Throughout my life, I always ask the question: "What if I am wrong". This has really worked well and kept me out of lots of deep trouble. So I always question what I believe, and am never satisfied that what I believe is True. Call it Life Learned Humility.

1.When you ask yourself that question, do you answer it? If so, how can you believe whatever you give?

2. If you've learned to question yourself, doesn't that mean that you've learned something?

I do not answer yes or no. I always answer maybe. And whatever I decide is always being re-evaluated. It is very fluid, like a skilled sailing captain on the high seas.

Throughout my life, I always ask the question: "What if I am wrong".

Yes, and hopefully I keep questioning and learning. I enjoy flow. I have learned a lot from Tai Chi, table tennis, the Dao De Jing and Heraclitus. But I don't consider any of it True. Just a good direction for me at this time in my life.

Hi all,

As a life strategy I don't seek or hold Truths. I have found that Truths get me in trouble, because then I don't plan for any contingencies, it case I am wrong.

For example, during the last stock market Bull market, all of my friends went all in. Why? Because the stock market always goes up. They read it. They experienced it. They knew it! Absolutely. They thought I was crazy not getting in. Of course, they all lost half of their life savings, in some cases millions.

Now, my strategy is different. Last October I went into the market as all of my friends sold. I believed it was a good time to enter, but I thought I could be wrong. So I planned for it. As the market continued to slide into March, I continued to gradually invest, with the idea that I will make money, if and when the market reverses. I held my powder dry, and the strategy worked out very well.

I have many stories like the one above. Throughout my life, I always ask the question: "What if I am wrong". This has really worked well and kept me out of lots of deep trouble. So I always question what I believe, and am never satisfied that what I believe is True. Call it Life Learned Humility.

Rich

You seem to have forgotten what question it is that you ask yourself. Allow me to remind you:

It doesn't make any sense to answer this question with "Maybe". The question asks for a scenario about the future, especially one which is logically inferred from the present situation. Bearing this in mind, could you tell me how you usually answer the question that you ask yourself?




You consider it a good direction to go around learning things that are false?

Anyone might be wrong. But that does not mean that he is wrong. Suppose you believe that you have a winner in the market, but you ask yourself the question, what if I am wrong? And, as a consequence you don't invest, but it turns out that you were right all along, and you have lost the money you did not make. There are many stories like that too, of people who have been too timid to invest, and as a consequence lost money. It is just as bad to lose money by not making it when you have the chance, as to lose money any other way. After all, why might not the truth be that you ought to have invested?

I think "maybe" is a totally reasonable way to go about life. Quantum physics is all about maybe and probability. It is the way life is. Of course, if you prefer yes and no, then that is fine with me. Maybe I am right. Maybe I am wrong. Maybe I am partially right and partially wrong. All kinds of possibilities, and as I gain skill, I am better able to navigate through waters.

If I ask you "Are you going to the store or not?" and you answer "Cloudy with a chance of showers in the afternoon," I might assume that you are insane, because your answer wouldn't have anything to do with the question I asked. Similarly, it is completely nonsensical to answer "What if I am wrong?" with "Maybe." It's not that it's a bad answer; it's literally a meaningless answer. It does not mean anything in the context of the question.

As a life strategy I don't seek or hold Truths. I have found that Truths get me in trouble, because then I don't plan for any contingencies, it case I am wrong.

For example, during the last stock market Bull market, all of my friends went all in. Why? Because the stock market always goes up. They read it. They experienced it. They knew it! Absolutely. They thought I was crazy not getting in. Of course, they all lost half of their life savings, in some cases millions.

Now, my strategy is different. Last October I went into the market as all of my friends sold. I believed it was a good time to enter, but I thought I could be wrong. So I planned for it. As the market continued to slide into March, I continued to gradually invest, with the idea that I will make money, if and when the market reverses. I held my powder dry, and the strategy worked out very well.

I have many stories like the one above. Throughout my life, I always ask the question: "What if I am wrong". This has really worked well and kept me out of lots of deep trouble. So I always question what I believe, and am never satisfied that what I believe is True. Call it Life Learned Humility.

You consider it a good direction to go around learning things that are false?

I don't learn true or false. I just learn from making mistakes, because that is the only way to learn (that I know of), and I try to have contingencies for when I make mistakes, because I know it happens. I don't assume that what I will do is True. I just assume things can happen, because the world is in constant flux, and anything can happen - and usually does.

Things may turn out well, or it may not. My investment philosophy which has worked very well takes into account both sides. I am never so sure of myself that I go all in. I measure the situation (like a good navigator), and make the choice that I believe points me in the right direction, but still leaves me a safety valve in case I am wrong.

Well, everyone has a different truth and that's the truth. LOL. Seriously though, I think people are almost tricked into seeking truth outside themselves and end up following a man made truth. If there were such a thing as ultimate truth, would you consider that you and I and everyone on earth is the living truth? Truth is unique to us all, even if it's the same truth.

Seriously though, I think people are almost tricked into seeking truth outside themselves and end up following a man made truth. If there were such a thing as ultimate truth, would you consider that you and I and everyone on earth is the living truth?

Truth is unique to us all, even if it's the same truth.

What you put in is what you'll get out, does this not apply to life?

Who says they are false? Discovering and learning is not a bad direction at all. What is it you are leading into? You call it false, I'm interested in what gave you that idea?

Good way to learn and grow. I think that when we are ready, when the time is right, when we are balanced, and when we go within ourselves seeking silence it is only then can we truly discover truth. Let the truth shine outward through who you are and what you do in your life. I'm a believer that when the point comes where we can overcome money and ego and seek the still waters of our inner mind and the silent whisperings within nature, we will rise above all that we think we need into an understanding and a knowing... I'm not calling it truth but the results of working knowingly with creation and your fellow man in harmony and balance are positive and life changing.

When you say that people are "living truths" I am afraid you have lost me. Things, entities, cannot be truths. A chair cannot be a truth, nor can a person be a truth. You would have to explain to me what you could possibly mean by saying such a thing. It seems to be what philosophers call, a "category mistake". Like saying that the square root of - 1 is purple. It makes no sense. And what "truth is unique to us all" is something I find bewildering. What could that mean?

I myself wouldn't call that a truth, though you might. But I have certainly observed lots of what you describe. I think people use this search for truth as a means to congregate as groups around a leader. Being part of a group is very comforting, and I have observe that people do this all of the time.



I would say that we all see things differently, even if it appears to be the same. The reason being is that we all occupy our own unique space/time in the universe, and therefore have our own individual perspective - what I call Individual Consciousness.

The way I look at things, is that there is an Individual Consciousness that is learning, and some things we learn very well (we call this luck), and other things are yet to learn, and it is the second part that keeps us interested in Life.



It is my own philosophy which I developed over many years. I delve into many different types of activities. I observe what I am doing and what others are doing. And a create a model in my mind that makes sense to me. Lots of my thoughts are influenced by Itzhak Bentov, and other ancient cultures. Not just Greece, but Eastern philosophies, American Indian, Polynesian, etc. I look for cross currents, and see how patterns fit together and what they might mean. Camus' Myth of Sisyphus as well as The Fall were quite interesting (the Absurdity of Life). I just look for intersections of thoughts between myself and others that I read.



Thanks for sharing with me your perspective about Life.

Regards,
Rich

Best of luck to you in your path of life. Hope to see you around the forums and look forward to other responses. Hmmm... What if I'm wrong? :sarcastic:

I am right, and I can show I am right. And they are wrong, and it can be shown they are wrong. And perspective has nothing at all to do with the truth of what causes conceiving children.

Hi again,

That's fine with me. But please understand my problem. I come across hundreds of people in my life who tell me that they know the Truth (maybe thousands). My problem is that all of the Truths are different. So it will take me some time to sort it all out. Give me some time, OK?

Rich

I know that. I know that like a ship's captain.

I know that. I know that like a ship's captain.

Quite to the point!

Not all truths are different. Many people believe that Quito is the capital of Ecuador. There are over two million residents of Quito, and I bet all of them believe the same thing, that Quito is the capital.

Yes, some people think they know things, but they are mistaken. On the other hand, some people know things, and they are not mistaken.

When people disagree about what is true, I guess we have to look at the evidence, and try to discover which one is correct, and which is not correct. But, I suppose you already know that.

It may very well be. But, could you tell me, what's the point?

Well, the only way of Knowing, is to take a poll. The problem however is that as soon as you take the poll of one person and move on to the next, the poll is already obsolete. So it is really difficult to Know.


Are you 100% sure about this? It is the crux of the question.

Evidence is all over the place. You can look at it from this way or that way. And then someone makes a decision. Here in the U.S. hundreds of people are on death row who are innocent. Who knows how many people have been put to death who were innocent. In Illinois, all capital punishments were set aside because of this monstrosity in human behavior. Just the result of people who were sure of themselves and had the evidence to back them up.

Rich

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The ship's captain has to make a decision, and must feel sure of himself/herself at the time. There is no recourse. There is no intrinsic truth to what he does. It is a personal feeling. The ship may end up capsizing? Was the captain wrong at the time the decision was made?

Rich