Choices and Illusions (9 page)

through this same word lens should be even more conspicuously

ridiculous. Still, for most, it is precisely through the lens of words that both self and the world are known.

We know much more than we know, at least about ourselves.

We all came into this world knowing how to naturally sense our

environment, how to explore and provide honest feedback about

our feelings, how to allow our imaginations to deliver intuitions

and images without challenge, and then to feel them for that value

alone. But alas, we all learned to be educated and to cherish thinking, not just free thinking, but thinking according to the taught

order of correct thinking (e.g., mathematics, logic, and so on). Once the rules of thinking were learned, we were graded on our ability to reproduce the method in our every walk and talk of life, including

how we talk to ourselves.

There is a great book titled
A Little Book on the Human Shadow

by Robert Bly that adds yet another relevant dimension here. The

idea is simple: not only do we come into the world equipped with

honesty and innocence, but we openly express these qualities until

we are taught otherwise. At some point others have told us negative things about ourselves—aspects of ourselves that we then begin

to hide. Sometimes we tuck these parts away so well that we hide

them from ourselves. So when little Johnny is told that it’s not okay to get angry, for instance, he hides the anger. When Johnny is told that he shouldn’t cry, he hides tear-inducing emotions, and so on.

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In Bly’s words, he puts it in a “long bag” that he will drag with

him all his life.2 One day the long bag is so full of what we have

hidden that we become immobilized by its weight. Growth stops,

and we stagnate. Sometimes we are too afraid to look into the long

bag, to say nothing of beginning to unload it in healing ways. That does not stop the contents from unloading on us, however. One

day Johnny finds himself all tight inside, and suddenly his anger

explodes on his wife or children—he is over the top and perhaps

without a reason at all.

Subverting Our Natural Selves

As we incorporate our learned methods of thinking with our

acquired meanings or values for events and words, we subvert our

natural selves to the higher order of being what we should be—

unnatural. Our extended dependent maturation made us particu-

larly vulnerable to such basic needs as protection and nourishment

and, therefore, additionally vulnerable to supplanting ourselves

with the personification of what was expected, what was accepted,

what was tolerated, what brought reward, and what avoided pun-

ishment. To that extent, even in rebellion, we formed a bond

with a self that was perhaps alien to our true selves. Moreover, we anchored all of this emotional memory in and with words, and

then we explained ourselves and our emotional outbursts using

a socially acceptable vocabulary such as, “It’s okay to get even.”

This only further masked our real feelings (insecurities such as

anger, fear, and isolation) while encouraging additional distortions.

Of course, there was always the alternative—outright rejection—

although this, too, is a distorted perspective. For many people,

this distortion translates into a poor self-image: “I’m no good.”

My research with incarcerated criminals suggests that there is yet

another step, or level, to this kind of distortion—the step from high self-alienation to and including high social alienation. When this

occurs, the self-image is verbalized more like this: “I’m no good,

and neither are you. You [people like you] did it to me. You [some-

one] made me this way.”

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As semantic descriptions are built, semantic reactions or

responses are encoded and a semantic belief system is coherently

hinged to the degree that coherence is possible within the rules of thinking as we have learned them. When incoherence is obvious, a

defense mechanism is employed to mask the failure, and semantic

distortions are created.

To a cognitive psychologist, this kind of thinking is known as

cognitive dissonance, or holding two opposing views, opinions,

or beliefs without recognizing that they are mutually exclusive.

(Remember the example I used earlier, in which individuals desired

to tax the rich until it was their money being taxed.) The outside

world, together with the inside world, has at this point become

more or less a series of semantic anchors composed of semantic

descriptions, semantic reactions, and semantic beliefs and distor-

tions all stitched together like a fisherman’s net with semantic

references definitionally reinforcing each other.

False to Fact

To use the words of scientist Alfred Korzybski, who devel-

oped semantic theory, our world has now become, perhaps more

often than any sane person would like to admit, false to fact and

therefore necessarily distorted. As Korzybski puts it, the difference between sanity and insanity can be found in false-to-fact distortions that are semantic in nature.3 It is precisely the mechanism of semantic distortions that underlies thinking processes that are or

become neurotic or psychotic, and that gives rise to self-sabotaging behavior and self-limiting beliefs. This very same mechanism—and

mechanism
is a good word because the process becomes so automatic that it operates without our conscious awareness— martials

our defenses to action whenever our semantic descriptions, seman-

tic reactions, and semantic beliefs and distortions (semantic pro-

cesses) are challenged. In fact, the unconscious pervasiveness of

the mechanistic nature of these semantic processes is such that

even the most knowledgeable of specialists on the matter must

maintain a constant vigil to guard against them. This may explain

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why an individual can succeed brilliantly in a given field and fail miserably in another.

Our language usage, the value and meaning we attach to words,

can blind our rational thinking. We could effectively argue that

genius escapes this language barrier, for genius goes beyond the

boundaries, sees the common differently, and gains a perspective

not formerly found. Our world not only assigns values to words

but also insists on a sort of “is-ness” property that somehow gives the word an existence of its own. The label, the noun, becomes the

thing. The verb may even vicariously become the action.

We all can be fooled by word propositions that address defi-

nitional meanings, is-ness, and rules, the so-called logic of our

methods and use (or misuse) of language and thinking. A theist

could argue that God is all-powerful, while the atheist might refute this claim with such a question as, “Can God create a stone so

large he can’t lift it?” Word traps and their confusion have led to many atrocities.

It’s easy to forget the nature of personal truth when it masquer-

ades in an argument of reason. logic and linguistics make asser-

tions about many things that are simply false to fact. For example, logic asserts that a gallon is equal to a gallon. This is simply not true from many perspectives, including the most obvious. A gallon

of water added to a gallon of alcohol does not equal two gallons of combined fluid. Ergo, 1 + 1 = 2 is not necessarily so in the “real”

world, for no two things are alike in every way. Additionally, it is not possible to know the so-called total of anything. Words are not the things they represent, and what they are supposed to represent

is much more, and much less, than could ever be written. Indeed,

as has been said many times, probably in its most noteworthy form

by the philosopher ludwig Wittgenstein, “Whatever we say about

something, it is also not that.” Words are not things, and word

things, such as a griffin, do not necessarily exist.

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Illusions

So if our words trick us, then that “stream of consciousness,” in

the words of American philosopher William James, also tricks us.

All those inner conversations with ourselves, all the self-talk, trick us just as assuredly. Still, that is not the only illusion our minds are capable of.

If our words trick us, then that “stream of consciousness,”

in the words of William James, also tricks us.

When in doubt, most people will trust their own judgment

and senses—in fact, it is very hard not to trust our own experi-

ences. Yet our biology and psychology function in such a way that

we have to question even our own experiences and feelings if we

are to have any chance of discovering “the truth.” The following

illusions are very interesting, and you may be familiar with many

of them. The important thing here for you to realize is that if your senses can trick you in this way, what can you really trust? Once

you have understood how easily you can be tricked into thinking

something that you can see with your own eyes is just not true,

then it becomes more conceivable that many other things that you

hold to be true may in fact not be so—and your journey to finding

yourself can actually begin. A word of caution, though, as William

James once said: “A great many people think they are thinking

when they are merely rearranging their prejudices.”

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So, let’s start with some visual illusions. We often see what is

not there and often fail to see what is. Further, we are very suggestible and can easily see what is suggested. let’s take some common

images for purposes of illustration and turn this idea into experi-

ence. The following is commonly circulated on the Internet:

Figure 3

Art by Antonio Zamora, derived from a design by A. Kitaoka

Reprinted with permission.

(For links to this and many other illusions that work better in color on a computer screen, go to
www.eldontaylor.com/choicesandillusions
.)

Stare a moment at the image in Figure 3, and you will find that

the gears seem to move. Change your gaze from center to corners,

and different gears seem to move or move more rapidly. Of course,

in reality nothing moves at all.

The next picture should be looked at in a special way. It appears

on a page by itself for this reason. When you turn the page, look

only at the page. Stare at the center three dots. Concentrate on

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those dots for one minute. Stare only at the dots, and after that

minute, turn and look at a blank wall. Gaze at the wall for approximately 45 seconds. Allow yourself to relax your focus, but keep your gaze on the same space on the wall, even if you think that nothing

is going to happen. Something unique will happen, and you should

know that this can be done with any number of pictures. What

you will see will amaze you, even startle you.

Turn the page, and follow these instructions. Enjoy!

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