truths, locking us into a paradigm that is very difficult to alter. And, in fact, we will discover proofs that seem to support our paradigm, because we do not accept as valid any other perspective.

Let me give you a few examples of this.

My wife and I were invited over to an author’s home for dinner. He was a writer of “conspiracy books”. It was an interesting evening of conversation, because he viewed everything in life as a conspiracy. That is the way he viewed the world. He also found “proofs” for all his theories because he accepted as a core belief that the conspiracies were true. In other words, he believed that the conspiracies were true to begin with, therefore, he believed everything that happened was a result of the conspiracy which in turn proved that it was true.

Our viewing reality different than what it really is happens all the time.  We've all seen it.  In fact, it has been the comedic device used in many TV sitcoms. 

One situation comedy that used this device almost exclusively was a show called “Three’s Company”. Every episode was basically the same. Someone would either overhear someone else talking or find something, and they would believe that the situation was different than it really was. And because that is how they believed the situation to be, every time something was said or done they interpreted the situation in that way. The comedy arose through seeing two people interpret a situation totally different from each other based upon their preconceived view of reality.

Why We Believe

Many times our reality is shaped by our inexperience or lack of knowledge about a particular subject.

 

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