Developing Intellectual Honesty

Telling ourselves lies?  Sounds ominous!!… not surprisingly, it does a lot of damage to our well being.

We are not talking about the less significant lies, like “I can still fit into the pants I wore in High School.”  Which, while perhaps delusional (unless of course you can actually still fit into those pants!  In which case well done!) The little lies don’t damage our sense of reality in quite the same way that the big ones do.

While a truly intellectually honest person doesn’t ever lie to themselves, in this course we are mostly concerned with the lies that alter our worldview, convincing us that the world is a very different from place how it really is.  The kind of lies that ease our own guilt, and that allow us to blame everyone else for our problems.  The kind of lies that make us think that everyone else is out to get us, and that we are victims.  The kind of lies that we tell ourselves to protect our tribe (our political party) and to protect our own sense of well being.

Lying To Ourselves Can Make Us Feel Better, But At What Cost?

Sure, lying keeps us from having to face our own shortcomings as well as the shortcomings of our own political party, but is this avoidance of guilt worth the price we pay?  Is it worth the damage that it does to our own progress? Is it worth giving up on our own growth?  On our own futures?

There is no shame in making mistakes.  We all make mistakes.  There is no shame in having weaknesses, or in having done stupid things.  Listen, life is a journey.  We all started out at zero!  Which includes zero common sense!  So of course you have made mistakes!  The secret is not to lie to ourselves about our mistakes.  Because when we lie to ourselves, we will keep making the same mistakes over and over again!

If you can’t face your own faults, or the faults of your own political party, then you will never improve.  You will go through life like John, from the fourth example we read earlier.  Who kept seeking out get rich quick schemes instead of buckling down and doing the hard work.  You will end up spinning your wheels year after year, and never getting anywhere.  Very often people who end up like this, also end up blaming everyone else for the circumstances they find themselves in.  If you want to be like David or Maria, ie if you want to grow, to progress, to be successful, then you have to be willing to examine your own faults honestly, and make changes in your life.

Being Honest With Yourself Will Change The Course of Your Life

Truth matters.  Not just because it has inherent worth all on its own, though to be fair, we do believe that it does.  But it also matters because living a truthful life alters the course of your life.  Usually surprisingly rapidly.  When we start telling ourselves the truth, we begin to see where we need to make changes.  We begin to feel rather unsatisfied with the conditions that we find ourselves in.  Which helps us to begin to see that we can be more successful.  When we see a new path forward, we often can’t help but behave better.

Intellectual honesty will lead to an improvement in many aspects of your life.  It is difficult to predict how your life will improve because every case is so different, but don’t be surprised if you see yourself growing in education, in income, in your ability to have healthier relationships, and in your level of happiness.

With that in mind, let’s review some of the common lies that we tell ourselves in our own misguided attempts to protect our own feelings.