We Are All
|
The Key to Compassion
The recognition of universal insanity is the key to compassion: we’re not right in our minds. By understanding that all hurtful behavior—from gossip to mass murder—proceeds from insane thinking, we can experience compassion for ourselves and everyone else.
When we recognize that people who do stupid or cruel things are not right in their minds we can experience compassion for them. We don’t allow serial killers or con artists loose to harm others, but we realize their actions are symptomatic of insanity. We treat these people instead of punishing them.
The recognition of universal insanity is the key to compassion: we’re not right in our minds. By understanding that all hurtful behavior—from gossip to mass murder—proceeds from insane thinking, we can experience compassion for ourselves and everyone else.
When we recognize that people who do stupid or cruel things are not right in their minds we can experience compassion for them. We don’t allow serial killers or con artists loose to harm others, but we realize their actions are symptomatic of insanity. We treat these people instead of punishing them.
What if it were true? With all of our technological progress, human beings still struggle with the same problems that have plagued us for millennia: unhappiness, loneliness, lack of love, war, poverty, bigotry, greed, exploitation, etc. We Are ALL Innocent by Reason of Insanity proposes that the basic problem facing humanity is our delusion about what is true. “Insanity” is defined as: confusing our mind-generated reality with actual reality. In practical terms, this translates as confusing subjective opinion with objective fact. For example: “I made a mistake” is an objective fact. “I’m a loser because I made a mistake” is a subjective opinion. When I think and act as if the subjective opinion is an objective fact I’m confused about what is real. Albert Einstein called this confusion of subjective belief with objective fact “the optical delusion of everyday consciousness.” Most of us think we perceive reality directly and accurately. That is not true at all. Our senses take in information from our environment, and that information is filtered through our beliefs and assumptions before we become aware of it. Our reality is generated in our minds. Each of us creates our own individual reality. Psychologists put it this way: we build models of reality in our minds, called “mental models,” which we use to navigate the world. We do not see actual reality, whatever that might be. We see only our mental models of reality. No one knows what reality actually is, but we all think and behave as if we do. We erroneously conclude that our model of reality is reality. What do we call someone who confuses their model of reality with reality itself? We call them delusional, or insane. The idea that we live in a mind-generated reality seems strange because it feels like we experience the physical world directly and perceive it accurately. Optical illusions are amusing and shocking because they let us see that we do not perceive physical reality accurately. Our mind-generated reality is more than just a model of physical reality; it includes abstract, subjective perceptions also. Psychology textbooks are filled with long lists of common errors in our subjective perception of reality. For example, there’s the famous “Lake Wobegon effect”: most people think they’re above average (a statistical impossibility). There’s wishful thinking: “I’ll start losing weight next week.” Denial: “I’m not an alcoholic—I just like to drink every night.” Rationalization: “It’s okay that I steal paperclips from work because they’ll never miss them.” These thinking errors can all be summed up in this line from the song “The Boxer,” by Paul Simon: “A man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest.” Our mind-generated virtual reality is a construct built of preconceptions, beliefs, and assumptions that cause us to see our world and ourselves in a rigid and unchanging way. We are boxed in by our beliefs about reality. Someone (the source is disputed) said, “We do not see things as they are. We see things as we are.” |
Experience these ideas in song Arthur Hancock created a musical version of the "We are ALL Innocent" philosophy. Below are three songs from the musical, performed by Arthur Hancock and Kathleen Brugger. The musical is comprised of 16 songs, and is meant to be listened to in a certain order: YouTube channel playlist.
Not Right in My Mind
The first song in the show, “Not Right in My Mind,” serves as an introduction to the idea that we are all out of touch with reality. The Evolution of Confusion
How did humans get so confused as to believe things like "making a virgin sacrifice will please the volcano god" or "if you die without being saved you will go to hell"? The Insanity Song
What do humans actually know? We act as if we know all sorts of things absolutely, and this delusion about our knowledge defines our insanity. |