The Paradigm Of Delusion

A paradigm is a pattern or model of thought, or a basic worldview. A paradigm shift is changing your mind about something very basic in your life. People who are faced with such a change, but who resist it, or who are unable to accomplish the transition, are said to be in a state of cognitive dissonance, which is a very unpleasant state of mind.

A delusion is believing in something that is false (a lie), or holding to a pattern or model of thought that is not based in reality. There are many people today that we all could more or less point to, whom we feel are living a delusion, or a lie, aren’t there?

In fact, there are legions of such people:

Terrorists who believe they win Paradise for blowing up themselves with their enemies.

Priests who think that their pedophilia is not such a bad or harmful thing at all.

Alcoholics and addicts who think they have their habit under control.

Presidents, and politicians who believe in their own worldview about the Middle East.

Republicans who believe they are above the law.

Democrats who think they can run for presidential office and win.

Scientists who do (or don’t) believe that Global Warming is a real, man-made problem.

Computer users who trust in Microsoft to safely protect their computers.

Computer users who believe that using Windows and Office is productive.

People who commit crimes and think they will never get caught.

~ The list is almost endless, isn’t it? (And you may discern that I might have delusions of my own, right?)

But there is another side of this paradigm of delusion, if you think about it – a very important one.

Most of the movers and shakers of our world, at their beginning, were thought not only to be deluded, but unquestionably mad or insane. Galileo is one such individual because he fought for a Sun-centric view of our solar system, against everyone else who thought it was Earth-centric. Or Ignaz Semmelweis, the first doctor who demanded that physicians wash their hands between seeing patients. Or Martin Luther King who fought for non-violent civil disobedience in the Civil Rights Movement. Our list of heroes in the world are frequently such people, who stood up for what was right and true, regardless of popular opinion or oppression.

For a very long time, people who used Macintoshes were thought to be deluded, and that their world-view was seriously flawed. Now, that popular idea is fading. Mac users are now considered to be cool, intelligent and productive, rather than poor fringe lunatics.

So what are your paradigms? What is your worldview? (You don’t have any major delusions, do you?)

You can possably discover such things about yourself by examining your reaction to the kind of people who set you off; those whom you think are loony in their own rights. Often, it is what opposes us and our sense of right thinking, that illustrates to those around us, our deepest, most cherished beliefs. (Unfortunately however, that single truth is not always apparent to us.) An excellent warning sign (to yourself) is how far into the lunatic spectrum are those whose views you hate?

But, if your paradigms are unstable lately (and if you know they are) and you do not know what to believe about certain things, if your world serms to be crashing around you and you are wrestling with bothersome congnitive dissonance, there is something you can do about it.

First, you need to have someone you can trust. To know someone ‘who has it all figured out’ is a wonderful thing, a blessing. You may not agree with them about everything, but you don’t have to. (Everyone has something they hold dear which is not necessarily real.) Just the fact that you have trust in them and what they think can help you so much, especially when the world around you does not seem stable.

(This is precisely why a great many people place their trust in God as Father, and in Jesus ~ they believe they have found someone who is utterly trustworthy and who will never let them down, or abandon them, and so they cling to their words as truth.)

Second, become an expert on the subject that bothers you most. Find out the true history of whatever it is you believe. Get the facts! By knowing everything there is to know about your ‘enemy’ you will find that you have a very powerful advantage (and it will give you leverage when you argue about it with your friends.).

Heinlein said it best: “What are the facts? Again and again and again – what are the facts? Shun wishful thinking, ignore divine revelation, forget what ‘the stars foretell,’ avoid opinion, care not what the neighbors think, never mind the unguessable ‘verdict of history’ – what are the facts, and to how many decimal places? You pilot always into an unknown future; facts are your only clue. Get the facts!”

One final thing about paradigms and worldviews, as well as their many delusions ~ They are all BELIEFS. It is very rare that even one of them is based in scientific, provable, and irrefutable fact. How odd is that?

And how all of us can cling to personal belief, even to the point of expressing hatred toward those who believe otherwise.

But, Heinlein is still right. The more you know about whatever it is that you believe in, the better you will feel about it, and yourself, even if it is like most everything else in the world – an unprovable hypothesis. Belief is still belief, even when it comes with many ‘evidences.’ You just have a much better rationale for holding those beliefs if you know and understand all the ‘facts’ and arugments, both pro and con, for them.

Conversely, a most common fact among many thinkers and philosophers is that the more paranoid and violent a person is who holds to their worldview, the less likely it is that their world view is genuine and not some grand delusion. A few people become violent around truth and facts, because it is such a threat to their beliefs. If you often feel threatened by other’s arguments and their proffered statistics and facts, your belief might not be worth clinging to.

Here are some nostrums that might help you with any paradigmic delusions, should you happen to have any (no warranty is suggested or implied by any of these):

“If you are going through hell, keep going.” – Sir Winston Churchill

“All are lunatics, but he who can analyze his delusion is called a philosopher.” – Ambrose Bierce

The first principle is that you must not fool yourself – and you are the easiest person to fool. — Richard Feynman

The universe never says “no” to your thought about yourself; it only grows it. ~ Neale Donald Walsch

“Truth, though it has many disadvantages, is at least changeless. You can always find it where you left it.” — Phyllis Bottome

“Truth exists, only falsehood has to be invented.” — Georges Braque (Pensées sur l’Art)

“Truth is eternal, knowledge is changeable. It is disastrous to confuse them.” – Unknown

“The opposite of a correct statement is a false statement. The opposite of a profound truth may well be another profound truth.” – Niels Bohr

“When I am working on a problem I never think about beauty. I only think about how to solve the problem. But when I have finished, if the solution is not beautiful, I know it is wrong.” – Buckminster Fuller

“Research is what I’m doing when I don’t know what I’m doing.” – Wernher Von Braun

“Black holes are where God divided by zero.” – Steven Wright

“Whether you think that you can, or that you can’t, you are usually right.” – Henry Ford

“Do, or do not. There is no ‘try’.” – Yoda

“Either this is madness or it is Hell.” “It is neither,” calmly replied the voice of the Sphere, “it is Knowledge.” – Flatland

“Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn’t go away” -Philip K. Dick

“Sure, ninety percent of science is crud. That’s because ninety percent of everything is crud.” — Theodore Sturgeon

The real tragedy is the tragedy of the man who never in his life braces himself for his one supreme effort; he never stretches to his full capacity, never stands up to his full stature.

There is always an easy solution to every human problem – neat, plausible, and wrong.

Evangelism is just one beggar telling another beggar where to find the bread.

” Human beings are compelled to adopt a belief system; some paradigm to provide meaning, purpose, and understanding to our lives. A quick survey of the world shows that pretty much any idea will do — it need not reflect reality or truth, merely function to fascinate, distract, and compel. We are designed for belief, not for truth.” Is this true?

Don’t judge the worldview by its abuse but judge it by its Founder. ~ Ravi Zacharias

“By all means marry; if you get a good wife, you’ll be happy. If you get a bad one, you’ll become a philosopher.” -Socrates

“New truths almost always sound blasphemous at first, then they seem reasonable (for those on the fringes), then they are accepted by all (and always have been).” – Bernard Henri-Levy

Regards,

Roger Born
“Sorry. No Refunds.”

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