“It is remarkable how much long-term advantage people like us have gotten by trying to be consistently not stupid, instead of trying to be very intelligent.” Charlie Munger
Everybody wants to live a happy life but only a few of us are content with our lives. Deep down we are unsatisfied with our present conditions which is the byproduct of the decisions we took in the past. The art of decision-making is the meta-skill one must pursue. Our understanding of the world around us impacts our decision-making.
What is preventing us from seeing the world as it is? Why are we not able to see the world objectively?
We only see what our mind is trying to see. We don't notice that we miss out on the important information available in front of us. Our failures to update from interacting with reality spring from three things: not having the right vantage point, ego-induced denial, and distance from the consequence of our decisions.
Not having the right vantage point: Looking at any problem from as many dimensions as possible will help us to find out the various factors and their interactions between them that cause the problem. Let's understand it by using an analogy. Assume you are going on a holiday trip on an airplane. The Airplane is moving with a constant velocity(neither changing its speed nor its direction). Suddenly you dropped a ball on the floor. According to you, the ball changes its direction vertically. A peacock is looking at the entire scenario from the earth. According to him, the ball changes its direction vertically as well as horizontally. Both of them are right according to their frame of reference.
As our perspective changes so do our understanding of reality. Be more humble and try to see any problem from as many perspectives as possible. Taste the water from as many sources as possible. It will broaden your horizon and enrich your life.
Ego-Induced denial: We have invested so much time in our beliefs that we fall in love with them. Any information contradicting them will cause cognitive dissonance within us. We are more likely to drop the contradicting information. In psychology, it is known as confirmation bias. Challenge your beliefs after regular intervals to find out whether they are serving you well or not. Verify a piece of information over and over before making any belief. Have good opinions over your beliefs but hold them loosely.
We are living in a rapidly changing world. Everything is in flux. Update your beliefs as the structure of an environment changes. Your ego won't let you change your long-held ideas. It forces you to disregard the contradicting information. The ego is our biggest enemy. It constantly tells you that you are right. Thus preventing you from seeing reality as it is. The ego is very subtle. Stay humble. Humility at the beginning ultimately leads to the purity of heart in the end. It's okay to make mistakes and to admit that you are wrong. It is only through our mistakes and the struggle of our problems that we grow and mature. If you haven't failed drastically in the last six months, it means you are not pushing yourself out of your comfort zones. Do lots of experiments, fail often, reflect on them and improve. Nothing gives more satisfaction than seeing yourself grow.
A man who has committed a mistake and doesn't correct it is committing another mistake. Confucius
Distance from the consequence of our decisions: Every action has a cause as well as effect. Wisdom is in knowing the long-term consequences of your actions. Decisions are taken at two levels: Micro-level and Macro-level. At a micro level, we immediately see the consequences of our decisions. Getting instantaneous feedback will help us to update the information residing in our brains. Holding a hot stove is an example of a micro-level decision. Immediate feedback will help us to generalize that measure the temperature of any object before carrying it. Sometimes it is not effective to make generalizations based on a single event so take a very large sample space before forming an opinion about anything.
At a macro level, we don't immediately see the consequences of our decisions. Since the results are delayed so we don't know whether we are heading in the right direction or not. Ego steps in to tell us that we are always right. We stopped listening to feedback thus heading towards the direction of catastrophic failure. The physicist John wheeler observed that, as our island of knowledge grows so does our shore of ignorance. As we succeed in life, we are constantly bumped into situations that were never encountered before. The root cause of the stress is the fear of the unknown. We must be courageous enough to deal with the unknown.
Do you know the difference between a courageous person and a fearful person?
The difference is very subtle. A fearful person listens to his fear and follows it whereas a courageous person listens to his fear and goes against it. There is immense joy in living an adventurous life. Stay open-minded and be ruthless in absorbing the best qualities of all cultures. Be a constant learning machine, read widely, diversify yourself and stand upon the shoulder of giants.
Light enters you when you are in deep pain. Obstacles are very important for growth and self-improvement. An impediment to action always advances an action. Transformation occurs through struggle and pain. We are evolved in a way to avoid pain. Change your relationship with pain because the moment of pain is the moment of truth. At that moment, we are encountering reality as it is not the way we want it to be.
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