Being Wrong, Being Right

"Nothing is so firmly believed as that which we least know."

— Michel de Montaigne

The ego is that part of you that is unwilling to ever admit to being wrong; it makes you "right" in your mind by feeding your illusions, and disconnecting you from Reality. Ego can make a person ignorant and gung-ho, thinking that he/she can do no wrong — a dangerous combination. When you become wrong, you defend what is wrong in you as if it were right. You do not wish to see that you are wrong, and avoid being corrected by the Truth. This is how any ego investment in "being right" — intellectually, emotionally, or willfully — blocks true awareness within your self. You may have the tendency to not only accept whatever you are told in the propaganda of government, religion, the media, science, economics, and business — over time, you develop a certain kind of loyalty to your indoctrination and programming. You defend it as if it were true.

There is a strange phenomenon in which people who are totally wrong can convey the most astonishing assurance in their ideas and themselves, and make those who know the truth begin to doubt themselves. This trick has been mastered by politicians, religious leaders, businessmen, con men, the media, the wrong and self-righteous. For example, listen to Christian fundamentalists talk about their offspring as being "children of faith" — perfect in their eyes (just like they are) because they are programmed with the Bible from the earliest age. Their closed-mindedness, smug arrogance, and self-righteousness, placing themselves above everyone who does not share their views, reveals their egotism and self-delusion. They refuse to think for themselves; they are unshakable in their ignorance, not faith. Permanently closing one's mind, and being forever misguided, is taken as some sort of ultimate salvation. Nothing could be further from the truth. People imagine that if they absolutely hold on to any belief as true then it must be true, even when they are absolutely wrong. Such people have no awareness or no true conscience. Though they preach morality, they are historically the first to lynch (or crucify) those whom they righteously judge as having the wrong attitude — they find salvation in silencing those who can see their wrongs. This makes them "right." Those who are most wrong, deluded, and evil have the greatest investment in labeling you wrong — socially, politically, religiously, racially, morally, etc. — if you can see what is wrong with them, if you have any ability to think for yourself. They fear and loathe true awareness.

Think for a moment: how do you know when you are right? People assume that they are right, even when they are not, out of habit or force of ego. There is, of course, a huge difference between being right versus being wrong — thinking you are right. Do not assume you are right just because:
• you believe or adopt the popular opinion about something
• you let more "important," knowledgeable, or powerful people think for you, act through you, or make your decisions for you, and never think for your self
• you are an authority or in a position of influence or power
• you believe that your group has the only truth
• you feel a sense of superiority, pride, or arrogance
• your choices or actions lead to more money, pride, glory, or "security"
• you surround your self with those who have the same point of view
• you rationalize or justify what is wrong and make it appear "right"; you have situational "morality"
• you give up responsibility, let the world make your choices for you, or conform, so you never have to feel that you are wrong or made a wrong choice
• you listen to propaganda, "hype," advertising, or false claims, and become indoctrinated because of your impressionability
• you trust the media to tell you the truth about everything
• you are closed-minded, skeptical, or "logical," and refuse to consider or even imagine the possibility of anything being true if you have not already "seen it with your own eyes," or if it does not agree with what you already believe
• you already feel you know everything, and prefer to disallow anyone from having any beliefs other than the ones you have made up your mind to be "true." read more ...

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