The human mind mistakes its opinions for truth
I think of it like this: we’re always missing data. Our equations can never be perfect because, much like the cloud of probability in quantum physics, we can never have all the data. The people I trust most are the ones who know this, and act accordingly. The more absolutely certain a person is that their viewpoint is reality, the more I doubt or distrust them, or discount their point of view.
How easy it is for people to become trapped in their conceptual prisons.
The human mind, in its desire to know, understand, and control, mistakes its opinions and viewpoints for the truth. It says: this is how it is. You have to be larger than thought to realize that however you interpret “your life” or someone else’s life or behavior, however you judge any situation, it is no more than a viewpoint, one of many possible perspectives. It is no more than a bundle of thoughts. But reality is one unified whole, in which all things are interwoven, where nothing exists in and by itself. Thinking fragments reality — it cuts it up into conceptual bits and pieces. —Eckhart Tolle, Stillness Speaks
- see also: all of us are embedded in our own safe reality, all of us have distortions in what we perceive
- related: this is why our best defense against stupidity is diversity, and not relying on one viewpoint in the first place, no matter how authoritative or appealing