Says 324 – Cognitive Dissonance – The unseen role of denial.

I had posted this topic before Says 318 – Cognitive Dissonance & Misinformation but I didn’t realize until this morning that cognitive dissonance is so persuasive and in control of our society. Initially, I related it with politics and religion, but it is far more insidious than that as its vile tentacles reach into the very core and heart of our being.

Cognitive dissonance is when you’re basically an honest and loving person, and you know the truth and the difference between right and wrong, but have now changed to the opposite polarity, that of denial and unlovingness. Where this gets twisted and unloving is when one has been coerced, either though monetary gain, indoctrinated, or is just innocently willing to help another that seems to be in trouble to tell a lie, or a little white lie as it’s sometimes called. They tell the lie and then repeat it enough times and soon enough they begin to believe the lie is the truth. If asked, they will have either forgotten their own truth, or they choose deny it. They have been corrupted into being in denial and living a lie, and even worse, they are oblivious to that fact and will defiantly state otherwise.

Now getting down to the nitty gritty. Like I said, I originally equated it with politics and religion, but it is everywhere in society. Military, police, lawyers, judges, financial institutions, media, education, science, technology, industry, food, water, medical, doctors, pharmaceuticals, energy, transportation, etc.. Basically, anyone that is in the “work force” is living a lie. They are told how to do things if they want to keep their job, and even though they know that what they are doing is wrong, a lie and unloving, they still do it and will defend their actions, even if their only reason for doing so is that they are just, “doing their job and following orders.” So when you spend so much of your time “living a lie,” is it any wonder you can’t make the changes you would like in your life,  without a major shift in your consciousness that is terrifying, as it goes against everything that you believe to be true.

Says 131 – A knight’s tale and Remembering my Dad

a knights tale2013 Jan 05 Saturday, I was channel surfing on the TV and happened to tune into the movie A Knight’s Taleand although I missed the beginning, I did watch it to the end. What struck me was a scene where the knight (William) flashed back to his childhood where his father sends him off to be an apprentice and told him to watch and learn. I was emotionally moved by that comment and how the father was genuinely doing what he felt was best for his son. I began to write what I was remembering and feeling in my journal. Here is what I wrote.

Those words reminded me of my father and what he said to me when he took me to school that first day. I couldn’t speak English (only German) and I was going to an English school. My father took me aside and told me that I should listen and learn, but he also added, and be like the other kids.

Like the father in the movie, I felt that my father didn’t know what he was saying and how his words were to impact me in a negative way. I know he didn’t have unloving intent as he honestly felt that going to school was best for me and that I could do what he couldn’t do, and that if I learned and was educated, that I wouldn’t end up being a poor dirt farmer like he was. He had done all he could and now I had to move on and go to school, and that this was his way of showing me he loved me, of wanting a better life for me.
In this moment, I miss him and wished that we could have been closer. I mean on a real level and not being close at a distance. I love you dad. Thank you.

Your Son
Johnnie