Isn’t she CUTE? See her law-enforcement decorations, and know cute isn’t always what it appears to be! Trusting emotions isn’t the path to truth.
This cute puppy found a pistol clip loaded with bullets* at my feet in a golf cart, lickety split — *planted there by the K-9’s master, as a demonstration of her prowess. I have the video. She’s not what she “appears”. Most things aren’t. Don’t judge by emotional responses if you want to find the truth of a matter.
Another pretty amazing example, few would believe could happen:
Wine Experts Fooled: Think White Wine Is Red
Psychologists have fooled a group of wine experts into praising a white wine that had been coloured red. The German magazine Psychology Today gathered 54 wine tasters in Bordeaux to taste the wine that had tasteless food dye added. It says none of them realized the wine had been doctored—they thought it was a legitimate red because of its colour.
The magazine said of the first experiment: None of them guessed that it had been a wine that we had tampered with. “It is a psychological phenomenon that they marked it down as tasting what their senses told them it should taste of — because it was coloured red. Actually it tasted of hardly anything.”
We tend to believe anything, as long as it comes in a convincing and pleasing package, and hate the things that come in a less attractive package.
In a second test, it says the experts praised another cheap wine that had been poured into an expensive bottle. When it was offered in its real bottle, they criticized it. The magazine says the experts described it as “marvelous,” “forward but charming,” “fruity” and “robust.” When it was poured into its proper bottle, the experts described it as “thin,” “weak” and “too light.”
“It shows that not all experts should be believed,” the magazine warned.
Everyone believes they are above the old fable, “The emperor has no clothes!” Or, he does have clothes — even if the cool kids say he doesn’t, vice versa.
The human mind is so weak. Ouch. How gullible and easily conned can be the political world, the scientific world, the medical world, the religious world, the social media world, and the rest of us humans.
We tend to believe anything, as long as it comes in a convincing and pleasing package. Everything is “good”—as long as it appeals to our minds and senses and emotions—even if it violates all sorts of things essential, true, and fruitful. And, with bad packaging, it can’t be good.
Don’t let your guard down by trusting emotions and “whatever everyone else is saying“. Insist rather on outcomes and fruit.
Delta t — watching for outcomes takes a little bit of time, discernment, courage, and honesty. In spiritual matters, a “no beauty or majesty” package is an intellectual and spiritual test of character, skandalon, by design.
