Do you like to think of yourself as an honest person? I do. Do you try to view the world as it is and not let yourself be swayed by self delusion? I consider this a core ethic of mine. Does the phrase “Let that which can be destroyed by truth, perish?” speak to you? It rings in my mind like a clarion call from the God I don’t believe in.
Well if you’re like me in this regard, I may have some bad news. You’re fucked. Or rather you’re probably a sad miserable C*** and there ain’t much you can do about it. Well, there isn’t if you want to hold onto the idea of rationality and reality over everything. Turns out self delusion may be the cause of happiness.
https://www.bakadesuyo.com/2011/11/is-there-a-connection-between-love-and-delusi/
https://www.bakadesuyo.com/2011/11/how-confident-should-you-be-at-work-today/
https://www.bakadesuyo.com/2011/10/is-self-deception-one-of-the-keys-to-optimal/
https://www.bakadesuyo.com/2010/02/does-love-mean-being-a-little-deluded/
If you know me well, you probably are aware of my minor obsession with self help books. I am that dude always looking for the secret to life and while some people prefer to find it in mysticism, religion, or ancient philosophy, I prefer pop science with a flair for the dramatic to sell books. The take aways are usually the same but the prose is crisper and has more studies to back it up.
I just finished Barking up the Wrong Tree, which may be one of my favorites for its breadth of covering. It samples from A LOT and doesn’t seem to propose much new material, but anything that includes references to The Power of Habit and Angela Duckworth’s work on Grit will make me perk up and pay attention. This book managed to do that and held me fairly wrapt throughout. It provided a more complete picture of what a happy fulfilled life would look like from anything I’ve read or heard, whether new age feel good podcast, pop sci audiobook, old school philosophy treatise, or even living ancient religion.
It provided simple, though not necessarily easy ideas and actions, with detailed analysis and guidance in each chapter.I t never went in depth on any one topic, but of course referenced the experts who had allowed for easier deep dives if one were to want to, which of course I do. The only downside was sometimes that advice felt contradictory. Like the concepts that start this writing off.
There are parts in it that make it clear knowing the field and one’s own ability are crucial to success and to preventing crushing disappointment. Further there is a whole host of material speaking on this, accepting the world for what it is. From Stoicism and Taoism to the Neo-Rationalism of Less Wrong or simply the basic scientific method, there exists so much wisdom in embracing reality and seeking to end self delusion.
But does it make you happy? Does it help you succeed? And if not…is it still worth it? That last one I’ve yet to figure out but the it appears the first 2 answers are a resounding, kinda. With limits. Per always the phrase moderation in all things comes up again highlighting a thing no one would think to moderate. Only this time instead of the irony of moderation in moderation, it’s actually reality in moderation. Perhaps this means more Acid trips in the future? Probably not, as it’s about moderate delusions, but possibly as those powerful experiences can sink concepts deep into your brain. Whatever can get you to believe the little lies that make it possible. The lie that you can handle whatever comes, that things will work out, that things are great. Any small positive self delusion.
Of course it’s possible the information here is wrong. Poorly conducted studies, faulty assumptions, bad statistical modeling, plague all forms of social science and I’m nowhere near qualified to answer whether the above falls in line or not. The trap of course is that drilling deep into the reality of it, forcing skepticism, will kill the optimistic naivety this claims is needed. So how deep down the rabbit whole do you want to go?
It reminds me of placebos and how you need to believe in them for them to work, but not necessarily how you think. Did you know that placebos work even after you know it’s sugar pills? Wild no? The power of the body to heal when it thinks it should is incredible. Almost magical. Or…Maybe not almost. Maybe…
I used to believe in God. Then one day I realized God made no sense. I mean the basic non denominational version of the Judea-Christain God. Not any specific interpretation, just an all good, all knowing, creator who personally gave a shit about everything, including me. I’m not gonna walk you through the logic chain of why that doesn’t hold up cause a few thousand other people have done that in a variety of ways. Point is, I lost faith.
That hurt. It sucked. I felt lost, alone, scared. And I remember how good it felt to just believe. So I said fuck it. And just believed. For years I saw signs of God in minor moments and events. I can’t sit here and tell you that shit pushed my life in a good way that wouldn’t have been there without this falsely fashioned faith, this lie I told myself. I have no way of evaluating that. For another 5 years or so I was convinced that it did.
Now? Now I don’t know. I’ve lost faith in that being again. I instead found faith in the skepticism. And now of course fell for the shallow trap that exists there. That of being skeptical of our epistemology as a whole. Things like this shake the foundation of that world view. If truth is not actually useful, is it valid to seek for its own sake? When it in fact has anti-utility is Truth valuable simply for being truth? And when self deception actually modifies reality…what is the nature of truth at that point?
I don’t mean to go to the level of saying we can create our own universe with our perceptions. That simple positive affirmations will alter reality or that because sometimes electrons act like a wave and other times a particle depending on observation, that we can “observe” the world into the nature that we want. I just mean to say we know that lying to ourselves can alter our internal mechanism to great profit(or great suffering). Is it then possible that a consensus of lying, that groups belief in faith…could have power over the group? Or perhaps beyond?
The normal answer is there is only one way to find out, to test it. The very mechanism of testing may destroy the result though. So I guess,
I guess the only way would be to have faith? And tell yourself the little lies. Until those lies turn to truths.
Life As A Swordsman 