Bullshit and how to avoid it.

INTRODUCTION

An unexamined life is not worth living. - Socrates

I discovered that quote sometime in my late 30’s or early 40’s. At this point in my life I was just coming to terms with being an atheist after spending most of my 20’s and a little bit of 30’s as an evangelical bible thumping, filled with the spirit talking in tongues, witnessing on drunken thoroughfares in So Cal, mission trips to Mexico non denominational Christian. Church was a full time profession, doing all that I could to be ready and available to the church and to Jesus.

My foray into atheism actually stemmed from my desire to be a worthy vessel because I knew the truth and the truth will stand up against anything. Or so I thought. I started with reviewing the available evidence online about the early church history and then got into the establishment of Christianity from Constantine. Then realized that it was all manufactured and manmade. 

Now some of you may be going ok but how? How do you know it’s man made. For those that didn’t, this is an example of bullshit. Well maybe not 100% bullshit but that last sentence is definitely needing some more info.

Also the story in and of itself is anecdotal, a personal story based on my experience. This is just one type of evidence of many that is used to determine plausibility and factualness to events. Part of this……. (Re-write intro - use common everyday examples.. Pop culture.. Etc for examples.) There are no quick fixes, and anyone who says otherwise is selling you bullshit. Learning and changing and growing as a person is a life-long journey. It is filled with ups and downs, this book will hopefully point you in a better direction when it comes time to make difficult choices or decisions. Also this book hopes to give you the tools to determine your best course of action between those times to make them as  minimally impacting as possible.

CH1 - Words are words are words are words. 

The words you use have meaning and purpose. Know how to use them effectively. Stop using ambiguous terms, be specific and factual avoid “fish tales”, exaggerations. Expand, your vocabulary.

CH2 - How do I know what I know… or what is is.

Intro to philosophy, basic logic, laws of logic. (Lots of different examples, videos, pictures, essays, & how to ask the right question

CH3 - Everything has an origin 

Re-establishing your knowledge base. Review your education level, identify your strengths & weaknesses. Remember, you are bound only by your ignorance. That is, dumb will kill you. If you believe technology physically harms you, you probably have a mental condition and not a physical one. Much like folks thought the Earth was the center of the galaxy, they too were stricken with the dumb, aka ignorance. I’ll share a little secret, ALL OF US ARE DUMB to varying degrees or another. Yet here’s a trap, a trap so many of us fall into. What one or more people are knowledgeable of is not a deciding factor in and of itself, there usually is a vast array of additional information available that you have to decide. 

How well do you know this topic? What about the opposing views? Can I relate it to anything else? What’s the history? Mental health? Physical health? Environment considerations? Et al.

Hell you could continue down that path of what other factors come into play for some time. I was not a good student, in fact public education and me have a long sordid history. Ambivalence, betrayal, violence and apathy convoluted into an afterschool special. I’ve always had an interest in learning, I guess there were just a number of factors that came into play. Homelife, parents, genetics, mental health, and all the wonderful events that occur when those elements are not, let’s say nominal. 

Most people don’t really spend anytime in further education once they’ve either completed (dropped out?) of high school or some college degree. (CITE) 

Most people

CH4 - Know thyself - Introspection

What is self awareness? What tools does this provide to me? How does this improve my life?

CH5 - What now?

Time to take a step back and evaluate.  Know we need to be open to question everything.

CH6 - Critical Thinking or how to actually think & respond properly when trying to weed through life’s bullshit.

CH7 - Dark Side of the Moon

It’s all a spectrum...

CH8 - Historical examples - Commentary

CH9 - Contemporary examples - Commentary

CH10 - Resources

Online resources aside from the usuals.

……….

POST INTRO

The quote from Socrates has recently changed meaning since I first read it. Originally for me the first thing that I grabbed from it was that you shouldn’t live your life in a bubble, that is unexposed to the world and life and it’s experiences… examine life. I spent most of life exploring the tangible and continue to do so. It's the intangible that has now become the focus of my attention, aka knowledge and it’s pursuit of it. 

Now I see this as more of an introspection statement. Why do you believe what you believe? Think about things you never think about…. I know this may sound weird. How do I think about things that I’ve never thought of or even maybe heard of. 

I know 10 years ago I was struggling with who I was, what I thought, what I believed. It wasn’t atheism that saved me.. It was critical thinking. This is what I want to get out, as everyone that has these can FUNDAMENTALLY change their lives for the better.

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This was the outline for a book I was contemplating...