Sunday Story...Validate This

We live in a world where it appears to be more important to be right, to get our ideas and beliefs validated than it is to be right. We spend an inordinate amount of time proving we are right, pursuing other stories and anecdotes that prove our case. And we do so in the full light of factual evidence to the contrary.


A case in point: the F.D.A. food pyramid has been around for about 40 years. The F.D.A. puts this pyramid forth as the answer to the question...What should i eat to be healthy. yet in the same 40 years the rates of obesity, diabetes, heart disease and other nutritional diseases and disorders have skyrocketed. But then maybe those aren’t facts. Maybe we can just ignore the facts and go on believing what we are told and not worry about the dis-ease in our bodies. You know it isn’t working but the “authorities” are telling you otherwise.


The facts are simple...too many people have a dog in the food fight. The governments, the food companies, the pharmaceutical companies, the various alphabet soup groups of bureaucrats are all fighting to keep their piece of that pie. Even the average person whose health is being harmed using that pyramid really doesn’t want to the truth to win out...if it does he will have to admit that he needs to change and change is hard and scary (of course, so is a heart attack but...)


You have a specific set of beliefs and “customs” that you employ to help you make sense and help you maintain a facade of control over your own life. When it looks like those beliefs and customs may be wrong we will fight tooth and nail to maintain the status quo.


This is the validation we seek. We look for the proof that we are right, ,that we are doing the right thing. The stories that validate our position, the experts who agree with us. And we will do it in the face of evidence to the contrary. It is much easier to do this than it is to change our position and our belief system.


Then there are results. The empirical proof, the what happens when the actual benefits and detriments, the consequences of our actions. results are what counts. You can deny the results. you can say they don’t count especially when they conflict with your validation but you can’t deny their existence.

We really need to get out or own way on this one. Look at the results the same way a scientist does...objectively without expectation of validation. We should want to know what the reaction to the action is. We should crave the real knowledge that arises from knowing the results of our actions.


Results count. Validation is an ego massage. Validation might feel better but results create growth and movement. And isn’t that what you are really after?

Namaste
John
“Teaching Focus, Inspiring Transformation”
www.martialartsnevada.com

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