Knowing

Self-Therapy For People Who ENJOY Learning About Themselves

Knowing #1: How Do You Know?

What do you know?
How do you know it?
How sure can you be of what you know?

DIFFERENT WAYS OF KNOWING

We'll be looking at these four ways knowing:

Logic based on observation.
Logic based on belief.
Emotions alone.
Emotions based on observation and belief.

LOGIC BASED ON OBSERVATION

Two plus two is four because I can see two fingers on my left hand and two fingers on my right hand or because I heard two sounds a minute ago and I heard two more sounds a second ago.
I saw it.
I heard it.
I'm sure of it because it came to me through my senses.

There are some illusions that distort our senses. Sight can be distorted by optical illusions, and hearing and smell can be distorted by overlapping stimuli. After allowing for such distortions, we can be pretty certain that what we see, hear, smell, taste or feel is correct. Sense data is nearly certain. The problem is that so little can be known in this way.

So we want to believe we can know in other ways.

LOGIC BASED ON BELIEF

Two plus two is four because Sister Anna Charles told me so in the first grade and I think she's smart. If she was right, then I am right. If she was wrong, then I am not only wrong about this I am also wrong about everything that logically flows from this.

Belief in someone else's accuracy is crucial when we base decisions on what we believe.

But I'd better confirm my teacher's math with my own senses before I try to balance my checkbook.

EMOTIONS ALONE

When I think about the vastness of space I feel joy and I have a keen sense of my own vulnerability. Therefore I know God exists.

Not so.

When I feel joy, vulnerability, or any other emotion, it doesn't prove God exists. It doesn't prove anything at all.

Emotions don't determine fact.

Our emotions are wonderful at telling us when we are hungry or thirsty or sad or angry, but worthless at telling us about concrete reality.

EMOTIONS BASED ON OBSERVATION AND BELIEF

Two plus two is four because it kinda looks right to me and I believe the person who says it's so.

When we are inexperienced or hurting a lot physically or emotionally we have little confidence in our own ability. At such times we may have to temporarily go along with this kind of "knowing."

This is the dilemma children face, and from which most therapy issues arise. When we were too young to have gathered enough experience and when "the whole world" was just the people in our house or our neighborhood we had to believe most of what the adults told us - regardless of how wise or ignorant, how kind or cruel those adults were.

Some adults face this same dilemma. Someone recovering from a horrible injury or someone who is dependent on people who overpower them may need to temporarily accept whatever they are told while they focus purely on survival.

When we grow up, and after we've survived desperate adult situations, we must reexamine everything we've learned from such sources. We need to reevaluate each "emotional belief"
using our most accurate tools: Our senses.