Confirmation Bias & Falsification — Another Look
A Medium story highlighting Confirmation Bias has taken me on an interesting journey, so to make sense of what follows, please read that, first. 😉 Initially, I quite agreed with what was presented. Yet, on waking-up this morning, I find myself viewing it another way, from another angle. Yeah, you guessed it — from Heart, where it looks a good deal different.
We’re all familiar with Confirmation Bias, whether we know it by that name or not. It’s our tendency to fit whatever we’re seeing into our own set of beliefs — to view it in a way that confirms those beliefs. While I’m still in agreement with the story, as far as it goes, I’d like to delve deeper, to see what’s there to discover — so keep in mind that this isn’t arising from thought. Thus, I don’t (mentally) know what will arise.
The story suggests that, with all of the choices we desire to pursue, we first examine them, looking for what could potentially change our mind, thus our course. If we’re for something, we could make a list of what could convince us to reconsider — what could point us in another direction.
While this contributes to more open-mindedness than many of us enjoy on a regular basis, what else does it do, perhaps on a deeper layer of our being?
SELF AGAINST SELF?
Do you see how it potentially divides us against our self? It puts us on the lookout for things that contradict the way we’ve chosen to go. In the original story, the situation detailed by the author demonstrates his openness, his willingness to consider other options, to lay the whole thing out in some logical detail. Prior to making a decision, this can certainly be helpful.
In the end, he chose to take another route, entirely — one that he saw made logical sense. He perceived the alternate route as one that made the best sense for both him & his family, then acted on his decision. Good for him.
WE’RE SO MUCH MORE
I’d like to frame this in another light, view it another way. Was his decision the “right” one?
First, I’d like to suggest that the decision we make is less important than that we align with it, completely accept it & work in consonance with it. If we make a logical, sensible decision that our heart isn’t in — that doesn’t feel good — just because it seems to make the best sense — I suggest we’re shortchanging ourselves.
This is because we’re so much more than just a body & a brain or mind. Who & what we are does not cease to be at the death of the form, the body-mind. We go on. So just what is this “we” that continues? The word we use doesn’t really matter, so we could call it spirit or soul — consciousness, if you like. In my view, that is ever so much more important, more fundamental to identity than the body-mind ever dreamed of being.
What I’d look to first — always — is the source or origin of the relevant desire, the course we’re considering. Is it largely or completely from mind — or does it arise from that deeper layer of our being? If we don’t look at this before we continue our chosen direction,
then we don’t have all of the cards in the deck with which we’re playing.
It’s been a long journey, but I’ve come to value anything emanating from Heart as superior to whatever arises from mind, which doesn’t have access to these deeper layers of our being. So, if the author’s original course, the professorship, was thought-based, then he, indeed, made the right decision.
Yet, what if his original desire, to be a professor of philosophy, came from his core — from much deeper within? In that case, he would have effectively allowed mind to trump Heart — not such a wise move. Again, any move we make, as long as we align with it fully, will turn out just fine — even wonderful. As beings of free will, we have that great latitude available to us — the right to make any choice at all & succeed to the extent we’re willing to align our life with our choice.
HEART AS INNER GUIDE
However, our deeper being knows us (is us) much better than our mind can. It knows the course charted by our soul over endless incarnations — where we’re headed with this lifetime, too. Any truly deep sense of satisfaction we feel emanates from there. We may feel good about a particular decision, & be able to marshal good reasons for our choice, yet that’s not the same, not even in the same league.
In my experience, Heart is the best guide, providing levels of satisfaction that are beyond wonderful. Yet, it often goes against the grain of logic, not even providing reasons for what it offers. It often calls us to walk a line that looks like a jump from a cliff, so little mental or thought support does it provide — actually none, since it exists on a different layer of our being.
A HUGE COURSE CORRECTION
It’s a huge course correction when we begin to allow Heart to chart our course — one unimaginable to our mind. It’s ever the mind perspective that views itself as jumping off of a cliff — that’s not Heart’s view. On the Heart trek we’ll often be brought face-to-face with such options, making visible the contrast between the two treks, Heart vs mind.
Everything rests on our choices.
I’m not saying it was, but IF it was the case that the philosophy professorship had its origin in Heart, then his choice to go the other way would not provide him the best opportunity for growth & satisfaction. It could be quite successful, in 3D, material terms, yet leave him feeling not quite whole, somehow. Do you see?
Thus, there can be no useful generalizations around such things. Those will never work in the presence of the uniqueness of each being, who has his or her own course to chart. Nor is anyone else’s input useful to us, with one exception — if it resonates with Heart. Each one must, in effect, be their own guide — yet, for this to work, it must be Heart acting as guide.
What we can see as a potential pitfall is providing falsification options for our choices. Thus, do we set up conflicting internal energies. It’s wise to allow mind to gain wisdom by providing its input & watching the outcome. Yet, if this is as far as we take it then we’ve effectively set ourselves up to be in internal conflict, ever on the look-out for the potential falsification of our choice(s).
THOUGHT AS FREQUENCY, AS VIBRATION
Something that humanity hasn’t yet come to on a large scale is recognition that thought is vibrational & how that works. Though is actually creative power at work. Thus, every single thought counts. Thus, do we work both for & against the self. In effect, we hamstring ourselves as we harbor endless conflicts within the realm of thought. Each one, with its own unique vibration, draws to us more of the same, other thoughts in harmony with it.
Thus, too, do we not tend to create on the grand scale we may desire. We’re as yet unaware that we’re the only one standing in our way, blocking our path. Nor is this anyone’s “fault,” per se, for it’s how we were all programmed, pretty much from birth. Nor does the programming done by our parents, our teachers, our friends, harbor any malintent. If we’re fair, as we look back the good intentions are clear.
DETOUR INTO MECHANISTIC PARADIGM
Humanity, at this point in time, doesn’t yet realize its nature as divine.
Science & education went off into a mechanistic paradigm which all but ignores soul, spirit, & consciousness — the mainstay of our being. They’re lost in the mind, seeking to develop that into the best it can possibly be — which is great, as far as it goes — yet no where near far enough. They threw out the baby with the bathwater when classifying philosophy, alchemy, & consciousness studies as peripheral, in favor of their chosen path — materialism.
To the extent that we fully align with our choices, they can succeed. While they may not produce precisely what we envisioned for them, they will produce what they can. It’s always a growth opportunity, no matter which way we choose to go. It’s all good, & can be easily seen that way from Heart perspective where, in effect, you literally can’t make a mistake.
BELIEF SYSTEMS & MISTAKES
We make our mistakes in another realm — the one of mind — & it’s done via our mechanistic Belief Systems currently in place. If you’re playing with less than half the deck of cards, how can you possibly win? You can certainly succeed, yet in ways inadvertently self-limiting, that’s all. You won’t attain the heights there in potential for each one.
This is not the end of the world — to be self-limiting — yet it ignores the divine nature & potential we each have. One can actually carve-out a life that others would envy by this route, wealth & success, galore. What will be missing is the deep sense of satisfaction, of tranquility we also desire.
The soul may remain restless in the midst of the external successes.
We may find, on crossing over at the end of the current life, quite another view of what transpired. From that broader, higher dimensional perspective, the material successes are seen as nothing, next to what the inner being desires — success of a very different sort. We don’t take the “stuff” with us when we go, but we do take consciousness, the being, which many call soul. We take our experiences along.
What I’m pointing to here is that there are choices of a deeper level that are also worthy of consideration. As long as we find our way into our deeper being, our center — into Heart — & maintain a certain level of presence, there, our choices will have that deeper, inner guidance. We’ll be led toward what’s in the best interests of the divine being we are, as Source-in-form — a ray of the divine.
ONLY YOU
No one on the planet can tell the author of the Confirmation Bias story whether his chosen route was the best choice for him. We’re the only one who can know such things about our self. Often it takes some years going down our chosen road before this reveals itself with any real clarity.
The beauty in the whole situation, any situation, is that all we need do is to align with our chosen course. This will bring out the best in that, plus provide us extra guidance all along the way. For me, the secret is bringing Heart into the mix, always, where the inner guidance ever awaits.
If we don’t listen, don’t inquire, we won’t hear.
It’s always there, yet in the presence of free will, it does not interfere in the choices we make. It must be invited.
Namaste
~♥~
12:01 pm, Wednesday 2017/10/25, 1st, Mayan day 5 Offering or Water / Muluc
