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Showing results for tags 'free will'.
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https://loopvids.s3.amazonaws.com/July22Post.mp4 Humans are very attached to the idea of free will. A common metaphor that describes the relationship between the conscious mind and the unconscious mind is of a captain and a ship. The unconscious mind is the powerful ship. The conscious mind is the captain who steers the ship. The problem with many beliefs is they are very much like food. We don't eat food because it is healthy. We eat food because it tastes good. To the extent you DO eat food because it's healthy, it's not automatic. And it's not easy. Beliefs are the same. We don't believe things because they are true. We believe things that make us feel good. Truth can be a very dangerous thing. Ignorance, on the other hand, is bliss. Take the captain and the ship metaphor. We love the idea that "we" up in our brain has free will. That "we" can steer our ship wherever we want. But think of the things we'd do if that were true. Using our free will to CHOOSE to study would be easy. So easy we'd spend all our time studying and learning and getting smarter and smarter. We'd our free will to exercise instead of sleep in. Which means we'd all have super fit bodies. We'd use our free will to DECIDE to walk across the room and talk to interesting people. So we'd be healthy, smart, and have plenty of healthy, happy relationships with smart, healthy people. But we don't. So the idea of free will CAN'T be true. But even in the face of EVIDENCE it's hard to accept that. So we deceive ourselves. We tell ourselves we don't WANT all those things. But if there was a magic pill, that had zero side effects, was permanent, and gave us ALL those things (intelligence, health, massive confidence) and it only cost a dollar, EVERYBODY would take it. So we DO want those things, it's just that we aren't willing to pay the costs. It's much easier to follow our INSTINCTS. Instincts that make us want to play it safe, sleep late, and only eat food that tastes good and believe things that make us feel good. This, actually, is FANTASTIC news. Because when you want to PERSUADE somebody, all you need to do is leverage these INSTINCTS. Most people try and leverage the CONSCIOUS reasons we tell ourselves WHY we do the things we do. But as an advanced persuader, you know better. Once you learn about the basic human instincts that drive ALL human behaviors, persuading people is EASY. Learn How: http://mindpersuasion.com/instinct-persuasion/
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https://loopvids.s3.amazonaws.com/July5Loop.mp4 The idea of free will kind of squishy. On one hand, it's pretty much the cornerstone of western society. In both religion and law. According to Christian tradition, the ONE THING we have, that nobody, not even the devil, can take away is our free will. Our decision to choose. Similarly, if you did something wrong, and you have to face a judge and jury, it's VERY HARD to convince them that somebody else MADE you do it. Even wives that kill husbands after years of abuse have a hard time getting off, UNLESS they kill the dude WHILE he's trying to kill her. All this presupposes that every single ACT we take is based on our ability to DECIDE to do it or to DECIDE to not do it. On the other hand, you could easily argue there is NO SUCH THING as free will. For example, one long study in the UK found that only 2% of adults who lost a significant amount of weight could keep it off for more than a year. If there was any argument AGAINST free will, it would be the growing obesity rates. Few people who are skinny make a rational decision to BECOME obese. And most people who ARE obese are DESPERATE to NOT be obese. If our FREE WILL is so ultra powerful, why can't we just DECIDE to only eat a couple thousand calories a day? Why can't we just DECIDE to get up an hour early and go jogging for an hour before work? Why can't we just DECIDE to study instead of watching TV, so we get a better degree and make more money? There MUST be something else going on. There must be something BESIDES just making a decision and getting an automatic outcome. Some things are EASY. If you decided to read a comic book, that would be EASY. If you decided to read a calculus book, that would be DIFFICULT. What's the difference? Perhaps the thing in between our will and our action is our skill level. Perhaps EVERYTHING we want to do is based on skills. Think of it this way. Every thing we WANT to do, that is EASY is based on a skill that has been TRAINED to the level of unconscious competence. If you have spent years practicing the piano, the DECISION to play a song would have an easy outcome. Without practice, the same decision to play the same song would be difficult and frustrating. The more you practice ANYTHING, the easier it will be. The more skills you have, the more you can do. Get Started: http://mindpersuasion.com/self-esteem/
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https://mindpersuasion.com/genetic-dispositions/
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https://mindpersuasion.com/consciousness-hallucination/
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There have been a lot of weird end-of-the-world cults. My favorite is a fictional one, from one of the Poltergeist movies. The fist movie was in a house that was on top of a cemetery. They'd moved the headstones, but not the bodies. (greedy real estate company) The second movie was something similar. Apparently a preacher (1800's or so) had collected a bunch of kids. Saying he was going to save them from the apocalypse. So he gathered them in some cave. Waiting for the end times. The date and went, but nothing happened. So the crazy old preacher kept the kids anyway. They all died, and then a 100 years later poltergeist family was being haunted them their angry ghosts. This sounds like a stretch, but good enough for a horror movie. But this actually does happen quiet a bit. (not the ghost part, the end of the world nutjob part) One famous "cult" back in the early 1900's was CERTAIN the world was coming. The closer it got, the more their members grew. Many of them sold EVERYTHING. Quit their jobs, gave all their money to the church. Certain the end was coming. But then the expected date of the end came and went, and nothing. So what happened? Did all the members feel like idiots? After all, they'd pretty much RUINED their lives. But something strange happened. The "non-event" actually STRENGTHENED their beliefs? WTF? Their thinking was that BECAUSE of their "great works," they actually PREVENTED the end from coming. This made them MORE committed to their "religion." Now, on one level, this sounds absolutely ABSURD. It's like the old joke about keeping garlic around. "Hey, why do you have so much garlic in your house?" "To keep away the vampires!" "Dude, that's lame. There's no such thing as vampires!" "See! It's working!" But on another level, it makes perfect sense. Especially when you consider the massive amounts of human biases. Once you have a belief in your mind, no matter WHAT happens, it will verify that belief. Especially when you make a significant COMMITTMENT to your belief. Once you make a commitment to ANY belief, it is MUCH HARDER to admit you're wrong. This is why many CULTS and other religious groups hang on to the VERY END. They have authority, the charismatic leader. They have social proof, all the members who all believe the same stuff. But when you add in massive public commitment, it's pretty much a lock. In the above example, all the people quitting their jobs and giving away all their money was about a serious and public commitment as they could make. Pretty much GUARANTEEING that no matter WHAT happened, it would VERIFY their belief. This is VERY DANGEROUS. It shows that the presence of authority, social proof and commitment and consistency is STRONGER than the validity of the belief. Meaning once you get stuck with those three things, it's pretty hard to get out. Trouble is, those three things are EVERYWHERE. How do you know what's real, and what's not? Learn How: http://mindpersuasion.com/gurutrap/
