In my teaching role I have the opportunity to take college students through the forest of mirrors that is the world of political and military deception.
The course centers on overcoming self-deception and deceptions induced by others through the application of sound critical thinking skills, awareness of heuristics that are helpful and cognitive bias that get in our way, along with the use of specific analytical tools to investigate the presence of deception.
One of the first things we talk about are the limitations of our own senses, and their vulnerability to errors in gathering accurate information about the world around us. The point is easily made with a few visual illusions like this one.
Is this an image of a young lady or an old woman? Is it both?
Or this one
Do you see movement? Nope it’s not a gif. That is your sensory system playing deceptive tricks on you.
The intent is to get my students to start to question (not deny) the authenticity of what they see, hear, feel, smell, or taste. This is a crucial first step in realizing our vulnerability to deception.
Of course what I love most about teaching these lessons is that they are applicable across the spectrum of our lives, and are not just something that is relevant to countering military and political deception.
To live the life we want to live, we need to develop the capability and capacity to mitigate our vulnerability to self-deception that emerges from the natural limitations of our sensory system.
So how do we do that? I’m glad you asked. Because awareness is only part of the solution.
The simple response is that we should meet the world our senses reveal to us with the core questions of critical thinking: Who, What, Where, When, Why, and How.
This often overlooked methodology requires us to pause and dig into our perceptions to formulate a more nuanced understanding of the world around us. When done effectively we can perceive a greater level of detail and thereby gain clarity in our understanding. This clarity informs our decision making and starts to free us from the limitations of our sensing system.
Of course this is a first step. But it is elegant and powerful. Give it a try.
If you found this helpful, you can read all of my Daily Reflections at www.tacticstotalwellness.com/blog
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