the direction of my life

B. Life just happens to me.

WHAT DID YOU FIND?

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A. I freely express my feelings.

B. I hide my feelings.

WHAT DID YOU FIND?

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A. Life is a struggle---the survival of the fittest.

B. Life is cooperation---forming our wonderful world.

WHAT DID YOU FIND?

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A. My life is full of love and joy.

B. I don't have much love or joy in my life.

WHAT DID YOU FIND?

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A. The world is a work of art and you are a co-creator.

B. The world is a mechanical machine to be examined and categorized.

WHAT DID YOU FIND?

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A. The world is composed of dead matter---meaningless

B. The world is alive---full of creativity, vitality, and purpose

WHAT DID YOU FIND?

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A. I’m really smart

B. I’m not very smart.

WHAT DID YOU FIND?

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A. I have a great sense of humor.

B. Life is serious.

WHAT DID YOU FIND?

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A. I am old.

B. I am young.

WHAT DID YOU FIND?

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A. I'm full of exuberance and freedom.

B. It's best to control my emotions and what I say.

WHAT DID YOU FIND?

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A. A belief about yourself or the world you want to explore.

B. The opposite.

WHAT DID YOU FIND?

PLAY WITH YOUR MAPS

but beware of Ayn Rand

Now that you are aware of the power of maps in your life, add a map or get rid of or reduce the influence of an old one. If you want to reduce the power of a map in your life find an alternative. The opposite is often best.

Suppose you want to stop believing that you are dumb. During the next few days, just after you wake up and just before you go to sleep, remember moments in the past when you started to do something dumb. Imagine that you stopped yourself and did something smart instead. Play out in your imagination what then happens and how the change makes you feel.

If you run out of memories make them up. Your mind doesn’t care.

When satisfied you have changed enough of your past, imagine situations in the future when your old belief would cause you to act dumb. Act intelligently instead and imagine what happens and how you feel.

As you undo the past and prepare the future, the shift from the old to the new will happen automatically. You can help the transition along by immediately shifting to the new belief when you notice that the old belief is starting to influence your life.

It is always good to have a wide variety of responses available to meet the needs of the moment. So keep your old beliefs handy. There may be times when they work better than the new. Yes, acting dumb just might get you out of trouble some day.

Don't let your beliefs stray too far from Reality.

Ayn Rand

You can avoid reality,

but you cannot avoid the consequences of avoiding reality.

WHAT DID YOU FIND?

HERE IS THE KEY

TO YOUR PRISON CELL

Give freedom a try

Dare break out. Sample places and people as different as possible from what you have become. For a short time become a part of an alternate reality.

Whatever your belief system, find a group that believes the opposite and become a member. For instance, if you are a hardcore liberal, join a conservative group for a couple of months. If a capitalist, join a socialist group. If an atheist join a religious group.

Maybe the other side is as arrogant and condescending, or as dumb and evil as you thought. Maybe.

No problem if you decide to remain in your cell. It’s warm, safe and food is provided.

WHAT DID YOU FIND?

THE TRUTH

Are you sure you can handle The Truth?

So what do you do if you’re an honest person looking for THE TRUTH? Well, you can go Post-Modern and give up because there is no TRUTH, only points of view, belief systems, maps of Reality and narratives. And there is a lot of truth in that.

There is no such thing as a standalone fact. To have any meaning the fact must be embedded in a context, a theoretical framework, supported by many, many biases and assumptions. But that does not mean there are not good and bad approximations to the Truth, good and bad Maps of Reality.

Our ancestors would not have survived if their sensory system, mind structures, and Maps of Reality had not given them a very good approximation to the Truth of what actually exists here on planet earth. If their Maps had strayed too far from That Truth you would not be reading this sentence.

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Become familiar with many points of view before choosing the best map for whatever you are trying to understand or accomplish. Familiarity with many maps allows you to choose the one that best meets the needs of the moment.

Always be eager to adjust or change your maps when better logic and data become available. Whatever you do, NEVER EVER believe your talking points, narratives and maps are Reality. Human sensory organs, mind structures, and maps provide awareness of only very limited aspects of Reality. NEVER Reality itself.