The Mental Mirage

If you believe everything you read, better not read.

Japanese proverb
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Hello Barbara
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Don't believe everything you read.
Don't believe everything you hear.
Don't believe everything you see.
Don't believe everything you think.

I have observed in my vagabond journeys that the human mind is arguably the subtlest trickster to ever confuse the unsuspecting man or woman. It is in league with the senses to fool us whenever it gets the chance.

The sun rises in the east and sets in the west. We know that for a fact. Here's another fact. The earth is flat and if try to sail beyond the horizon you'll fall off the edge.

We now know that those "facts" are not facts at all, but there was a time when they were genuinely believed by everyone. How many so-called facts are there that are honestly held to be true by you and others today which will eventually turn out to be just a superstition or simply a plain misunderstanding of reality. Our heads are filled with suppositions, assumptions and theories that become like rumors which spread out to be accepted as truth. I call them mental mirages.

The mind is capable of great things, great ideas in art, design, mechanics, science, civilization, education and government. But it is also capable of forming the most absurd theories and ridiculous ideas known to man.

I knew a man who whenever he heard something foolish coming out of an otherwise intelligent person would say "Say that again and think about it."

Stanislaw Lec, the Polish writer said "Think before you think." That's good advice for staying out of the intellectual mud puddles and rubbing one's nose against a mental brick wall.

A primary rule of mental discipline is to not only question everything you read, hear and see but challenge everything you think. That way you won't fall off the edge.

DB - Vagabond Journeys
Never give up.
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