Fact Check
I recently spent Spring Break at the Coast (the Pacific Coast) - my favorite place. The weather was divine. One afternoon for a few hours, a cold front came in with some rain. I was walking on the beach when the rain arrived. I loved feeling the rain on my face, the chill in the air.
As I was walking along, I became aware of a thought that whispered in my ear "you are going to catch a cold being out in this weather."
That thought prompted some contemplation within me. What I contemplated was "is that really a fact - the idea that you will catch a cold if you are out in the chilly rain."
Perhaps that belief started many many years ago wherein, let's say, a child was playing out in the chilly rain, and the next day, upon waking, the child had a cold. The mom or dad then "associated" the child being out in the chilly rain as the cause of the cold. The mom then has an afternoon tea with the neighbor where she mentions that her child caught a cold from playing out in the chilly rain. The neighbor then shares that belief with others and the idea spreads like wildfire.
Here's a question to contemplate: "If it is a true "fact" that being out in the chilly rain causes one to get a cold, then everyone who is out in the chilly rain would catch a cold, right?
I didn't come down with a cold after walking on the beach in the chilly rain. Many people don't come down with colds when out in the chilly rain. So, we could say, it is not a "fact" that being out in the chilly rain causes a cold.
I am using the above as an example, but you could apply so many things to this very idea.
Yes, there are certain facts, such as, if you step in front of a moving train you most likely will be killed. That's a fact. But when it comes to so many of our demands that we place on our spouses and children (for example), those demands aren't based in fact at all. They are based in our opinions, our self-righteousness, our sense of superiority, our preferences and our strong demand to be seen in a certain light.
If you observe how most people communicate, it isn't true communication at all. True communication is to communicate from the right part of ourselves. All we have learned to do up to this point is to communicate from self-centered demands and opinions, accepting "others" when they agree with us and rejecting the ones that don't, when 99% of the time, what we are holding "people" to the fire for isn't fact at all.
Just because you read something doesn't make it a fact. Just because something says "it's based in science" doesn't make it a fact. Just because a person is highly regarded in the world, doesn't mean their word is fact. Just because the majority of people believe something, doesn't make it a fact.
Fact check yourself.
....Meaning: Admit to yourself that you could be wrong and most likely are. Admit to yourself that you truly don't know, because the truth is, you don't and nobody else does either.
The only transforming fact that exists in this world is that there exists a higher intelligence that is always there with us in each and every moment to guide us accordingly. It knows, we don't. It is right, and it is we who are wrong.
It is the true fact checker.
As difficult as it may be to swallow, earthly intelligence is limited. That's a fact.
When parents work to communicate properly with each other and agree to be guided by a higher intelligence, they raise children that learn something of humility and whole-hearted honesty that can be learned in no other way.
We all know the world can use a lot more of that....
Image courtesy of: Photo by Kristin Brown on Unsplash
Exercise for the week: See if you can catch yourself demanding to be "right", demanding to be the authority. Drop it and suffer it instead.
