🖌️ Monday Muse
The Monday Muse is a weekly collection of reminders, insights, and maxims on the art of living. The term “muse” has two meanings: (1) a state of deep thought; and (2) a source of inspiration. May the following (in a small way) be a source of contemplation, insight, and wisdom to live your highest good.
📌 Perennial Reminder(s)
The Swiss author and entrepreneur Rolf Dobelli on thinking clearly:
The confirmation bias is the mother of all misconceptions. It is the tendency to interpret new information so that it becomes compatible with our existing theories, beliefs, and convictions. In other words, we filter out any new information that contradicts our existing views (‘disconfirming evidence’). This is a dangerous practice. ‘Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored,’ said writer Aldous Huxley. However, we do exactly that, as super-investor Warren Buffett knows: ‘What the human being is best at doing is interpreting all new information so that their prior conclusions remain intact.’
The confirmation bias is alive and well in the business world. One example: An executive team decides on a new strategy. The team enthusiastically celebrates any sign that the strategy is a success. Everywhere the executives look, they see plenty of confirming evidence, while indications to the contrary remain unseen or are quickly dismissed as ‘exceptions’ or ‘special cases.’ They have become blind to disconfirming evidence. […]
Source: The Art of Thinking Clearly
📜 Perennial Maxim(s)
The late American spiritual teacher and author Ram Dass, on progress:
What if the traditional view of self-improvement is hindering your development? Interestingly, many wisdom traditions stress the art of letting go. You’ll find phrases like surrender, acceptance, and living in the flow of life across philosophical and spiritual traditions.
What would it mean to stop worrying about where you’re going?
💡 Perennial Insight(s)
The author and classicist Natalie Haynes on learning from history:
We live in a world where a defiant refusal to acknowledge anything but the present is commonplace: the past is considered too boring and the future too scary. But the past is full of people just like us, people who lived ordinary lives in extraordinary times. Spend some time with them, and we might learn more about ourselves. ... Ancient history doesn’t just belong in dusty classrooms and dog-eared textbooks, it belongs in our lives now. As Thucydides, the Athenian historian, once wrote, ‘It will be enough for me if these words are judged useful by those who want to understand clearly the events which happened in the past and which (human nature being what it is) will, at some time or other and in much the same ways, be repeated in the future. […]
Source: The Ancient Guide to Modern Life
—
Thank you for reading; I hope you found something useful.
Until next time, be wise and be well,
J.W. Bertolotti
P.S. If you’re interested in becoming a member but cannot afford it, feel free to request a complimentary membership or use this discount link.