It's True! It's Damn True!

Here are the three rules of thought.

• You believe what you see with your own eyes.
• You trust people who tell you things you believe.
• You believe things people you trust tell you.

The first step is obvious. It is the principle by which magic is such a compelling stage act. You see things that defy your established notion of the believeable. The magician appears to be trustworthy. You know there is a "trick" but cannot see it.

The second step is the way we get attachments to others. A person tells you things you already believe. You may not have actually phrased it the way it is presented, but it resonates with you.

The third step is where you are led. You trust a person. That person tells you something and you accept it as being true.

This is where things get complicated, so here is an example. A person you trust tells you to trust scientists who tell you that industrialization causes global warming. You cannot verify the first step from personal observation (you personally have not measured global warming). You cannot even verify step 2, because you have not compared other things these scientists have said about other things that you can personally verify. You just go on from step 3. When there is conflicting data, you will dismiss it. When there is confirming data, you will just accept it. You will not even consider other possibilities without raising the shield of skepticism (which is just a suspension of trust). When confronted with data that is hard to deflect, you may even become angry.

I see these intellectual conflicts all the time and am as guilty of them as the next person. However, there is a point at which we must decide if there are natural laws, ones that transcend viewpoints. DocBrain believes that there are. These are the things you see for yourself, those that propel civilization forward and at the same time create peace, relieve suffering and ignorance, and reduce conflict.