|
Understand the true nature of reality
Your life will never be perfect, but you can certainly make it better than it is now. The first step to achieving this is learning to understand the true nature of reality. It’s only by understanding the situation we find ourselves in, that we can do something about it. In fact, many of the great scientific and technical achievements of humanity prove this point.
For example, for most of the history of civilization, people believed that the Earth was at the centre of the universe, with the sun the moon and the planets orbiting it. It was Nicolaus Copernicus, the Polish mathematician, whose finding in the 16th century that the sun lay at the centre of the solar system that turned previous knowledge on its head. This discovery was one of the key events in modern science, and led us directly to the modern world.
It is humanity’s understanding of physics, chemistry, biology and other scientific disciplines that allow us to have such mastery over our existence. Without this background understanding, we could have no cars, aeroplanes or electricity. It was by understanding the nature of reality through science that we improved our existence. We looked past what appeared to be or what we hoped was the truth (the Earth was the centre of the universe) to see what actually was.
You can use this same technique to improve your own life. I’m not suggesting that you conduct scientific experiments on yourself, instead always do your best to understand the true nature of reality. For it is only with this knowledge that you can make good decisions.
Most people already think they have a pretty good idea of what’s going on around them, but in many ways they’re like those that believed the Earth was at the centre of the universe. They’re unwilling to face up to the fact that what they believe to be the truth may be wrong. Through wishful thinking, delusional despair, or just plain laziness, people give up on enquiring into the nature of things. They already think they know it all, so why bother re-examining their beliefs?
This attitude can lead to frustration, anger and misery when reality fails to behave in the way we expect it to. I can’t possibly be wrong, people think, so it’s the world that’s faulty. Don’t you make the same mistake.
The first step to becoming educated is realizing that you know nothing.
The world around us is complex beyond belief. You will never even come close to understanding everything that affects your life. Experts in any particular field soon discover that the more they know about something, the less they realize they know. You are ignorant about virtually everything and will remain so throughout your life. But the less ignorant you are, the better decisions you can make and the more power you will have over your existence.
So keep an open mind. A great many of the things you hold as sacrosanct truth are probably incorrect. When you hear an opinion or a finding that disagrees with your beliefs, stop yourself from dismissing it out of hand. If the world doesn’t behave in the way you expect it to, you’re probably the one that’s wrong. Rather than resigning yourself to despair, re-examine your beliefs – can you learn something from this that will help you in the future?
Read everything you can get your hands on, and do so with an open mind. Challenge yourself with views that you find stupid, boring, or possibly even offensive. What can these views teach you about the world?
As the old saying goes, with knowledge comes power. So gain a little more knowledge, and with it a lot more power.
 | Finding your life's purpose | | Many people find life a bit meaningless. They fall into a routine of living day-to-day, with little to look forward to. Each moment seems to slip by into the void, with little achieved and no feeling of moving forward. |  | It’s not easy being happy when you’re not in control | | The basis for happiness is having control over your own existence. This is a simple and obvious statement, yet who among us has not ceded such control before? To assume responsibility for our lives can be a struggle, often it’s easier just to let outside forces take over. | | Don't get sucked in by the "it's all an emergency" mindset | | What is one of the biggest obstacles standing between most people and what they want? Other people of course. |  | No matter what you do, some people won't like you | | When I was a teenager, I worked out that convincing people to like me was a useful skill to have. I tried all sorts of strategies and experiments for doing just that. Soon, I became a virtual expert. | | How to motivate yourself without the mental crutch of positive thinking | | A few people have written in to say they think I'm too hard on positive thinking. I've been criticized because I haven't supplied an alternative for self-motivation. Fair enough. Here's how to motivate yourself without having to resort to the problem-filled strategy of positive thinking. | | Sometimes, irrational behavior can be explained by attention-seeking | | Why do people do so many things that are so obviously stupid? Why do they take drugs, commit crimes, ruin good relationships, and spend money they don't have? | | Be willing to crash and burn sometimes | | We all have trouble dealing with failure. We play so many mental tricks on ourselves in order to pretend we aren't avoiding it, that they can sometimes become all consuming. At night, while asleep, we have terrible nightmares of others disapproval, or the world rejecting us. | | From adversity comes greatness | | The challenges of the world sometimes seem ready to engulf us. Difficulty appears to stare out from every angle. But hardship and misfortune aren't always the evils they appear to be. |  | Ten good rules-of-thumb for investing | | I've been investing money for about 14 years now and have had more success than failure along the way. I've also read a large number of books and articles on good investment strategy. Here are my rules-of-thumb if you want to get ahead in the investment game. | | The secret of wealth is working easier, not harder | | Want to get rich? Just work hard and you will is the conventional wisdom. But the conventional wisdom is wrong. Since the dawn of humanity, the road to wealth has been through working easier, not harder. |
New articles are being added all the time, so make sure you bookmark Paul's Tips and come back.
|
|