Why you shouldn't just believe everything you think
Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn’t go away.Philosophers have long wrestled with the question of whether or how it is possible to really know external reality. We sentient creatures are utterly dependent on our subjective perceptions and are trapped within our minds—within our brains.
On the other hand, we find our subjective perceptions arrestingly compelling, not appreciating how highly unreliable they can be. It can be very hard to convince people that their experiences are 'in here,' not 'out there.'As a psychiatrist, I routinely hear about all sorts of unusual perceptual experiences, and not just from people who are. A wide variety of abnormal conditions as well as a great many normal but misinterpreted phenomena can cause distorted perceptions.
And yet we find our own subjective perceptions so persuasive that we are more willing to doubt the laws of physics than to doubt our own minds. We can’t help assuming that perception equals reality. People underestimate the capacity of our brains to create their own convincing realities.
Intuition is greatly valued these days. You are advised to “trust your gut.” To be sure, intuition is often helpful, having been honed by evolution and personal experience. Trained intuition, such as that acquired by a specialist in their professional field over years of experience, can be especially helpful, and is very often accurate.
Cold hard objective data must be the ultimate arbiter when evidence obtained through rigorous scientific methodology contradicts our intuitions.
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