NEIL COWMEADOW - THE EXPERT GUITAR TEACHER IN TELFORD. GUITAR TEACHER AND AUTHOR. GUITAR LESSONS THAT WORK! DEDICATED TO TEACHING SINCE 1999 - ACCELERATED LEARNING TECHNIQUES: LEARN FASTER, PLAY BETTER, AND UNDERSTAND...

The Thursday Thesis  - 18/05/2017

“Why Being Sure is Stupid"

The danger isn’t what you don’t know, it’s what you DO know that imperils you.

These are some of the wisest words I’ve ever read.

It means that being absolutely sure of what you know is a very dangerous position to find yourself in.

The Scientific Method is the dominant theory we use to try to understand our world and what happens in, on and around us. Yet science presents no facts and makes no claim to absolute certainty, because that is not what science is for.

That’s why ideas in science are called Theories, rather than facts. Einstein’s Theory of Special Relativity isn’t called the Fact of Special Relativity.

After all: it’s just a theory.

And when all is said and done, theories are only the currently accepted explanations we have for phenomena. All theories are there to be attacked, tested, torn down and replaced with something better.

That’s why it is what you DO know that imperils you: if you are so certain of what you know, there can be no search for better. If you are so sure that you have incontrovertible knowledge, the chances you’ll never even look for anything better.

Dissent and the quest for better has given mankind the world we know today. Every innovation, every invention, and every new development has been a result of someone asking “what if...?” and looking for a better solution than the one they had.

The very soul of progress is dissent, and constantly challenging one’s current thinking is what advances understanding and knowledge.

So, if you look at your life and find it uninspiring, unhappy, unfulfilling or unsatisfactory in any way, just ask yourself what would be better than your current way of doing things.

That's the Science of Happiness - it’s as simple as that.

Keep asking the question and acting on your answers until you realise that there is nothing that would bring you more inspiration, happiness and fulfilment than you are currently experiencing.

Ask better questions, and remember that what you know, right now, might be all that stands between you and a better tomorrow.

Stay Curious.


© Neil Cowmeadow 2017
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Neil@cowtownguitars.net

It’s a funny thing about psychopaths – they all think that they are completely normal and totally sane.

They would think that, though, wouldn’t they?

Oddly, doctors seem to think that they are completely normal and totally sane, too.

The American Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) currently lists over 450 mental illnesses or conditions.

Back in its first edition (DSM-1, published in 1952) there were only 106 listed disorders.

Unbelievably, one of the mental disorders listed was male homosexuality – which seems shocking these days. More surprising is that it took the American Mental Health industry until 1974 to remove that particular listing.

The Land of the Free?

Our American friends have been busy inventing labels and diagnoses for everything and everybody, so there’s no need for anyone to feel left out.

If you can’t sleep or you get jumpy after drinking too much coffee, there are serious-sounding syndromes and disorders available for you (Caffeine-induced anxiety disorder and Caffeine-induced sleep disorder, respectively).

If – like me – you prefer to sleep at a time of your own choosing, rather than what is considered “normal”, you can be given a diagnosis of a mental illness known as Circadian Rhythm Sleep Disorder.

Congratulations - here, have a badge!

The thing is that mental health is highly subjective and diagnosis is often unreliable because there are no hard, clinical tests for mental illness.

So, if it’s not clinical testing and hard data, what’s driving the invention of these new conditions – other than the egos of “mental health professionals” handing out spurious diagnoses to anyone foolish enough to pass through their doors?

Are we getting more and more mentally ill, or are our doctors?

From my point of view I see a business model building a market.

Yes, I’m cynical about the global mental health business, its quack practitioners, and the massive pharmaceutical industry whose interests alone are served by making everybody eligible for their products.

Furthermore, I believe that we are being conned into powerlessness: gulled and deceived into believing that the answer lies in handing over responsibility for how we think and how we live to The Men (and Women) in White Coats.

I don’t believe that we need to be “treated”, medicated, cured, homogenised and normalised.

This is the same profession that has “treated” schizophrenia in countless thousands of people by imprisonment, which they call “sectioning”, since it sounds so much nicer.

This is the same profession that forcibly administers drugs to non-consenting patients – though “victims” seems more a accurate name for those unfortunate enough to be in their care.

This is the same profession that applied powerful electric shocks to the brains of their terrified victims.

It sounds exactly like torture, because it is torture.

And that’s what those bastards did to my mother.

And this is the same profession that thinks giving Ritalin to your kid is a good idea.
 
Perhaps I should tone-down my optimism a notch or two, just in case there’s a new syndrome that’s been invented for unacceptably happy people?

© Neil Cowmeadow 2017

Please  Like and Share The Thursday ThoughtCast with your friends, family, and anyone else. I’d love to hear your comments, along with any ideas you’d care to hurl at me.
Neil@cowtownguitars.net