The recent election in the US has brought to the mainstage how people can believe in different realities. Which brings me to a more fundamental question how do we discern the truth? Whether it is vote counting, fraud, economic policy, tax policy, climate change, opposing sides are getting more polarized. In the loud, emotional narrative of stories, both inside people’s heads and externally, it is harder to discern the truth.
I’m not taking a side A or B. I’d rather there be a critical thinking process that we can agree on that gives people the awareness and brainpower to discern fact from fiction, truth from illusion, and honesty from lies. In my experience, a necessary resource a person needs is self-awareness.
Figuring out the truth isn’t straightforward. Consider this; the mind is the mechanism that we use to discern the truth. And this is the same mind that generates stories, false narratives, daydreams, and fictional realities in our heads. These two uses of the mind are contradictory. It’s no wonder people are having difficulty seeing the difference between truth and a made-up story.