Thursday, February 27, 2020

What is the most important lesson in life?

Here, I say, it is, THE #1 question in life: Will you ever be anything more than a vessel transmitting the genes and VABEs of previous generations on to the next? (See Csikszentmihalyi’s The Evolving Self). VABEs = Values, Assumptions, Beliefs, and Expectations about the way the world is or should be.

Sadly, the answer for most people is no. In my view one only becomes an adult when/IF they become able to see what they were taught as defenseless children and choose rationally (not emotionally) what to Keep, what to Lose, and what to Add to their living repertoire. The vast majority of humans simply replicate like a virus what they were given as small children. (See also my book, A Song of Humanity: A Science-based Alternative to the World’s Scriptures.) And so many if not most people never really “grow up,” they just reproduce.

The core issue is that most people decide and behave based on their VABEs instead of data. This is DEDUCTIVE thinking, beginning with the conclusion. INDUCTIVE thinking begins with evidence (not including other people’s opinions and VABEs). (See Kahneman’s Fast Thinking Slow Thinking—and his Nobel Prize).

IF a person had been born in a different region of the globe-their VABEs would be dramatically different. Think about that. I’ve come to conclude that “it’s all about VABEs.” See my website at Getting Below the Surface for more.  

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