Should Be Known

(Full Notes)

Saturday, August 29, 2020

I said that it is a delusion that you're worthless.  It's correct that it's untrue.  But it's only untrue because God loves us with a perfect love, right?  If not for that, we'd be in real trouble, yes?  I think about all this stuff, if not for the atonement of Jesus Christ, we would be in real trouble.  There's a logical way in which that works, seems to me.  If you're smart, and insightful, you can see that this life is kind of meaningless and certainly your own life wouldn't matter too much.  But that's ignorant of the spiritual truth that we are of infinite worth to our Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ.  That's ignorant of the truth that we existed before this life and will exist after, forever both ways. 

Well how do we make progress on this quest to understand psychology, with the aid of the truths we know and with the idea of self-deception? 

Monday, September 14, 2020

Hold on.  Before I answer that - we existed from eternity to eternity.  We are eternal beings.  Is it correct to say that we have intrinsic worth, or is that meaningless independent of our God, who is in a position to love us and bring us to a level of progression where He is?  Other people might love us, too.  Our parents, for example, or our friends, or someone else who is filled with the love of God.  I guess I don't know if there is such a thing as intrinsic worth of a being, independent of who they're worth something to.  But we can be worth something to ourselves, surely.  Or not, if we are not filled with the love of God for ourselves.  Is that weird to say that way?  Seems if we are filled with the love of God we are not so concerned about ourselves and our self-worth.  It's only under that influence of the adversary that we begin questioning that. 

Alright, on to the question of how to understand psychology.  Let's do some thinking-exploring here.  I wonder if I'm making it more complicated than it is.  Well, you have to understand it against the wiles of the adversary that are out there, right, to fully understand it?  But let's pretend I'm making it more complicated than it is.  It's not complicated, let's say.  God loves us with an infinite love, we are of infinite worth to him, we are eternal beings, like He is, of the same species, if you will.  We are as gods, knowing good and evil.  We are the offspring of God.  And if His offspring, then heirs.  We are not talking about our mortal lives.  Surely our mortal lives are important.  But not so much, compared to our eternal existence.  We can never be obliterated, as far as our spirits go.  We die spiritually when we are separated from God.  That's spiritual death.  The second death is hell.  Or being separated from God (again?)  Hell is a separation from God.  We are cast off, as it were.  To be redeemed, at last, to be sure, but cast off nonetheless.  And some, the sons of perdition, will remain cast off at the last day.  It is a separation from God.  A separation from His presence. 

Moses had a confrontation with the adversary trying to get him to believe he was something different than he was, less than he was.  "Son of man," he called him. 

And this is depression, is it not, with everything that springs therefrom?  What springs from the belief that you are just a son of man?  Well lots of wickedness does, I suppose.  And just one manifestation of that is the specific belief that you are worthless.  It's just another run-of-the-mill lie of the adversary, like so many more, but this one happens to be specific in that you are worth less than other people.  Maybe I should say that.  Because it's different from the lie of grandiosity, for example, where you're better than other people.  More important, superior, of greater value.  This is the lie that you're of lesser value.  And probably opposed to narcissism in that you think you're wrong all the time as opposed to right all the time.  They're really both lies, and they're tied together.  Both have in them comparison.  They both share the lie that people are superior one to another.  We're really not.  We may be in a worldly sense, better than each other at this and that, more valued by the world and society.  But the truth is we're equally valuable, in the sight of our Father in Heaven, who sees things aright always.  That is the truth.  Jew and gentile, black and white, bond and free, male and female.  All are alike unto God. 

_____

Yea, the lie that you are just a "son of man" probably is not the depression lie, specifically.  The lie that you are just a "son of man" is probably a lot of things, it's kind of everything.  They all fall under that.  And that we should worship Satan.  Lots probably falls under that, maybe everything.  The lie of depression is one half of the "you are to be compared with others" lie, whatever that is.  "You are better than others" and "you are not as good as others" are two sides of the same coin.  The "you are to be compared with others" coin.  Or the "you are whatever you are to the world" coin.  The "you are worthwhile if the world sees you as worthwhile" coin.  Boy is that a dangerous trap.  Then if you're popular you're worthwhile and if you're unpopular you're worth-less.  And that's where we are.  The world tempts us to be that way.  That is what we see.  It's the world of the physical senses, of science.  Everything that's not spiritual.  That whole half of reality, makes it seem like our worth is determined by how others see us, and how we fare in this world - by the "management of the creature."  And by the appearance of things, some of us are successful and worthwhile, and others of us are definitely not.  Eesh!  So it takes faith to believe otherwise, since it takes faith to see anything besides what we see (with our physical senses).  It takes faith.  And we all have faith, to some degree, right?  We may not all believe in God, or assent to it, or know it, or know very much.  But faith is the motivating force (what's the phrase from the lectures on faith again?), it's the spring of action or whatever in all intelligent beings.  (Does that mean the beasts don't act on faith?  Hmm…)  Anyway we all have faith to some degree, right?  I question it because the Lord says "as all have not faith…"  But He also says "o ye of little faith" or whatever to Peter, who had just walked on the water. 

(Full Notes)

Wednesday, August 12, 2020

Just read in Bill Bryson’s book how chemistry got on a firm footing with the invention of the periodic table. Psychology needs one of those. Seriously. Can the principles of self-deception do this? 

What are some indubitable examples of self-deception?  My first answer was depression and anxiety. But what’s easier?  From a distance those ones seem pretty obvious. Their sufferers think they’re generally worthless or that something bad is always going to happen, respectively. Who thinks that?  Depressed and anxious people. But come on, really, you’re worthless?  You realize that’s not rational, right?  No more worthless than anybody else. Plus none of us is really worthless because God loves us with an infinite love. So really you’re thoughts are delusional. Everybody should know and see from a mile away how delusional you are. (We don’t, though, as much as we should.)

Sunday, August 16, 2020

How mean.  Saying people who struggle with mental illness are delusional.  But it's true.  We're all delusional, really.  Oh, that I could expose that!  Well let's try. 

I suppose we should start with examples that will be obvious to more people. 

Consult Internet…

Well 1st thing is that when you look up "common delusions" Google suggests

…in depression

…in schizophrenia

…in grandeur

…in dementia

…in bipolar

…in alzheimers

…in psychosis

…so somebody seems to know that at least those things involve delusions.  I didn't see anxiety there but it most certainly does, too.

Some others I found include:

Thought that somebody is out to get you

Saturday, August 29, 2020

We say we're trying to understand depression and anxiety, and "tackle them to the ground".  If somebody says, "you can't understand depression and anxiety, because they're different in every case,"  then we'll say, "well we're trying to understand the part that's common to everybody."  There is a part that's common to everybody.  Self-deception is common to everybody.  There might be other principles that are.  We can do that.  I believe that.

(Full Notes)

Saturday, July 4, 2020

The thing with the learned behaviors mentioned in the last podcast is that it can be explained in terms of self-deception.

Again about animals being used for experimentation for psychology.  I don't know.  I know I don't like it, and I'd far prefer to see how far we can get by studying self-deception, as opposed to the brain, personally. 

Saturday, August 1, 2020

So with every case there is probably an element of the trap and an element of personal responsibility, or an element of being a victim and an element of personal responsibility.  Hard to know how much of which it is, and what a person needs to hear.  In the church sometimes there are things, I think, that most people need to hear and so in public addresses that may be what we hear.  But surely there are those who that doesn't apply to, for which it might make a person do the opposite of what they should.  I'm thinking of the term "damaging", that gets used, and sometimes erroneously I believe, especially in teachings of the apostles.  But I suppose there is that possibility.  We are told they teach the rule, not the exception.  But then you admit there is an exception sometimes.  I just wish we could teach both sides and say maybe that many of you need the following advice, and some of you probably don't need it and need the opposite, and you must judge honestly for yourself.  That's what I wish we could do.

If there's always an element of victim-hood and an element of personal responsibility (hard to know how much of which) then a person can't just snap out of something, and sometimes they can.  Yes, sometimes they can.  This is when it's, I guess, mostly personal responsibility that is the problem and they're not in the trap so deep that they can't snap out of it.  Other times the reverse is true, then, where somebody is caught in a snare and, not that somehow miraculously you can't get out of a deep pit fast, but sometimes you can't, right, and it will take longer and no matter your willpower you just can't snap out of something.  No way.  Miracles happen, and maybe it's not a matter of it being a miracle or not that you are able to get out of a deep pit suddenly or whatever, but sometimes it ain't going to happen.  Not right away, anyway.  Have to make small choices along the way, and, maybe, still have a miracle to get you out of the trap. 

In any case I can see how basically sometimes you can snap out of something, and sometimes you can't. 

I want to understand about anxiety.  And depression.  The big thing I have is that self-deception is a part of it.  Right?  That's the whole hulabaloo.  Why didn't Terry Warner take it there?  He knew about mental illness.  But why wouldn't he apply his principles to it?  Because he looked at people who struggled with that and maybe himself and just couldn't bring himself to condemn them?  Well why condemn anybody else?  Of course you don't condemn them.  Don't condemn anybody.  Leave the condemnation out of it.  That's for God, right?  In every case, surely.  Is the theory of self-deception one of condemnation?  I say it doesn't have to be.  It can be, if you do that, but it doesn't have to be.  We can love people who are self-deceivers, as you might call it--it's all of us!  That's the thing with my wonderful mentor, Terry Warner.  I think you can take what he thought even further--it applies to everybody and everything.  It's just the mechanics of a world of light and darkness.  That's how I've always felt, I mean at least I've always felt that it extends beyond interpersonal relationships and beyond the cases where he illustrates it.  How can I find the basic insight?  The basic insight.  I see it most readily in the religious self-deception, but it's also apparent in interpersonal relations.  But it's really also apparent in everything.  I need to clarify that more.  Have plenty of examples ready at hand.

Religious self-justification and self-deception - a person downplays God and His word and His messengers as a justification for disobedience.

Interpersonal self-deception - a person downplays the reality of other people in order to justify their treating them bad (again, the justification and the thing it justifies are kind of the same thing, no?)

Non-religious and non-interpersonal self-deception - like for example littering.  The bible doesn't say not to litter.  And it's possible a person might never have been taught not to litter.  But surely the light of Christ teaches a man not to litter (at least I imagine).  So if you do it you have to justify it somehow.  There's something in you that rules against it.

Let's do a better example - stealing.  It's a commandment of God and it is in the Bible.  But say you don't know the Bible and maybe even say nobody has taught you not to steal.  You still know it's wrong.  How?  The light of Christ.  Everybody knows it's wrong.  Nobody has to teach you.  It's easier if they do, because otherwise you are "ignorant".  But ignorantly sinning is still sinning, because it's wrong, and if it's wrong you will know that, through the Light of Christ if no other way, yes?  It may only be faint, your knowing it, but you know right from wrong, whether anybody has taught you or not, because everybody who has the mental capacity of an eight-year-old or whatever knows right from wrong.  That's how I see it.

Saturday, August 8, 2020

Reading about these guys who made discoveries and steps forward or whatever in science.  Wouldn't it be nice if I could be more scientific about things with self-deception?  Divorce myself a little from the dependence on religious belief?  I don't know if it's possible or not, but what if I offered the thing with self-deception as an observation, and made the case more strongly?  Surely if I did that nobody could deny that self-deception exists.  It's all around us.  It's in each of us.  I need to put the evidence for that on the tip of my tongue.   Then once that's established we can go to the next step of why it happens, and be clear that that part is a postulation (scientifically speaking).  The next part I guess is that for some reason any time we go against our higher knowledge of right and wrong we have to justify it.  Or maybe the next part is that there's a universal knowledge of right and wrong we have, not a static one, but one that rules every situation we're in - not reason, as some philosophers have wondered, mere logic based on what must be best for the common good - but a living, continuous thing, not based on man's knowledge at all, but God's.  Man may have a part of the knowledge of God, but he will never have all of it, and therefore will never be able to judge aright, of himself, in every situation.  But God has all knowledge and knows what is right in any given situation.  And if man has any access to the knowledge of God, even if not through the physical senses but just the spiritual, then he can know it, if not for sure all the time, for partially sure.  And he can learn to recognize that spiritual sense, if you will, that instinct, that inherent knowledge of right and wrong.  I'm trying to say that we have a certain access to the knowledge of right and wrong through the light of Christ, as the Book of Mormon identifies it.  Mormon, specifically.  Spirit of Christ/light of Christ (light is not capitalized there). 

Seems like after the initial insight I went straight into postulation stuff.  Maybe that's how it has to go?  But surely I can make a stronger case for what I'm saying.  Lay it out nice and transparent-like.  I believe in being transparent.  And I would say that what I'm saying about self-deception is not like it's a major tenet of my religion or anything.  It may be right, but it's not a major tenet of my religion.  The major tenets of my religion are that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and came and atoned for the sins of man and died and was resurrected and his church was re-established in our day by Joseph Smith.  But that's a story for another day.  It may be related, it may be right, but it's not necessary for the scientific community to know that.  They just need to see, like I do, that self-deception happens, and at least see that an explanation is needed, and see that I'm offering one, and I need to offer it in the clearest and most effective way possible.  Or that Terry Warner offered one.  To him what we go against is more like our duty to our fellow man, and I think it's an even more universal thing.  But to him it was living, too, and breathing, and dynamic, meaning it could adapt to any given situation.  At least I think he believes that. 

So first we notice self-deception.  You always start with the insight.  Every scientific theory does that first.  Next you try to explain it.  And if you're a bad theorist you mix up your insight with your postulation and you put it all in one like it's all the truth, and make it hard for people to decode.  Let's try not to do that.  Let's be as transparent as we can.  So like I said, next we try to explain it.  Why would someone deceive themselves?  (And try to deceive other people?)  To me with my religious background it seems obvious that the reason is to justify oneself for doing wrong.  That's the only thing I can see.  Are there any other explanations, I mean possible explanations?  You'd have to come up with some other reason people can't handle believing stuff.  Too hard, for some reason, maybe, but then why too hard?  I don't know, this is unclear to me how you'd come up with another explanation.  The only one that makes sense to me is that a person is going against a higher knowledge and is justifying themselves.  Somebody come up with a better one.  Einstein offered his theory of gravity, and it's the best one, and people still want to come up with something more complicated.  But science tells us to choose the least complicated one, and that's his.  I'd say the same with this theory of self-deception.  Somebody come up with a better one, one that's simpler and more elegant.  I don't think you can.  But I don't believe in continuing revelation, you say - I don't believe in God.  Well nobody's going to make you, but somehow I'd say we have to account for the fact that it seems that there is a right and wrong and we are bound by it.  That's what it seems like, I say.  A "perceived" right and wrong, you say.  Well then why does everybody self-deceive, even people who supposedly don't believe in such thing as a right and wrong? 

See, this gets so hard.  How do you talk to somebody about this?  Can I do better?

You establish that self-deception happens.  Start with the obvious cases, I guess.  Then go to the more subtle and make the case that it's just all of us.

(Full Notes)

Saturday, June 13, 2020

I really think there’s something to learning attitudes and behaviors from parents in more subtle ways than we sometimes imagine. I would like to understand the mechanics of this. Why not try to describe this?  Surely someone has already.

Tuesday, June 16, 2020?

I've been reading from 'Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith'.  I don't know that I've read more lucid speech, more clear and simple and to the point, and on-target.  Very inspiring, not to mention informative.

So the thing with learning from our parents (or caregivers), is that we learn from them how to deal emotionally, or however you want to say it.  We learn from them, not because they deliberately teach us, but because we sense their emotional needs, their emotional pressures.  They in effect emotionally pressure us, despite all efforts, to have the issues they have.  I'm not sure how we can avoid that besides actually fixing ourselves first.  And how can we fix everything about ourselves before having any kids?  Be like Abraham and be 100 when you have your first child?  I just think we are going to pass on stuff, like it or not, and we just have to do our best, period.  We love our kids and try to repent ourselves all the time and admit our faults as we discover them and just do our best, and our kids will be imperfect too.  Thus we all have things to struggle with our whole lives - gives us character and makes us strong.  That's just what I think, that's how I see it.  I don't know that there's anything we can deliberately do to keep from passing stuff on to our kids except perfect ourselves as best we can.  And maybe after that don't worry about it.  Like both don't try to do something deliberate to not pass stuff on, and don't despair and obsess over it and fault yourself for your kids' faults.  But maybe be aware that your issues will get passed on, and any pride or laziness on your part will exacerbate things, and surely unrepented sin will make you accountable for your childrens' sins in a way that you wouldn't be if you were trying honestly.  That's how I'm seeing it.

How does that pressure from our parents work?  Alice Miller talked about this. 

Alright, so what am I going to talk about in my podcast?  Need something.  But that is a true principle that I just mentioned.  Not that I said it all right, necessarily.  But there is emotional pressure that children are sensitive to, in different ways and perhaps to different degrees, that they respond to and thus learn how to think and act and feel.  You never get away from the light of Christ, though, so untruthfulness always feels not quite right and breeds self-deception.  Or requires it.  Or is it. 

So for me, for us here, self-deception is the great insight.  Self-deception as a necessity, when we go against the light.  And the fact that the light is stable.  It is constant.  It is forever there, unchanging, independent of us, or of our notions.  I don't understand the light of Christ fully.  But I do think it's clear from the scriptures that it permeates all things, and that you can't get away from it, and that it comes from God.  It dictates how we should act, and when we act contrariwise we enter a false world.  How does it work being partly in a false world and partly in a true one?  I don't know.  We speak of having the Spirit of the Lord or not, and perhaps that's true.  I don't know.  Either we flip often between the two, or there's some kind of mix.  But it does seem a little like it's one or the other, like not having the Spirit goes along with being prideful and comparative and everything else.  But I'll tell you I either flip a lot or there's some other mix. 

Joseph Smith's mother said there are two spirits operating upon you, a good and a bad.  Tell me more about those spirits, I pray.  They're people, right?  Good and bad. . .they have to be.  But surely we have more spirits operating upon us than two.  A person can be encircled about.  Legion was possessed by many at once.  How does that work?  The Lord taught about this, and I feel like Joseph Smith taught about this. 

43 When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none.

44 Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished.

45 Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation.

I believe the Lord is not talking figuratively here.  He's not.  There are laws and principles upon which the spirits operate on us, which haven't been fully revealed.  But there's one principle the Lord gave us right there.  If a person is once enlightened, and repents, and later returns to their sin, their second state is worse than the first, and it had been better if they had not known the Lord in the first place. 

I would like to read more of Joseph Smith, and Brigham Young. 

Surely I will be run into the ground for saying that evil spirits have anything to do with mental health.  Sorry.  It's just the mechanics of it.  Don't have to admit it, don't have to understand it.  But then you're left as you are now, not understanding anything about mental health and its causes, and how do you like that?  Wo unto the deaf who will not hear, and unto the blind who will not see.  Your woe in this case is that you are left with a big question mark regarding all these things, awaiting additional data to come in regarding the brain.  Must we kill and abuse so many rats and cats and monkeys in the cause of understanding the brain?  I don't know.  But I say we're barking up the wrong tree if we're looking for principles of self-deception in that way.  Am I being too extreme?

Are spirits on one side of the explanation, the spiritual side, and brain function on the other, and they're both just as true?  Looking at the creation of the earth, there's the spiritual creation, and there's what happened naturally.  I don't know if it's a creation or not.  Seems from the reading that there's just a spiritual creation and whatever happened naturally was a result of it.  I could study it I suppose, might be something there for me to learn.  Still not sure what to make of Eric Skousen's theory.  Lot of great insights and a good collection of inspired teachings, to be sure.  The insights are always right, and the theories are usually at least partly wrong.  Maybe helpful. 

Ok, well I'm going to keep writing here and I'm still thinking about anxiety.  What is it?  Too harsh to just call it fear?  Or is it true?  Surely it's a process full of deliberate effort, like digging a giant ditch and casting up a wall of earth.  Takes a great deal of effort and sweat.  But what pride will be had when. . .I should say, what satisfaction will be had when the victory is won!  Perhaps I am able to see some small victory already.  But it must be necessary to know where to cast the earth and not just dig willy nilly, filling in where one has dug just a moment before.  That's what I do, I fear, oftentimes.  My goal is to know how to direct my actions, or where to cast my earth, in order to waste less time and effort and make a more direct and steady course to my goal. 

The old crow is getting slow.

The young crow is not.

Of what the young crow does not know

The old crow knows a lot.

At knowing things the old crow

Is still the young crow’s master.

What does the slow old crow not know?

—How to go faster.

The young crow flies above, below,

And rings around the slow old crow.

What does the fast young crow not know?

—Where to go.1

From <https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2011/10/counsel-to-youth?lang=eng>

For me I suppose that's getting to bed earlier, taking breaks, exercising and eating well, practicing slowing down and enjoying stuff and people... 

I do read about these experiments involving mutilating the brains of animals and it troubles me a bit.  Our curiosity exceeds our desire to leave the poor animals at peace, or something.  I suppose it's meant to be for a good cause in the long run. . .  I still don't like it, though. 

Well have I progressed with anxiety?  Can we still say it's an unfortunate thing that happens to some people and our job is to do the best we can with it, while not making excuses, humbly, and we'll be judged on what we do with what we're given?  Surely that's all true.  But that's not enough.  Not if we want to really understand it.  Maybe we should admit that we can't judge in any given case how much a person can help or not, and that's not necessarily the point.  I suppose we can detect sometimes if a person is making excuses and warn against that.  But what of the mechanics - can't we understand the mechanics of it in a way that is super helpful and maps out for a person what can and does happen and just make them aware of it?  With a true understanding you won't be overly condemned, and you won't be overly excused.  You'll just be informed.  No one will be telling you, "you are doing this all yourself and you need to stop it," and no one will be telling you "you are a pure victim in this thing and there's nothing you can do."  Because neither is true, is it.  Yes, there may be too many voices saying the latter, that we are just victims, and so the inclination of some will be to swing the pendulum the other way and declare that we are all responsible.  But the truth is somewhere in the middle, right, and we can't judge exactly in every case how much a person is capable of stopping it.  Surely this is the case.

Monday, June 22, 2020

And beware me or anybody else telling you it's all one way or all the other - all victim or all responsible.  We've talked about the position of making us too responsible.  Perhaps I have done that myself.  If so it's for the reason I said - too many voices saying we're victims.  But you might as well be accurate if you can on this stuff. 

Surely a part of how much we are capable of effecting our own change is how deep we are in the trap.  And surely a part of that is our own choices.  And surely a part of it is beyond our choices, and that's important.  How do you tell how much of a person's trap is a result of their choices and how much is a result of things beyond their control?  How do you tell?  You don't, right, unless you're given special insight or inspiration to help that person?  But be awfully careful about judging someone - in any situation, right? 

Ok, I'm not saying you can't have insight into that, or even inspiration, you just have to be careful you don't judge.  Right?

(Full Notes)

Tuesday, May 19, 2020

It is

Tuesday,

Remember

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Friday,

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Sunday,

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For

I have

(Full Notes)

Sunday, May 3, 2020

Well

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Wednesday,

Did

Sunday,

Jordan

Sunday,

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How

Is

(Full Notes)

Thursday,

So

Does

When

So

Saturday,

How

Sunday,

Is a

Looking

Ugh,

Speaking

Thursday,

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Ok,

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What am I going to do for my podcast?  This stuff seems a little like drivel.  I don't want to waste anybody's time.  What is anxiety?  Let's

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