"If the iron approaches your face, and you believe it is hot, and it is cool, the Way opposes your fear. If the iron approaches your face, and you believe it is cool, and it is hot, the Way opposes your calm.
Evaluate your beliefs first and then arrive at your emotions.
Let yourself say: “If the iron is hot, I desire to believe it is hot, and if it is cool, I desire to believe it is cool.”
Beware, lest you become attached to beliefs you may not want." - Eliezer Yudkowsky
It runs the gamut from big picture questions all the way down to small details.
I believe in the philosophical concept of free will. I believe that spiders don't live in my bed and crawl into my mouth while I sleep.
A part of me is aware that there are good arguments against some of my beliefs, but in some cases that part of me clashes with another part that doesn't really want to know.
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"If the iron approaches your face, and you believe it is hot, and it is cool, the Way opposes your fear. If the iron approaches your face, and you believe it is cool, and it is hot, the Way opposes your calm.
Evaluate your beliefs first and then arrive at your emotions.
Let yourself say: “If the iron is hot, I desire to believe it is hot, and if it is cool, I desire to believe it is cool.”
Beware, lest you become attached to beliefs you may not want."
- Eliezer Yudkowsky
Easy to say, difficult to practice.
I'm consciously aware of several of my beliefs that I'm uncomfortable challenging, and I'm sure I have many more that I'm not even aware of.
What are a couple of examples?
It runs the gamut from big picture questions all the way down to small details.
I believe in the philosophical concept of free will.
I believe that spiders don't live in my bed and crawl into my mouth while I sleep.
A part of me is aware that there are good arguments against some of my beliefs, but in some cases that part of me clashes with another part that doesn't really want to know.
I believe I'm a good rationalist.
A good rationalist fights through that urge to stay ignorant and desires the truth, even if the truth might be uncomfortable.
I'm not sure I want to know if I'm really a good rationalist...
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