9 Ways To Not Be Deceived, Yea 10 Ways To Not Be Sucked In.

Let's face it, we are all deceived to one degree or another but there are things that we can do to reduce this deception and gain wisdom in the process.

Such is life I guess... we created beings are even willing to lie to our own selves.  One would think that honesty with one's self would be easy, but it can be surprisingly difficult when truth reveals things we'd really just as soon weren't true.  I guess there are some things we'd rather not face.

But beyond the act of willing self-duping, sometimes all we need is a plan.  Well... below are just a few things we can do to keep deception at bay.

1. Admit the deception.

This is number one.  We can't fix a problem until we admit that one exists.  And, when it comes to interpreting reality, we can bank on the fact that we have misinterpreted it in some ways.

2.  Broadening your horizons helps ward off deception.

Judging reality using our personal experience as a baseline is a sure-fire way to ensure deception.  Study history.  Ponder how and why, say a Communist, or a Liberal, or a Muslim, would see things differently.  

4. Emotions are reactions to stimulus and not a source of truth.

To ensure deception just "following your heart".  Feelings, or emotions, obscure reality; they do not clarify it.  

5. Hammers know no truth, so don't be a hammer.

There is an old saying, "for the hammer, every problem is a nail."  We humans are created to serve something bigger than ourselves.  Once our creator has been rejected, something else will fill that void so that every problem man faces is the result of the problem our cause seeks to solve.

6.  All ignorance is not deception, but all deception is ignorance.

There's nothing wrong with ignorance. We all don't know vastly more than we know.  In fact, in keeping with number 1, admitting ignorance is a good thing, because it is better to "know that thy know not" than it is to "know not that thy know not".

7. Plausibility is not truth.  Know the difference.

If a story can be concocted wherein it is proven that A can be true, that does not make A true, only plausible. 

8. Remember, deception is contagious.

There are many things accepted as fact in any given society that are not true.  In my own society it is accepted as fact that man can cool off his planet, that his existence started from nothing, that right and wrong are relative, and that it is wrong to believe otherwise.  If we do not develop antibodies to combat such deception, it is almost guaranteed that we will be deceived by "going with the flow".  The best antibodies start with self examination, thinking and questions.

9. Listen, Think!

Listening is a lost art, especially if we feel our deception being challenged.  But building walls around our pet deceptions only ensures deception.  It also helps to listen to someone we deem as deceived.  Really try to understand why this person is deceived, and always be willing to discover, regardless of the emotional pain, our own deception.  Think about what others say, especially when they say something with which you disagree.

10.  Words have the power to deceive.

The meanings of words like love, marriage, family, religion, justice, greed, good, tolerance, peace and many many more are morphing.  If things don't seem right, or don't make sense, ask that words be defined.  Clarity is good medicine for fighting the disease of deception.