Truth

Truth

Freedom vs. Safety: The Ultimate Trade-off

Nathanael Garrett Novosel, October 6 2021

Would you rather be safe or free?  Obviously, people want to say both, as many people use “free” and “safe” interchangeably when, for example, they claim that they want to be “free to go outside” during a pandemic or when a criminal is on the loose when they really want to be safe when they go outside.  But freedom and safety are opposing goals mos...

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Suffering

What Is Causing Your Existential Crisis?

Nathanael Garrett Novosel, August 11 2021

Humans have advanced cognitive abilities that allow them to think about themselves and the world around them.  That gives them greater survival capabilities, but it also allows them to wallow in despair.  The question is, what causes the latter to occur?  In other words, why are you questioning your existence?

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Suffering

Use Cognitive Dissonance to Your Advantage

Nathanael Garrett Novosel, July 14 2021

Cognitive dissonance occurs when there is a conflict between a belief you hold and a behavior, new information, or a conflicting belief.  The "dissonance" in this case causes discomfort, necessitating a change in the person's behavior or beliefs to alleviate it.  The most famous example in history is the Aesop fable of Sour Grapes.  In the fable, a...

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Truth

Conflating Science and Ethics

Nathanael Garrett Novosel, May 5 2021

Science is an amazing field that allows us to test the nature of our reality and determine how the world works and what is true about the physical universe.  Ethics are a wonderful concept that allows humans to live together in peace and cooperate with one another for greater growth.  However, there seems to be a dreadful trend of conflating scienc...

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Truth

How You Literally Create Your Own Reality

Nathanael Garrett Novosel, February 24 2021

"You have to face reality."  "They live in their own reality."  "I reject your reality and substitute my own."  Reality...We talk a lot about what's real vs. not, but what is it?  What is real, and do you really have to face it?  We're going to analyze this logically and, surprisingly, find that you actually do create your own reality—not in a meta...

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Meaning

If There Is No Definitive Answer as to Why You're Here, Why Keep Going?

Nathanael Garrett Novosel, January 20 2021

Similar to last week's post on objective morality (or the lack thereof), this post is focusing on the lack of a definitive "Why" in terms of life origin (i.e., the cause) or end state (i.e., goal/objective).  I have to say, nihilism seems to be a popular conclusion when people can't get a definitive answer.  I always chalk it up to people being rai...

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Support

Life’s 8 Major Fallacies

Nathanael Garrett Novosel, October 7 2020

Life can be very difficult to understand or figure out.  Why do bad things happen to good people?  Why does evil exist?  What is the right thing to do in no-win situations?  Questions like these can eat up your time in deep philosophical thought trying to find the best way to either live optimally or understand why the world works the way it does.

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Truth

Why People Try to Change Others' Beliefs

Nathanael Garrett Novosel, September 30 2020

Note: I intentionally use contentious issues in this post to dial up your emotional state so you can feel the pull yourself that people get to change others' beliefs.  I made sure to include both sides of issues so as to not inject my own views or influence anyone's beliefs but also to ensure that I triggered the emotional response of seeing a pers...

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Truth

Don't Confuse the Goal, Morals, and Happiness in Your Search for Meaning

Nathanael Garrett Novosel, September 16 2020

In my 30 years of studying psychology, philosophy, religion, and how the world works, one thing always bothered me: every system that exists to give you a comprehensive view of how life works or how you should live always lays it all out as one complete package without explaining how the concepts relate to each other.  For example, if you believe t...

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Truth

Why Bad Things Happen to Good People

Nathanael Garrett Novosel, May 27 2020

You know the situation: you do everything you're supposed to do, you do everything the right way...and then bad things happen to you. How is that fair? Why do bad things happen to good people? This is a tough one to answer since it requires giving what might seem to be bad news (does that make me the bad thing happening to a good person reading thi...

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