Tim Rudolph's Chapter 2 Journal
KEY IDEA OF THE WEEK
The key idea of this week is that hiding the truth can lead to problems. We saw in the video that the lies about the Bay of Pigs, the Vietnam War, the Watergate scandal, and the Challenger disaster led to many problems. In the Bay of Pigs, many U.S. soldiers died in vain because of the government wanted something to be true that wasn't. In the Challenger disaster, seven astronauts died because of a stupid decision which ignored the facts. Even self-deception can hurt us. M. Scott Peck told us that underlying beliefs can ruin our lives just as it did the man who refused to trust any adults. Lies can cause problems, whether the victims are ourselves or others.
3 IDEAS TO REMEMBER
1. Lying can become habit if we aren't careful
In the Right Speech Experiment, I learned just how much I hide the truth or lie. Most of the time I didn't even notice that I was lying until I really thought about it. I was lying so much that it became second-nature for me. The lies just came to me when I needed them to, and I didn't even think twice. They weren't serious lies, but I never knew that I even told minor lies so often. The experiment helped me to see just how much of a habit lying really was for me.
This is important to remember because lying out of habit could get me into big trouble. Sometimes I need to slow down and think about why I am lying and then decide whether it is necessary or not.
2. Human Condition can give us false underlying beliefs
M. Scott Peck's article about choosing maps gave a great example of this fact. Peck tells a story about a man who couldn't trust his parents as a child, and when he grew up he decided that he couldn't trust any figure of authority, and he went to prison. His wife left him and he went to talk to Peck, who said that the man was taught to distrust authority. Because he had the underlying belief as a child that adults couldn't be trusted, he kept that belief when he became an adult, and that became a problem for him. This is an example of transference and shows that childish ideas can stick with us as we grow up. Peck said that the man would have to take the risk of trusting someone in order to find out that that person can be trusted.
This is important to remember because there will be childish ideas that try to follow us into adulthood, and we need to be aware of this. we need to redraw our maps so that we can live a good life without falling victim to these underlying beliefs.
3. The main reason people lie is to protect their image.
The video called "The Truth About Lies" taught me that many times people will lie so that they look good. For example, in the Vietnam War, Lyndon Johnson and his administration lied to the American public about the difficulties of the war, making it seem as if everything was under control when it really wasn't. Johnson said that he wasn't sending any more soldiers to Vietnam, but he actually was. He made these lies so that America thought that Vietnam was going well and so that they thought Johnson was doing a good job as president.
If we remember this reason for lying,. it will be easier to catch lies from other people and to realize why they are lying. The first step to becoming more honest is to find out the reasons for lying. If we know why we lie, we can more easily notice our lies and avoid making them.
MY BIG QUESTION