objectivity, seeing what you want to see, and the awakening of intelligence

[happy soul]

There's a channeled book that's similar to ACIM, called Steps to Knowledge, that has a year long workbook like ACIM does. Actually it's ONLY a workbook, there's no 'text' like in ACIM.

Anyway, one of the lessons is, 'I believe what I want to believe.' This echoes ACIM's lesson, 'I see all things as I would have them be.'

Basically, these books are saying that we all 'see what we want to see,' we believe what we want to believe.

Then how can we ever see the TRUTH?

It's simple. In order to see the truth, YOU HAVE TO WANT TO.

Your desire to know the truth has to be stronger than your desire to believe what suits your ego, your hopes, your pride, or fear.

J. Krishnamurti taught that we have to be aware of our tendency to distort truth, to project, to deceive ourselves. He called this, 'the awakening of intelligence.'

If we can be deeply aware of our tendency to 'see what we want to see,' we can become truly OBJECTIVE, and find a willingness to acknowledge truth and reality.

But we do need to recognize our tendency to deceive ourselves.

The philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein said, 'The easiest thing in the world to do is deceive yourself.'

Beware of self-deception!

This was a view put out by Paul Foster Case and William Gray (at least, probably many others). It comes down to accumulated experience and expectation. Both more or less said "We see what we think we know." But isn't that applicable to all the senses? And how we use experience to guide our navigation through our days?

As for truth, isn't that unique to us individually, pretty fluid? I sometimes think we never find it but successively build on what we believe it to be throughout our development. Wittgenstien was right - but development is about shucking off deceit and delusion isn't it? (To many it means the pain of being ruthlessly honest. In pathworking it needs extremes of patience waiting to be shown things and a lot of contemplation to consider what one's shown.) It's about getting at the Self. Once there we can synthesise what we have to do to interface with the mundane world and the demands it makes of us.

Even getting to Self is elusive. One thinks one's arrived yet something prompts them to realise they haven't...not quite.

[happy soul]

Originally Posted by Lorelyen

As for truth, isn't that unique to us individually, pretty fluid? I sometimes think we never find it but successively build on what we believe it to be throughout our development.

I agree that we successively build on our understanding. We grow in wisdom with time.

It's been said that the direction, rather than the rapidity, of your growth is what matters.

Retrogression with time is possible, so we need to make sure we're making progress, however slowly.

[inavalan]

You have a knack for thread subject lines that attract (my) attention. Somehow, always, I find that you mean by those something a little different than I thought :)

[happy soul]

Originally Posted by inavalan

You have a knack for thread subject lines that attract (my) attention. Somehow, always, I find that you mean by those something a little different than I thought :)

I see what you mean. I've actually thought about that kind of thing before, but not as it applies to my threads.

[FallingLeaves]

Originally Posted by happy soul

There's a channeled book that's similar to ACIM, called Steps to Knowledge, that has a year long workbook like ACIM does. Actually it's ONLY a workbook, there's no 'text' like in ACIM.

Anyway, one of the lessons is, 'I believe what I want to believe.' This echoes ACIM's lesson, 'I see all things as I would have them be.'

Basically, these books are saying that we all 'see what we want to see,' we believe what we want to believe.

Then how can we ever see the TRUTH?

It's simple. In order to see the truth, YOU HAVE TO WANT TO.

Your desire to know the truth has to be stronger than your desire to believe what suits your ego, your hopes, your pride, or fear.

J. Krishnamurti taught that we have to be aware of our tendency to distort truth, to project, to deceive ourselves. He called this, 'the awakening of intelligence.'

If we can be deeply aware of our tendency to 'see what we want to see,' we can become truly OBJECTIVE, and find a willingness to acknowledge truth and reality.

But we do need to recognize our tendency to deceive ourselves.

The philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein said, 'The easiest thing in the world to do is deceive yourself.'

Beware of self-deception!

a lot of people don't get this, but, you can't be objective or even know the truth if you are also into getting what you want and avoiding what you don't. Because you are essentially filtering your view if you do that, which belies both the idea of wanting objectivity and the idea of wanting truth.

[happy soul]

Originally Posted by FallingLeaves

a lot of people don't get this, but, you can't be objective or even know the truth if you are also into getting what you want and avoiding what you don't. Because you are essentially filtering your view if you do that, which belies both the idea of wanting objectivity and the idea of wanting truth.

That's really awesome, thanks for sharing it.

I was thinking about something like that (well, not like it, pretty much the exact same thing) recently. It's from Ken Keyes book, The Handbook to Higher Consciousness (which probably many of you are familiar with). One of the 'twelve pathways' is something like, 'I recognize how my emotion backed addictions influences my illusory version of the changing world of people and situations around me.'

He's basically saying the same thing you're saying. That when we have attachments, our 'version of things' will be influenced by that, and therefore not truly objective.

Thanks again I'm glad you brought that up!

[FallingLeaves]

Originally Posted by happy soul

That's really awesome, thanks for sharing it.

I was thinking about something like that (well, not like it, pretty much the exact same thing) recently. It's from Ken Keyes book, The Handbook to Higher Consciousness (which probably many of you are familiar with). One of the 'twelve pathways' is something like, 'I recognize how my emotion backed addictions influences my illusory version of the changing world of people and situations around me.'

He's basically saying the same thing you're saying. That when we have attachments, our 'version of things' will be influenced by that, and therefore not truly objective.

Thanks again I'm glad you brought that up!

at the risk of pushing too far I'll get closer to the point and say i was describing the situation with good and evil more than I was describing everyday emotional attachments. Although certainly it applies to both...

[Still_Waters]

Originally Posted by FallingLeaves

a lot of people don't get this, but, you can't be objective or even know the truth if you are also into getting what you want and avoiding what you don't. Because you are essentially filtering your view if you do that, which belies both the idea of wanting objectivity and the idea of wanting truth.

That's quite insightful and most people don't get that, as you pointed out. I agree completely.

There is a Taoist saying: "In utter emptiness and complete silence, simply watch the return". As you noted, "wanting" and/or "avoiding" interferes with the process. It's consistent with "Be still and know that I AM God" (Psalm 46:10) and "Blessed are the pure of heart for they shall see God" (Beatitudes from the Sermon on the Mount) as well as pivotal teachings from other traditions.

Relevant to the original poster, there is an excellent book by Krishnamurti called "The Awakening of Intelligence" and I believe that the poster was alluding to that by using those precise words. I've read the book and bought it for a friend.

Originally Posted by happy soul

I was thinking about something like that (well, not like it, pretty much the exact same thing) recently. It's from Ken Keyes book, The Handbook to Higher Consciousness (which probably many of you are familiar with). One of the 'twelve pathways' is something like, 'I recognize how my emotion backed addictions influences my illusory version of the changing world of people and situations around me.'

He's basically saying the same thing you're saying. That when we have attachments, our 'version of things' will be influenced by that, and therefore not truly objective.

That's quite an airy-fairy way of describing what can be very simply explained in psychology and ironically it brings you straight back to your seeing what you want to see. If you want to see this from a Spiritual perspective there you have it and you're falling into the trap you're trying to get out of, but often Spirituality doesn't want to know about psychology or anything other than Spirituality.


Seek the truth and find out how your head works and how it affects your reality, or keep to the Spiritual and incomplete truth, forget everything else and.... see only what you want to see???? When you understand your reasons for calling yourself Spiritual, when you understand yourself and what makes you tick you understand everything you need to know. While Spirituality uses words like 'attachments' and ''filtering' it's really your head's soft-wiring.