One clue to thinking rationally is knowing the difference between what is essential and what isn't.
The above is an extreme example. However, only a fool would risk their very life to rescue an iPod or favorite book from the flames. An instant evaluation puts LIFE at the top of values and everything else in another category of value.
The error that plagues humanity and our thinking process doesn't stem from an inability to learn what is good and worth seeking or what is destructive and poisonous. No.
It is when we make the GOOD the enemy of the PERFECT where we err most.
It is the ALL or NOTHING way of thinking that places obstacles before us and trips us up on our way to success.
Nobody can depart from reality on a physical level. We are always where we are. We are always physical and present at a time and place. It is inescapable. Where we depart from reality can only be at the CONCEPTUAL level. We can part company with who we are, where we are, and what we are inside our own mind It is when this happens that we fall into an awful state of mind. We become convinced we have options and choices which are nothing more than a false dichotomy.
We make the actual everyday reality the enemy of the potential (imaginary or conceptual).
In logic this is called the FALSE DICHOTOMY. Choosing between false choices of extremes when it is neither necessary nor wise to do so can account for much of human suffering in life.
After all, we LIVE IN THIS WORLD! To trade it for another one that doesn't exist is a fool's bargain. However, if we value the world that DOESN'T EXIST more than the ACTUAL world that does, we are doomed to a life abrasive, unfulfilling and without reward.
I present to you the reason for depression.
Clear thinking gives us a chance to improve life by taking the right steps away from danger and toward a life worth living. Muddy thinking presents us with false realities and irrelevent choices.
How many people do you know who consult their horoscope to INFORM THEM of the quality or character of their own personality, the personality of a potential mate or friend, or of the prospects of important daily decisions?
The rational and reasonable mind is short-circuited with nonsense. You may as well enter phoney numbers in your bank balance and try writing checks from your new "improved" balance as to consult bogus sources of "information".
Jehovah's Witnesses have been given TWO WORLDS to live in. One is the real world and it is labeled: BAD. The alternate world is the unreal world called the NEW WORLD or the world to come. Further, they are instructed to devalue their own mind and consider it an enemy! Next, they are told to attach no value to their self; for they are worthless sinners. In short, every part of reality is destroyed both interior and exterior so that a false alternate world and imaginary self can replace them. This destruction of REALITY and the ability to perceive it as well as the destruction of man's own SELF allows a false dichotomy to be put in place.
A FALSE DICHOTOMY between the only real world and the trumped-up IDEAL alternative is poured into their head with a constant drumbeat of repetition like pouring sacks of sand into a gasoline tank.
People who can't distinguish actual choices from phoney choices are inept at everyday living. Their lives simply don't work. Their relationships suffer. Their prospects for wealth, health, knowledge and meaningful purpose are nil. Why? They aren't dealing with facts or cause and effect.
The choices made while you are asleep in a dream DO NOT AFFECT the life you live when you awake!
Seeing the difference between dream-world alternatives and real-world alternatives would make a huge difference in the outcome of the actions taken or of the inactions through default.
Damaged thinking leads to unsuccess in life. An unsuccessful person seeks remedy. But, impaired perceptions lead the damaged person to seek UNreal remedy. What are some UNreal remedies?
1.Supersitious and mystical answers (astrology, esp, meditation, prayer, etc.)
2.Busy work (fad diets, crackpot projects, studying claptrap, attending various meetings or classes empty of data)
3.Magic thinking (wishing things were different, fantasizing, daydreaming, spells, charms, ritual)
4.AUTHORITY (asking people for advice, listening to a shaman or guru or priest, chosing an "expert" who agrees with your current viewpoint, memorizing rebuttals)
None of the above make the slightest improvement in real world real life living. However, they DO WASTE TIME.
Jehovah's Witnesses waste the only time they'll ever have to live a real life. Instead they count the hours in their make-believe life as though those are the only hours that really matter! They further must take minimum paying jobs that cannot support their own family. Their sense of self is eroded bit by bit as they are taught dependancy on the utterances of the Governing Body using a mystical source of wisdom which cannot be demonstrated in reality. The utter destruction of the self is the ultimate goal of this Governing Body. It accomplishes its task by using the false dichotomy of making the GOOD (life here and now in this world) the enemy of the PERFECT (the phoney New World society after Armageddon.)What could be worse for a person experiencing a life-threatening illness than to go to crackpot doctors who promise miracle cures? The money spent, the time wasted and the feckless value of pseudo medicine placebos INCREASES THE RISK of injury and death.
The same is true of any resort to false choices that don't affect real world problems.
The first step that must be taken is to change from unreasonable and irrational thinking. To do this it is necessary to be ruthless in investigating your own thinking processes and to root out your make-believe values.
If you can't clearly define the differences between REAL WORLD facts and OTHER WORLD wishes and ideals you will never make choices that improve your life.
Make no mistake about it: other world (make-believe) choices are ideals that are beautiful, dazzling and promise huge rewards. But, in the end, they are illusions. They are a mirage that lead you into trackless, waterless deserts toward a shimmering pool of clear water where you will perish with a mouthful of delusion and sand.
Life, in a kill and eat world, is hard and unbeautiful; but, it is the ONLY LIFE that is real.
Separating your thoughts into alternatives between the actual good in this world and pitting it against the very best imaginable potential dreamworld is a no-brainer EMOTION-WISE; but, it is a false choice.
Here are some suggested steps we can take to sharpen our appetite for reality.
1.Read more non-fiction than fiction. Know the difference.
2.Make lists of things to do that involve action rather than daydream. Substitute ACTION for daydream.
3.Become aware of what is going on in the world; but, not from partisan perspectives. Find writers who approach world events from an intellectual perspective. (Thomas Friedman & Fareed Zacharias on Middle Eastern events balanced against ideologues with an axe to grind.)
4.Read about how the natural universe works. (Books on math, phyisics and biology)
5.Recognize that "alternative" medicine and New Age philosophy is marginal mystical fantasy that uses elastic vocabularies which say nothing.
6.Avoid faddism (vitamins, diets, exercise regimes) and approach moderation in your practices.
7.Become conversant on more than one subject. Expose your mind to subjects that do NOT interest you right now. ( I watch channels on Home and Garden because I HATE the subject.)
8.Listen to news broadcasts from different parts of the world. (The BBC broadcast, Canada, etc. These alternative perspectives give you a balance to our own propaganda here at home.)
9.Examine advertisements for false analogies and buzz word nonsense reasoning.
10.Find a book on logic in argumentation and learn the foundation of presenting a viewpoint rationally that can be supported by reasons. Develop the skill to recognize false issue-framing techniques (especially in political statements).
11.View REASONS from their most fundamental foundation first.
12. Learn to spot the people who destroy your rational mind with undermining strategies such as:
a.Loosely defined terms and principles that say nothing definite.
b.Telling you you can't KNOW anything for sure.
c.Telling you not to trust your own mind to make choices.
d.Pointing you toward authority texts with unsupported assertions from a mystical or higher source.
e.Appeals to emotion instead of facts. (Making emotion an uncaused cause instead of the effect of chosen values.)
f.Blurring important issues by changing the subject to straw man issues instead.
g.Fallacious alternatives.
Don't be tricked into making the Good an enemy of the PERFECT or you will find all your decisions are toward acquiring something impossible rather than practical; which is to say: real life vs an ideal world.
Finally, TEST your ideas againt their practical outcome and not against a distant future unseen.
Jehovah's Witnesses trade the life they have for one they'll never have. Worse, they trade the life of a sick child or spouse for an unattainable PERFECT alternative. This is criminality due to psychosis.
Jehovah's Witnesses think about, value and labor for imaginary ideals falsely substituted for actual everyday choices which would vastly improve their lives. They cannot perceive a difference because their alarm system (the rational mind) has been beaten into submission, handcuffed and imprisoned.)
Look at the quality of a person's life and it will immediately demonstrate the validity of their religion or their philosophy as a consequence. The suffering person is taught ot count their suffering as "nothing" and weigh it against the reward (that comes later) which is illusory and distant.
Look at the practical results of belief systems where reality is ignored and unreality is substituted:
The mystical religion of India gives you grinding poverty and hapless untouchable victims
The mystical religion of Arabia and the Middle East gives you dependant and naive adults with the passions of spoiled children who wish to destory modernity because it disproves their every belief.
The mystical religon of Israel gives the most brilliant and practical people the false notion they most only live in a tiny geographical area where they are surrounded by haters so that their very safety is undermined by their choices.
The mystical religion of fundamentalist Christians gives you people who can't see the naive black and white blindness of an impractical life lived as slaves who are forced to be at odds with the very morality of their belief system when reality intrudes. (They must kill in wars condemned by Jesus, build wealth for themselves instead of sharing all things in common, for example.)
The mystical beliefs come from nowhere but the imagination. There is nothing in your imagination except what you WISH to be there. You affect nothing. You are the lottery winner in your dreams who awakes to an empty bank account. Real world vs Other World.
CHOOSE THE GOOD in everyday life because it is real and make a commitment to being reasonable. Shun the impossible because it isn't true. Live the life you have and don't make the false trade for the one that doesn't happen.
Be practical and your life will change for the better.
Terry