One of my teachers, via Ayn Rand, has been Aristotle.
He taught me one thing. Most people will not teach you much… they will do one thing and one thing only: alter your foundation.
And with regards to foundation altering: Aristotle’s teaching is the most jarring, and the most transformative.
Here is the teaching:
Contradictions do not exist. Whenever you think that you are facing a contradiction, check your premises.
If you are doing all the right things and still don’t have your results… that is a contradiction. Check your premises.
Premise is like what you base your decisions on. They are invisible… assumed to be accurate, assumed to be a fact. ((prem·ise
noun Logic
plural noun: premises
1.
a previous statement or proposition from which another is inferred or follows as a conclusion.
“if the premise is true, then the conclusion must be true”
an assertion or proposition which forms the basis for a work or theory.
“the fundamental premise of the report”
synonyms: proposition, assumption, hypothesis, thesis, presupposition, postulation, postulate, supposition, presumption, surmise, conjecture, speculation, assertion, belief
“the premise that human life consists of a series of choices”
verb
3rd person present: premises
1.
base an argument, theory, or undertaking on.
“the reforms were premised on our findings”
state or presuppose (something) as a premise.
“one school of thought premised that the cosmos is indestructible”
synonyms: postulate, hypothesize, conjecture, posit, theorize, suppose, presuppose, surmise, assume
“they premised that the cosmos is indestructible”
archaic
state by way of introduction.
“I will premise generally that I hate lecturing”))
If you believe in god, then the existence of god is part of your premises.
If you believe that the mind is the center of your power, then you’ll work on your mind
If you believe that there is such a thing as the subconscious mind… you’ll find ways to change that
If you believe that… hundreds, thousands, hundreds of thousands of things form your premises.
If life isn’t working, or isn’t working as well as it works for others: the difference between you and them is your premises.
What you assume to be true is not true.
Depending on how many false assumptions you have in your world view, your life works, or it doesn’t.
I don’t want to use the word “belief”, because what you call belief is all in the visible… and what we are talking about here is the invisible.
Nothing in the visible will ever change, unless the invisible changes first.
The problem is that the invisible is… yeah, you got that right, it’s invisible.
So to tease the invisible out, you need to do tricks, and methods, and processes… or they will not become visible.
One of the premises of meditation seems to be that they assume that if you sit long enough cross legged, you’ll see the invisible errors of your ways. Not true… and therefore meditators’ vibration is as low or lower than the general population. Ugh, ugly.
One excellent tool for revealing untruths in your invisible foundation is the 67 steps. Even things Tai (who speaks in the 67 steps) cannot see can be accessed through that program.
But there is a problem: unguided you will only see what you have already seen… and your foundation will remain the same.
If we look at reality as a house, you’ll get access to the doors, the windows, the furnishing, but you won’t be able to change the foundation… so your house may fly away if a tornado comes, or sinks with the foundation deeper and deeper until it breaks.
Truth value and your premises
Your premises are partially unexamined Tree of Knowledge, and partially mistaken assumptions based on poor understanding of the world.
They are your blind spots…
Invisible to you. I can see them.
Some of the invisibles are visible to someone with eyes to see. But you don’t want to hear it.
Roy Williams says in today’s Monday Morning Memo: ((
Blind Spot 2018
Is established information or new information more likely to be true?- Which is more effective, planning or improvisation?
- Are people essentially good, or essentially selfish?
- Which is more important, individual rights or collective rights?
- Will the future of America be better than its past?
- Are low-income people less intelligent than high-income people?
- Is the Bible true, or just a collection of ancient folk stories?
- Are attractive people more reliable than unattractive ones?
You may think those questions have obvious answers. But in truth, just as many people chose the opposites.
Each of us has foundational assumptions upon which our worldviews are predicated.
If your foundational assumptions are different than mine, you’ll interpret experiences, evidence, and data differently than I do.
Psychologists call a foundational assumption a “cognitive bias,” but only if your assumption is tightly focused. If we’re discussing your entire collection of foundational assumptions, we’re talking about your “schema.”
Your schema, or outlook, is how you believe the universe works.
Asking a person to reconsider a foundational assumption is like asking them to change their religion.
But every foundational assumption comes with a blind spot.
This is true even if your foundational assumptions caused you to answer our opening 8 questions by saying, “Well, it depends on…”
We often believe our foundational assumptions are shared by intelligent people everywhere.
Because when you “know” something deeply and intrinsically, it’s hard to imagine other people not knowing it. This cognitive bias is often called “the curse of knowledge,” and it’s responsible for a high percentage of bad advertising because it will cause you to answer questions in your ads that no one was asking.
Are you beginning to see why it’s important to be aware of your blind spots?
Most of us refuse to believe we have blind spots, because to accept that you have blind spots is to accept that your foundational assumptions are flawed, and then who would you be?
To point out another person’s blind spot is like undressing them in public; you will not be soon forgiven.
And now you know why polite people “never discuss politics or religion” with people outside their own in-group.
And although this may sound Machiavellian, I share it with you not so that you might employ it, but so that you might guard yourself against it: It is easy to manipulate a person when you know their foundational assumptions.
Don’t let people manipulate you.
When you have the courage to recognize your foundational assumptions for what they are, you are more likely to be happy, more likely to be liked, more likely to experience personal peace.
But this open-mindedness comes at a price: you will never be the leader of villagers with torches and pitchforks.
But that was never really a goal of yours, was it?
Was it?
Roy H. Williams
))
Most of us refuse to believe we have blind spots, because to accept that you have blind spots is to accept that your foundational assumptions are flawed, and then who would you be?
To point out another person’s blind spot is like undressing them in public; you will not be soon forgiven.
Now we see, clearly, why I am not popular.
If you don’t point out their blind spot: you cannot make a difference. You won’t make a difference. They will not be able to change their lives.
And if you do… you are devil incarnate…
He says in the same Monday Morning Memo:
When you have the courage to recognize your foundational assumptions for what they are, you are more likely to be happy, more likely to be liked, more likely to experience personal peace.
As you see, it takes courage to look, it takes courage to recognize.
My students, my clients have more courage than the average Joe. Because more than intelligence, you need courage.
And the world suffers with courage deficiency syndrome…
For example, doing the 67 steps being coached is no walk in the park. Doing it the way it was meant to be done: one step every weekday… definitely not a walk in the park.
But did you expect your life, your situation to change without effort? Without dong things that are not explosive fun?
Look and detect a fundamental flaw in your premises…
My mother drilled it in me: no pain no gain.
And that, my friend, is a sound premise for life. Maybe the only thing my mother gave me that I appreciate. But I appreciate it more than words can express.
PS: If you see the point, and if you can summon courage, I’d like you to take the 67 step coaching… for 18 months. Paying weekly it cost roughly a thousand dollars. There is a lifetime option that is much lower than that.
You can get the 67 steps on a wireless headphones. Obviously it includes access to all the steps on Tai’s site… I do not pirate the 67 steps.
And decide if you want to be coached too…
If you are outside of the United States, you’ll get your headphones from China, and your chip from me. If you want to get them faster and already put together: add $15. You can do it while you buy the deal.
Why get it on dedicated headphones? Because that way you are not tied to anything, there is nothing to set. It remembers where you stopped and it will continue from there.
Read the original article: When Life seems to work against you…