You Can’t Handle The Truth!
“Our desire to hold identity-consistent beliefs often far outweigh our goals to hold accurate beliefs. This may be because being a part of a political party or social group fulfills fundamental needs, like the need for belonging, which supersede our need to search for the truth.”*
The desire for human bonding and connection is part of our DNA. We will find a mate and groups with whom to connect. We will adjust, compromise, conform. It is not a value statement as much as a fact. Along these lines, if I cannot fit in to the group in which I have been raised, I will seek out others more aligned with my mind and spirit. I will leave one belief system for another and, in so doing, I will reinforce and defend what I believe bonds us as well as why we are different from others regardless of what is real or true:
“Other studies found that correcting false beliefs about Trump caused people to change their beliefs, but this did not change how much they supported Trump. In other words, while you can get people to understand the facts, the facts don’t always matter.”*
Therefore, when I present the idea that in life you only get two choices, the push back is always, “Life is more grey than black or white.”
However, when it comes to Truth, when it comes to “right” and “wrong,” if there is anything more than two choices, then Truth cannot exist. If everything is relative, then there is no Truth. Just because we do not like the Truth, does not change the fact that it is the ideal, it is what is good, it is what is best.
If you can wrap your head around this idea of a “two-choice system,”, you will embrace the Truth that you either look out for yourself or seek what’s best for another. Period. Humans don’t actually operate in the grey. We are either all about ourselves or all about others. Again, there is no middle ground. I am either fighting for “mine” or doing what I can to ensure others have what they need. The most insidious part of all, we can use language and even convince ourselves that what we do and say is “for” others when deep in our spirit, I am really only protecting myself, my ego, my vision of the world because I have decided I know best. Thus, it’s all about me!
The uber majority could not fathom what life would be like to be this free of self-concern, self-preservation, Self!
That’s why when a nondescript Jewish man started telling people the only way to access The Divine was to die to self by placing God and others first, the uber majority could not fathom what life would be like to be this free of self-concern, self-preservation, Self! The prospect of living for a God no one could see, and for others, most of whom we do not like, simply does not seem practical or even desirable. People have been conditioned since birth into a set of sacrosanct ideas about themselves and others so to let go of their “righteous” identity seems to be the definition of evil….and so they killed him.
And, yet, we convince ourselves that we are not “that bad” which is why we love shades of grey.
“You say, ‘For me, everything is permitted’? Maybe, but not everything is helpful.” (I Cor 6:12)… “‘Everything is permitted?’ Maybe, but not everything is edifying.” (1 Cor 10:23)
So, you are either a person who is always fighting for YOUR rights or expending effort and energy to ensure others experience the freedom you already have because you live in The Truth that you no longer need to live for yourself.
* “Why People Ignore Facts: When it comes to reasoning, identity trumps truth.” Psychology Today, October 25, 2018
I’m excited to walk this journey with you as we unveil the practical and research-based information on how to achieve that which we all desire for ourselves and others – to be “happy”. We discover that happiness is attainable and, better yet, sustainable, as long as one is willing to do the work. In my book “The Happiness Formula”, I dive into each element in detail. Order your copy of “The Happiness Formula”, click here and subscribe to my YouTube Channel (click here) for continued insights and updates into HAPPINESS. Thank you for your support!
Kasandra Vitacca Mitchell
Kasandra Vitacca Mitchell is an Author, Speaker, Coach of Wealth & Happiness with a mission to bring research, wisdom, and authenticity to others via “The Happiness Formula.”