How can I identify and eliminate my false beliefs? 5

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Identifying false beliefs, Looking for what I want to believe.

That is the title of the previous four posts on this subject, and it sounded good at the time, but I discovered on rereading them that what I had written had failed to pry out anything in a way that gave a workable answer. “How can I identify and eliminate my false beliefs?” isn’t specific enough to reveal my beliefs, let alone my false beliefs.

Now the process will be: I am going to look for things that I want to believe. Those will be things I will tend to seek evidence for that supports these preexisting beliefs, and I will tend to reject ideas and facts that don’t support my beliefs.

One of my key beliefs about people is that they are seeking truth, and each person is on a unique path to that goal. I value each person’s input to a conversation because I assume they have refined the concept of their reality and their search to maximize the personal utility of their discoveries. Unfortunately, from my view of reality, this seems to be a false assumption. People aren’t seeking a long-term solution to their problems because that requires paying attention to what’s happening, thinking about cause and effects, and projecting their mind into the future to anticipate probable outcomes of various actions. It appears that few people bother to think much about the effects of their present actions. Instead, they pay attention to the pleasures of the immediate actions and their plans are to get more of these short-term rewards.

I have the problem of seeking instant gratification of my animal needs and reflexes. When there is a nice bowl of trail mix with various nuts, seeds, raisins, cranberries, and other little tasty things I have trouble not taking a few. During my eighteen months of intermittent dieting, where I didn’t eat anything between 6PM and noon, there wasn’t a problem. But I have been off of all dieting for the last couple of months and nibbling has become a problem. Absolute abstinence is much easier than perfect moderation. My problem has been compounded because I am currently at number 16 of 44 scheduled radiation treatments, and my medical team wants me to maintain my weight to ease the stress on my body of the treatment. That little okay in my mind makes it easy to overdo it on the trail mix.

It appears I slipped a little off of my goal of looking for things I want to believe. I’ll write on this subject again. 

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How can I identify and eliminate my false beliefs? 2

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Eliminating false beliefs, I have stopped riding bikes, I struggle thru Bend

My biggest problem, and probably your problem too is not seeing my personal false beliefs. What is it that I believe that just isn’t true? And, worse still is, what actions do I perform occasionally that are excessively risky for the potential benefits likely to be gained? And, worse still, what actions do I routinely do that are generally counterproductive to my own well-being?

In yesterday’s post I began to think about this problem by remembering recent events where older friends of mine had bicycle accidents. I still own a couple of bikes but I haven’t ridden either of them for over a year. On a nice day, I could probably ride from my house to my morning chat and coffee with my old dudes in ten minutes, which is what it takes to drive. I don’t ride because many of the people here are totally crazy and to prove that simple assertion I want to get a dash cam for my Subaru Outback so I can illustrate those people doing just plain stupidly risky things.

So there is at least one thing I don’t do that is physically dangerous. When I lived in Berkeley, for fifty years, I rode a bike to my coffee shop rendezvous quite a lot, but people there were much more cautious. Not friendlier, but more cautious. Here, people will jaywalk across the street on the diagonal with their back to you and never look, even when you get close.

When I first got here almost eight years ago the population was much less dense and cars were seemingly fewer and farther between, but that was then and now with Oregon state policy to make cities compact, sometimes there are block-long lines of cars waiting at traffic lights.

That sounds bad, but the good things more than balance that out those annoyances. For example, here are some views I get after the eight-minute drive from home, like this one where I usually park:

I walk through this gate and about thirty steps to the left and am greeted by my wonderful friends, such as these fine fellows.

They are helping me eliminate my false beliefs.

How can I identify and eliminate my false beliefs?

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Avoiding unnecessary risks, False beliefs, Unnecessary risks, What false things do I believe?

The most important thing for any living being is for it not to do things that will get it taken out of its species’ genetic pool. This is built into the genetics of every living being and isn’t a conscious mental operation available for any species other than humans.

To actively decide to avoid unseen risks requires the kind of thoughts that are available only to humans. We are the only species with the ability to mentally form conceptions of the possible behavior of things in the abstract future.

Thoughts derived from our personal interactions with other humans are the primary method for seeing the future outcome of our actions. These thoughts are derived from our personal experience and meditations combined with personal conversations with our caregivers when young, our interactions with peers when youths, and learning from all sorts of cultural influences at every age.

Unfortunately, there are huge amounts of information presented to modern people via the media and personal conversations that are clearly setting precedents for living a life of unnecessary risk-taking. It became apparent to me this morning in a conversation with my old dudes that even successful old people are doing unnecessarily risky things. Within the last month, two of our crew had taken dangerous bicycle spills. M, who was riding a touring bike, was chasing some kid going full speed on a specialized mountain bike down a steep mountain path when he went over the front bars. He didn’t break any bones at that time.

Strangely, in a totally separate event, S was riding an unfamiliar bike with a shock absorber front suspension which when he hit a hole threw him over the front bars. He too was not seriously hurt. But why are these two retired guys taking these kinds of risks?

One person, whom I only encountered personally once, was killed two days later in an “accident” that was tempting fate. And a twenty-year-old whom I have spent an hour or so with about six times is now in a cast from an “accident”. My problem with all of these dangerous physical encounters with reality is that each of these people is among the saner and physically healthy people I know.

There is an outdoor culture here in Bend that encourages interactions with nature. That is fine, but that doesn’t mean one must challenge nature to the limits of one’s ability to survive. That is especially true when the actions have no other purpose than to seek pleasure and to take an occasionally thrilling risk.

Being a member of this community I wonder what dangerous false beliefs are leading me astray too.

How my self-control when dieting was made easy.

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How to avoid snacks., Weight control, Weight control problems

Because of some tissue-destroying radiation treatments for prostate cancer prescribed by my doctor, the nutritionist wants me to eat some protein shortly after arising in the morning and late at night. The purpose is to help cope with the injury to which my body is being subjected. She didn’t want me to stress my body for a couple of months.

I have been off my diet for two months and still weigh within one pound of my target weight of 156 pounds. That is down 26 pounds from a year and a half ago, when I and my wife began our form of the intermittent fasting diet. I am now at an ideal BMI of 23.5. To ease any residual stress from the long diet, I decided to ease my body back up one pound to 157. 

The eating both early and late is in direct contradiction to my intermittent fasting schedule, during which we limited eating to the fully comfortable level from 12 noon to 6 PM. The easiest way to get protein for me has been to dip into a large-mouth jar of trail mix. The one we have on the kitchen counter has a wide variety of nuts, seeds and some fiber. Next to it is a similar jar of chocolate-covered almonds.

A couple of weeks ago I started dipping into these jars, more or less as instructed by my doctor and the official nutritionist who had counseled me. That was a great snack which I greatly enjoyed. A problem arose when I started eating a small handful of one of these treats when passing by them. I can see these jars from where I am sitting right now, but from here they are not tempting me. When I walk by, however, I have developed a reflex of dipping in for a small handful.

Over these last two months, I have slowly generated a near compulsion to eat those chocolate-covered almonds. I love ’em! The only way to control this ill-gotten reflex is to put those things in a cupboard and totally out of sight. And then to ask that Debbie set out appropriate portions at the regular times.

The Roman and church father, St Augustine said it long ago, “Total abstinence is easier than perfect moderation.” Who knows who first said, “Out of sight, out of mind,” but that is what I must do for a while.

I have good self-control as was proven by my long and successful diet, but it was done by setting absolute limits on the time I ate.

Finally my prostate radiation treatments are going.

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My X-ray routine., Prostate cancer, X-ray treatments, X-ray treatments for prostate cancer.

Today I completed my third radiation treatment for prostate cancer and it was easy and not unpleasant. Of course, I have been apprehensive about this procedure even though I have friends who have gone before me on this very same trip, on this same machine, with these same people. They told me the biggest problem was the sameness of the routine.

Part of the problem for me has been getting my bladder totally full so that it is stretched to its limits and makes it possible to aim the pencil-lead thin x-ray beam precisely and consistently hit tiny bits of cancer accurately. I drank a carefully measured 32 ounces of water, as instructed, the first day, and didn’t get enough stretching. I use a plastic drinking glass with volume markings on it so the quantity is accurately known. The second day I drank 36 ounces, and it was considered okay. Today I drank 36 ounces, and the stretching was marginal and the doctor almost had me come back later in the day.

What did I do differently? I had to pee and did so 75 minutes before my procedure and immediately drank 20 ounces. That’s quite a lot of water at one time, but doable. Then 45 minutes before my procedure I drank another 20 ounces for a total of 40 ounces. I thought that it would be plenty of time for my kidneys to process the water over to my bladder, but it wasn’t. I did have a moderate urge to pee, but not urgent.

My time in the waiting room was only five minutes, and the time in the x-ray room was about fifteen minutes. The nurses were pleasant and business-like and everything with this huge piece of moving equipment was handled efficiently. It is necessary to lay on my back absolutely still, which is aided by some preformed stiff pillows made for me last week. This machine, the size of a small car, moves slowly around me, making various noises. There is nothing to do after watching a few times, so I have been counting heartbeats to pass the time away. Today it was 756 beats from the moment the nurse said “starting now” until, “okay, Charles, that’s it.” They helped me off the table. I put on my jacket and shoes and was out the door in a minute.

I was back home about 45 minutes after I departed for the clinic, as it is only a mile away with one traffic light. I made a point of not peeing because I wanted to know how long before the procedure began that I should drink the water needed to fill up my bladder. It was no problem waiting an hour before peeing, therefore tomorrow I will drink the 40 ounces of water two hours before the procedure begins.

It is important to me to get this prostate cancer taken care of so I can get on with my projects, like helping the Universe to Self-actualize. 

What is a truth in today’s world?

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truth, What is capital T truth?, What is Truth?

We have entered into a new world reality. The physical testability of facts is no longer considered a path to the proof of the validity of those facts. Instead, the spin on a statement that agrees with a person’s present point of view is now considered as the truth to that person and to their audience. The reality of their statement may be preposterous in the extreme, but a direct challenge to the statement is nowadays considered a violation of good manners. And so, in many social situations, it isn’t done.

For example, if there is a person claiming there is a Martian spaceship currently in their backyard it must be accepted as true because the person you are conversing with just said it. If there are other people present in the conversation it is required that everyone listen respectfully in a state of acceptance while there is a discussion of the Martians, what they look like, what their names are, and what their mission to Earth is, and why this person was chosen as their contact point to Earth’s humanity.

The problem arises when you ask to go visit with the Martians, to see, and talk with them yourself. This would be a wonderful thing, and I would like to make a video of our conversation so we could show it to everyone because then the people of Earth would believe and understand. But even a simple request like that is an affront. The Martians came to them personally, and in due time the truths brought to us Earthlings of their visit will be revealed. Only the speaker is permitted to interact with them. In the meantime, we are expected to believe everything they say.

When I encounter this kind of conversation I try to understand how the person’s understanding is coming into existence. To do that requires listening and believing what they say as they say it, so that a communication is taking place, but as the ideas are understood and difficulties in the ideas come to the fore it is necessary to challenge them. However, my experience has been that it is difficult to make any progress with these people because they challenge the very concept of testability of the ideas being presented.

Many people’s truths are remarkably resistant to being tested against physical reality.

Conversing with artists is fun.

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A photographic commentary, How I take pictures, Parallel lines

This morning, over coffee at the Crows Feet here in Bend, Oregon, I got into a conversation with a couple of my friends. Was it a conversation, or a discussion… arguments, opinions, suggestions, and after a while a demonstration of how I’ve been making photographs lately. With a digital phone or digital camera, you can just blast away and later when at your computer go through your pictures and crop into the good pictures. 

I insist that the picture can best be made by looking at the moving image on the back of the camera. I keep moving the camera around, fairly quickly, watching for what it is that makes the image interesting to me.  When I see something interesting I move in  and out, left and right, twisting, turning, moving to make various things bigger or smaller or vanish altogether. And more. But it is an active process to discover on the spot what is the meaning to me of what is in front of me.

Here are some lines and shadows that I have been making into photographs lately. They are intended to be looked at only for the fun of looking at them. Nothing profound is intended and if something profound is happening to you when you are looking at them, it is coming out of you and not me. That said, I do have a general procedure when making these pictures.

I have been attracted to the many patterns formed by shadows lately and have been watching lines in particular because the duplication of a given set of physical objects makes it clear that that is the subject to be viewed.

In the picture above the question arises as to what makes the shadows different. But  overriding that is the intense parallelization of the whole picture, left to right, up to down, close to far. Shadows on the ground from parallel beams above. Shadows on the stone columns, the most solid things in the picture, but which themselves have no shadows. Semi-transparent shadows seen along the base of the columns. Shadows on the brown shingle wall on the right seem to come from nowhere. And the table at the focal point at the center, a table with no people. Did Da Vinci’s Last Supper just break up and go for a walk? And why the overwhelming presence of human manipulation of physical structural reality and no people?

Many people will find this picture boring because there is no center of interest. There is no kitty, no kid, no girl, no threat. There isn’t a who, what, why, where, when or how. No which, whence, or whither either. Boring!

This picture probably breaks most of the rules that art students are taught. So why do my professional artist friends like these boring pictures?

 

Now is the best of times and we can prepare for the worst.

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Enjoy yourself while you're still in the pink, It is the best of times., Participate in the world.

What always gets people’s attention are flagrant violations of good sense. I have been thinking about getting a dash-cam for my car because I see so many appallingly risky behaviors by seemingly sane people every time I drive downtown in Bend, Oregon. There are lots of YouTube videos made with dash-cams that show behavior that results in crashes, but what I am encountering doesn’t result in “accidents”, at least on my bumper … so far. I happen to pass a SPEED 20 MPH sign every day and most people go past it at 35, and today a BMW went by me at an estimated 45 as I passed that sign. It wasn’t actually unsafe and he did stop at the stoplight a couple of blocks later, where we waited for a while, but it was typical of the flagrant violation of posted good practice. For comparison, sometimes there are signs for SPEED 70 MPH and if people used that fudge factor and simply multiplied their speed they would go past it at 2.25 times the posted speed limit and would be going 157 MPH.

Our local freeway isn’t a freeway because it doesn’t even have acceleration lanes at the downtown on-ramps, only STOP signs for the people entering. The only restraint on this “freeway” is to call it a parkway and post it at 45 MPH, which means the typical speed is just a bit over 60. When someone passes me going fast I start counting seconds and if I’m going 50 I count to 5 and note where the other car is at the instant I get to 5. I continue the count and if I get to 7 it means they were going 70. That is mathematically accurate, but of course the count isn’t particularly accurate but it does give a good approximation of our relative speeds.

I bring up this concrete local example of rash behavior because it seems our public individual behavior and our national behavior are just as out of sync with what is proclaimed to be good behavior.

What to do? Nothing! Just participate and hope for a good day.

Too many lines and shadows

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A few geriatric moments, Photos of missing light, Shadows can make photos too

Lines and shadows have a relationship to one another that can be intriguing. They are ubiquitous, and all the following photos were created within a few steps of one another. Let’s begin inside of the Crow’s Feet coffee shop here in Bend, Oregon, where my buddies and I hang out in the morning. The reflections off cars often make patterns on our walls because of the hundred-year-old cut glass windows. There are usually artworks on the walls, but today one of the frames was filled with just plain white paper. There were patterns within the frame so I excused myself from my coffee saying I would be back in ten seconds. Richard started counting and it turned out to be more like twenty seconds. Here’s the picture I made.
There was no preparation … I just walked over and took the photo. But when I showed it to Richard he liked it enough to immediately go over and make one too. There is an old saying that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
He got over there quickly because the lighting hadn’t changed, but as it was a reflection off a parked car the point of light wouldn’t change very quickly. We are treated to a new light show every morning. Just outside the door about ten steps from where that photo was taken, there was this.
Only someone who is interested in lines, patterns and colors could find anything interesting about this picture. Ten more steps and there is this.
A few more steps and what a fantastic view! This!
Or when viewed from a slightly different angle, we see quite a different but obviously fantastic picture.

Now that you are brimming with excitement you can have a cup of coffee and create great art too.

Be careful and drink only good coffee to get incredible results like these.

Some lines and shadows photos

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Lines and shadows photographed

I walk past this bench a couple of times per week and sometimes the skylight above it lets the sun shine through and do strange things to the appearance of this ordinary place.

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. Hmm, a bit of overcorrection in the highlights.

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At lunch, there were some strange remains in my iced coffee.

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Outside of the Crow’s Feet Commons coffee shop, the handrail cast a shadow on the steps.

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Sunday as I walked away from giving a paean for Amanda to the UU I saw this shadow on the floor.

Along with trying to save the human species from extinction, I enjoy taking some nonsense photographs.