Hoaxes - People Fall For Them Eveeytime

 Throughout history , people have fallen for hoaxes over and over again. Some become legends which grew into so-called facts or oddities of history. Some have faded into the mists of time. I think of PT Barnum who said 'there's a sucker born every minute."

In my childhood, I became aware of one of these hoaxes. H.G. Wells had a radio show presentation of his "War of the Worlds."  It was on the radio 2 years before I was born, but I heard people talking about it many times. Basically it sounded like a warning the Martians had invaded, and we were all in danger. Quite a few people thoight it was a real warning of doom. My mother apparently did, and held onto that for years. I remember my mother waking me up in the middle of the night terrified, shaking and sobbing the Martians had landed on our roof. There were some pretty wild sounds on the roof, but they turned out to be cats in heat.

I do remember all the crazy McCarthy hearings when he claimed almost everybody was a communist, and he was getting people fired and all kinds of horrible things were happening. Nobody vetted him because they were afraid of being called a communist.

We had global cooling and then global warming then climate change. According to the prophets of these things, we should all be under water and life on earth should be untenable before now for sure.

 Particularly in the last couple of hundred years so-called Christian prophets have said the second coming is happening, and the world is coming to an end on this or that date - but of course it never did. Nevertheless many people believed them over and over again, sold their belongings or gave them away and ran for the hills.

Hoaxes seem currently to be multiplying like odd socks in the dryer. 

 We have an actress who posed partially nude in a commercial, much like models, actresses, and sports women posed on Sports illustrated covers and issues and Victoria Secret Catalogs. But this time there is an uproar over it - People are upset, or perhaps acting upset over something that they were never upset about up until this minute. They're trying to create a political issue out of i,t. It's really weird to watch.

There's an uproar over AI installations now, even though there have been these for quite a few years with no problems. They recycle their water. They don't increase electric bills, and they're now building their own electric plants. They provide employment. Everyone who uses a cell phone or a Kindle or laptop or computer needs these centers, they use them everyday.  Certain people are now trying to make a big issue out of them. It seems that China wants us to stop building AI plants and expanding because they want to catch up with us and soar past us. Because they're way behind. they're planting false information and people are repeating it. It is really fascinating to watch this crazyness.

Well I could list a number of other current craziness going on right now, but hopefully you get the picture. I think it's so important to investigate and not just take something because somebody said it and believe it and act on it. We need to ask questions, we need to think, and that goes for every area of our lives.

Of course my main area of interest has always been spirituality. There is a lot of craziness in that area all through history, including right now. It is said that there are at least 30,000 Christian denominations and 300+ translations of the Bible. Many of them disagree on key points with one another. They can't all be right. We need to think through things, go back to what Jesus said and did, and ask what is most likely to agree with him. 

It will be really wise of us to not succumb to   lazy thinking, just taking on other people's statements as if they know what they're talking about. Do some research - Google it, ask Grok. Check things out. 

I have long thought that God is Infinite Intelligence. Some of that intelligence is seeded in me, so I'm supposed to use it. That's true for you too I am certain. Go forth with courage. 

My Daddy Said...

 My daddy was a very wise man, and he had a lot of folk wisdom quotes that he would issue. He used to say that some people were so bull-headed that they couldn't see the truth if it hit them over the head.

Today I think we might call that cognitive dissonance. I see it around me all the time. Somebody holds some belief for other, and  when almost irrefutable evidence or a solid argument contrary is shown them, they make up some kind of bizarre excuses or twists or reasons why their belief is true and the proof is not actually proof at all. They refuse to even contemplate the possibility that they might need to change their belief system or change the idea they're holding so dearly to their ignorant heart.

Of course we see it in history clearly because we're not so close to it. We can look at the people who believed the earth was flat long after it was proven we live on a globe. We can look at the people who thought the earth was the center of the universe long after we knew that we were in an orbit around the sun and part of a solar system that was part of a galaxy that was part of other galaxies.  

One of the causes of cognitive dissonance and bull-headedness is not necessarily obviously science. We have the situation where humans  misinterpret things and make up philosophies and religions that have no bearing and fact. We have today even people who make up false scientific so-called data and endeavor to convince people that their point of view is accurate.

For example, I'm not a scientist, but I did get an A+ in biology in high school and in college.   I know that there are 2 sexes. I also know there are many ways to express one's sexuality, but biologically there are 2 sexes.  Some people, for some strange reason, have decided to promote the idea there are many sexes. They have convinced some people this is true. But it's not true, scientifically speaking. In someone's imagination maybe it seems true. They seemingly cannot be dissuaded, their cognitive dissonance leads their way.

Cognitive dissonance can be seen in almost any area you want to look at, whether it be politics or religion or science. For me I have been in a quest for truth, so if I find myself wanting to defend some belief, I stop and take stock of myself. What are some other points of view about this issue?  What are some other ways to look at this? I might end up with a partially different view or absolutely different view or I might remain pretty much with the same view. I think it serves us to honestly look at things, not just defend sacred positions that maybe we don't even remember how we acquired them. 

I really urge us all not to take things for granted. Examine everything carefully. Of course now with the internet there are many false things being promoted, some of them by our enemies. But more insidious are the things we learned along the way and think are true, but not everybody thinks they're true. It is clear to me that mutually exclusive things cannot all be correct. If others hold a different view, someone is incorrect or only have part of the information. 

So let us take the courage to examine our points of view, rather than be bull-headed as my Daddy used to say.

So Many Worlds

 I've I've been watching Masterchef Australia in the evenings. I'm struck by different ways that English language is used, the different foods that they eat, the different people that are famous. For example, when a famous chef comes in and they all cheer and shout and clap, it's almost always someone I've never heard of, even though I have watched lots of cooking shows and read lots of cookbooks. The contestants hug one another and cheer for one another , whereas  in the American version there's a lot of back biting and snickering and jealousy and things that are upsetting, so that I don't even like to watch it. I see these people in Australia who have a whole other experience of life on earth.in so many ways. Of course in other ways it's the same —People want love and happiness, they want to model good behavior for their children, they want a home and good income and all the things that everybody wants.

Which led me to think about all the different experiences of life on earth. Not only in each country but in each section or subsection of each country, life is totally different. And I think we sometimes forget that and think everybody's experiencing the same earth as we are. They likely have similar dreams and goals, but see them through unique lenses.

It seems like we're all living in a different bubble. Travel can help open us to understand each other, if we're open to exploring other peoples and cultures and not just go and stay in our own country style of hotel and do the same things we would do if we were home.

I had a vision of people reaching out of their bubbles to other people reaching out of their bubbles, leading to understanding and also to realization that in the end we all want very much the same thing.  If we could do this, I think it would assist in us moving toward peace on earth , which is pne of my lifelong dreams. Maybe it's your dream too. I hope so.

Reprise of Middle Ages

 I read a disturbing opinion piece today. The premise basically was that in the middle ages there was a lot of disease caused by filth and poverty, a lot of rats and fleas, a lot of human waste In public places   At the same time there were some great literary geniuses writing, cathedrals rising, and some pretty great thinking in spots.

 Here in the 21st century,   in many cities, great cities, we have the same situation! Seemingly in progressive led cities there are similar conditions that were in the middle ages There are encampments of people living in filth with rats and fleas and disease. At the same time there are great developments in AI, Interstellar travel, magnificent telescopes out in space, medicine, and so much more. 

It seems to me it really is a disgrace that we are creating a situation to allow people to live like that In the streets. There are solutions We need the will to solve this problem! Let's put our great minds together and turn around this Terrible medieval Situation in our very midst. 

Connections

  I've been thinking about how connections to one another  and even to memories, create  community. I have been talking to some who don't have much community , and seem to have problems with depression. Humans are social beings.

For much of human historyOur ancestors lived in groups. They lived in family groups and tribal groups. Eventually they moved to cities and formed small groups within the cities.   

As wonderful as modern technology is, it has a many ways fractured us from one another. I know of a wonderful woman who has now created her life around television, not around actual people. She resents all interruptions from others. I know of young people who would rather play video games, than go outside and play with neighborhood children.       

I have said to some people that this world is like an alien planet compared to the 1940 world I was born into. I think I could extend that to say that, to the vast majority of all humanity that has ever lived on this planet, this current time is an alien planet. 

It occurs to me that a useful question we might ask ourselves is - How do we enjoy and utilize these marvelous technologies, and stay in connection to other actual humans? How do we retain our humanity?

Are You Hypnotized?

 I had a very interesting conversation yesterday with an old friend. She was extremely upset over various news stories leaning in one particular direction.  That is, she didn't consider any other point of view. She would say something about what I believed or did, which was not what I believed or did, and it took me several times of repeating something until her eyes blinked and she looked at me and said "oh."

It flashed in my mind that she was coming from a state of hypnosis, clicking back into the present moment. That made me think about when I studied hypnosis back in the late 70s with a medical doctor that had delivered over 5,000 babies with hypnosis. I took his class at the advice of a mentor who said it would teach me how the mind worked. I certainly learned a great deal!

One thing in particular flashed in my mind in relationship to yesterday. He said the cycles of a television are in sync with the brain cycles, and if you sit and watch television for a few minutes, you go into at least a light state of hypnosis, and for some people a deeper state. What that means is that everything said goes deeply into your subconscious mind. If you only listen to left leaning or right leaning news, that point of view is deeply seared in your subconscious mind. So when you hear anything to the contrary you fight it. You probably don't realize that you've been programmed subconsciously by somebody else's point of view. are angry and upset because you know the truth, or so it seems to you. 

You're highly unlikely to realize that these ideas have bypassed your conscious mind and have been instilled in your subconscious, so they seem like the truth. We owe it to ourselves to awaken.

There have been so many revelations lately about how we've been lied to by leaders and by the press, that to me it makes everything they say somewhat suspect. I think it's important to listen to both sides of whatever issue and to critically weigh through them so that you're sure that what you think you believe is your actual belief not somebody else's.

 At the very least, listen to left and right leaning stations and realize they have opposite interpretations of what just happened or is happening. They are mutually exclusive. They cannot both be true. My general rule of thumb is the truth must lie somewhere in between these two extremes. But if I do not have personal experience and knowledge of whatever the subject is, I can never know for sure. If I look at all sides and think clearly and logically, perhaps I can figure out what's the most likely thing to be true, but even that's not fail safe. 

To be the best person I can be is my ultimate responsibility. That's a big project and something I've been working on for all 86 years, and still in process.

What Do You See?

 The Gospel of Truth also says that what we see in Jesus—or God—depends on what we need to see, and what we are capable of seeing.                      -- Elaine Panels "Beyond Belief"

The more I consider this statement from the Gospel of Truth, the more it intrigues me at so many levels. 

The author  applies it to what we see in Jesus and in God, and I can see that. We have such a divergent Christianity everywhere from the snake handers in Appalachia to the very serious Orthodox, from the Episcopalians to the Baptists, from New Thought to Pentecostals, wide ranges and then to the very extreme evangelical groups. Each subset of Christianity has views they have settled upon as correct. Many of the views contradict other views, and some groups are outright hostile to certain other groups. 

Interestingly, this divergence started from the very beginning. Before I started studying history, I thought it was a new phenomenon, but right from the get-go there was divergence, hostility, fighting, name calling and more. Early Christianity was wild. 

Then, as I consider this idea more widely, I see it applies to all areas, not just Christianity.  It"depends on what we need to see, and what we are capable of seeing." our biases distort our vision. The things we have decided and do not want to visit again, give us blinders.   

The world was flat in most minds for a long time, and resistance lasted long after it was proved otherwise. Women were not capable of complex thinking was settled "truth"  for centuries. We could list thousands of examples. 

I examine myself. Is there something I need to see as I see it, that is not so or only partially true? Is there something I am incapable of seeing? Yes, Truth will set us free, but are we blocking it somehow?

Thoreau said that an unexamined life was !not worth living. Let us have courage to give ourselves a check up, asking ourselves v the difficult questions. Let us be fearless seekers of Truth.