Socrates said that the hallmark of wisdom is knowing what you don't know.
Not knowing what you don't know causes big problems for the individual and the people in relations with that person.
Thinking that you know what you don't know is born out of insecurity and low self esteem and therefor the desire to opine and bloviate.
Thinking you know what you don't know is called, in psychology, the Dunning-Kruger effect. The Dunning-Kruger phenomenon is like a virus that can effect populations and can cause destructive consequences for that population. No better example of this Dunning-Kruger phenomenon in the United States currently is the contagion and death rate from the Covid-19 virus.
The United States is struggling with two viruses: Covid-19 and Dunning-Kruger. Public health experts and some government officials have issued public health guidelines about how to manage the Covid-19 virus, but there has been very little, if any, guidelines about how to manage the Dunning-Kruger virus; people who think they know when they don't.
Unitarian Universalists covenant together to affirm and promote the free and responsible search for truth and meaning. This principle refers to the human tendency to certainty when there is no validity or reliability to their beliefs. The practice of this principle requires humility and recognizing, acknowledging, and acting on an awareness of a lack of knowledge, knowing what one doesn't know.
The medical dictum is primum non nocere, "First do no harm." This is good advice for people who are inclined to manifest the Dunning Kruger effect.
Saturday, August 8, 2020
A Course In Miracles Workbook Lesson #7 - I see only the past
Lesson #7 - I see only the past.
Our life experience on the ego plane is based on our social conditioning. We call it “learning.” Life is a series of lessons that school us in what we are told is reality. But this “learning” is watching the shadows dance on Plato’s cave wall.
We take our past experiences and learning (conditioning) and project it onto current perceptions and experiences distorting what is happening in the here and now. It is hard to rise above our past experiences and not project them onto current and future experiences. If you want to understand what a person is likely to perceive and experience in the present and the future, learn about what has happened to them in the past and the meaning they have made from these past experiences. Very few people, unless very mature, live in the present and can experience the here and now as a pure, fresh, and virgin happening.
Unitarian Universalists covenant together to affirm and promote the free and responsible search for truth and meaning but 99.9% of them are searching for this truth and meaning in the past in the world of the ego and social conditioning. Sadly, only 00.01% are here now in the world of the soul where there is no time. In the Course of Miracles, being here now in the present is called the Holy Instant. May you enjoy more Holy Instants, but first you must give up the past.
Good news for 08/08/20 - Schools in New York can re-open where state and local government is competent
There is nothing like competent state and local government. New York has handled the public health crisis of the Covid-19 pandemic is a most excellent way. New York's public health pandemic crisis could be and should be a model for good outcomes across the country and world.
The way New York officials have handled the public health crisis in the Covid-19 crisis is a good example of the Unitarian Universalist sixth principle which is to covenant together to affirm and promote the goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all.
Friday, August 7, 2020
How things work........and what I can do about it - "It's a dangerous world and I feel vulnerable."
How things work…..
Those in control, the political class, the 1%, need and want your support. In order to get it they make you afraid of things. They are playing the game on you of “It’s a dangerous world,” and only what I have to offer can save you.
Feeling scared and vulnerable we agree to turn over our agency to them and support them by voting for them, buying their products, or mimicking their talking points. Their propaganda becomes our beliefs and opinions. Then an echo chamber is created and the belief becomes a meme which is like a virus which is socially contagious and the more people infected by the meme the more powerful it becomes and it takes over groups, communities, and societies.
That’s how the 1% get and maintain power playing “It’s a dangerous world.” Their power and control comes from your fear which contributes to your compliance and support.
What can you do about it?
- Identify your fears which the 1% are generating.
- Consider other ways of managing your fears than just complying with the expectations and requirements of those who are trying to sell you something or obtain your cooperation with their agenda.
- Develop your options.
- Choose the one that most aligns with your fundamental values and your conscience.
- Resist the pressure from the 1% and move in your own direction which you believe supports your best self and best community for others.
- Periodically review how the path you have chosen is working for you and adjust.
- Share your better way with others. Create, and maintain a support system.
- Instead of playing “It’s a dangerous world,” play the game of “There’s a need/problem I can solve if I engage my better self and the better selves of others in the process.”
As Unitarian Universalists we covenant together to affirm and promote the acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations and in the world.
A Coiurse In Miracles Workbook Lesson #6 - I am upset because I see something that is not there
Lesson #6 - I am upset because I see something that is not there.
Projection is the name of the game and is the mechanism of such things as implicit bias, confirmation bias, the Dunning-Kruger effect, along with rumination, “stinkin thinkin,” and all the other imaginative thinking that makes our lives hell such as racism, xenophobia, misogyny, and prejudices of all types..
As Unitarian Universalists we covenant together to affirm and promote the inherent worth and dignity of every person but you would never know it to see how we treat each other let alone what we think about each other.
Our fears fuel our anger, resentment, recriminations, grievances, and attacks.
Stop yourself. Breath. Step back. Step down. Gets things in perspective because you are probably seeing things that aren’t there but that you are afraid of.
Thursday, August 6, 2020
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