Mimsey Borogrove
Crusader
Hubbard famously (or infamously) stole the study technology from a couple who were at Saint Hill (I couldn't find their names for some reason) and in it is a simple but powerful concept - one of the first barriers to learning is believing you know about it already.
I have made several threads & posts here that were attacked for reasons that mystified me. It was suggested to me that many of the denizens of ESMB are disabused of anything smacking of the spiritual side because of the abuse they received at the hands of Scientology. A sort of PTSD if you will. While that may be true, I think many of the people here have an interest in the spiritual side of life, or did so when they were younger.
Why then are they so unwilling to look further into that aspect of life? Is it the above mentioned barrier of study - they think they know all about it? That it is a lie? Not to be trusted? Full of charlatans? New age hog wash?
I posted a thread about Rupert Sheldrake for instance who one one hand is well respected and on the other subject to derision and debunking. It seemed to set off a fire storm when I tried to defend him and ask some to at least look at his work before writing him off.
Why, would the intelligent posters here be so vehement?
I recently watched a video by Tom Wilson in which he goes into the resistance by many to examine new or different ideas that challenge their beliefs. He describes the barrier to learning similar to the above, in his discussion of the crisis of belief. See the portion of the video that starts at 32:01 Certainty in belief systems in science, he says, gives you trouble. In the words of Mark Twain: "It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so."
He goes into theories found in a book called: On Being Certain: Believing You Are Right Even When You're Not, by Robert A. Burton and Tom brings up the point that when confronted with rational evidence, that contradicts our feelings of certainty, the feeling wins out almost every time. He points out Burton argues that there is a physiological basis for the feeling that is so powerful it makes rational beliefs seem wrong or irrelevant.
Burton traces it's origins to something I had not considered - the limbic system. Burton describes experiments where the temporal lobe associated with the limbic system is stimulated, the person experiences certainty. A sense of knowing. Of deja vu. Familiarity in a strange environment.
Could that be happening here on ESMB? My posts are triggering your limbic systems and in response, you feel certain in your disbelief of what I am suggesting?
I hope not.
Mimsey
https://www.amazon.com/Being-Certain-Believing-Right-Youre/dp/031254152X
I have made several threads & posts here that were attacked for reasons that mystified me. It was suggested to me that many of the denizens of ESMB are disabused of anything smacking of the spiritual side because of the abuse they received at the hands of Scientology. A sort of PTSD if you will. While that may be true, I think many of the people here have an interest in the spiritual side of life, or did so when they were younger.
Why then are they so unwilling to look further into that aspect of life? Is it the above mentioned barrier of study - they think they know all about it? That it is a lie? Not to be trusted? Full of charlatans? New age hog wash?
I posted a thread about Rupert Sheldrake for instance who one one hand is well respected and on the other subject to derision and debunking. It seemed to set off a fire storm when I tried to defend him and ask some to at least look at his work before writing him off.
Why, would the intelligent posters here be so vehement?
I recently watched a video by Tom Wilson in which he goes into the resistance by many to examine new or different ideas that challenge their beliefs. He describes the barrier to learning similar to the above, in his discussion of the crisis of belief. See the portion of the video that starts at 32:01 Certainty in belief systems in science, he says, gives you trouble. In the words of Mark Twain: "It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so."
He goes into theories found in a book called: On Being Certain: Believing You Are Right Even When You're Not, by Robert A. Burton and Tom brings up the point that when confronted with rational evidence, that contradicts our feelings of certainty, the feeling wins out almost every time. He points out Burton argues that there is a physiological basis for the feeling that is so powerful it makes rational beliefs seem wrong or irrelevant.
Burton traces it's origins to something I had not considered - the limbic system. Burton describes experiments where the temporal lobe associated with the limbic system is stimulated, the person experiences certainty. A sense of knowing. Of deja vu. Familiarity in a strange environment.
Could that be happening here on ESMB? My posts are triggering your limbic systems and in response, you feel certain in your disbelief of what I am suggesting?
I hope not.
Mimsey
[video=youtube;KYo5AVbgwkc]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYo5AVbgwkc[/video]Tom Wilson has a PhD in plant physiology but has worked in the semiconductor industry for the last 20 years. He was born and raised in Canada but now resides in the UK.
https://www.amazon.com/Being-Certain-Believing-Right-Youre/dp/031254152X