As for making up stories about how my dumb emotional self arrived at an irrational belief, that sounds like fun, but I’m not sure how much I’d be confident that I had the right story. I’ve heard pjeby promote the idea (and even claim that he can deduce what’s going on in his clients’ heads). But I suppose if these stories work (get you to change your feelings) then there’s also little harm.
Actually, you point up a big issue in what I have to teach people: how not to make up stories, but rather to simply observe the sounds and images that flash through their heads in response to a mental inquiry. Invariably, these bits of information are not particularly logical or verbally sophsticated, unlike the information that comes from the “making up stories” bit of your brain.
Instead, the truthful information is usually childish, paradoxical, or downright ridiculous. A common reaction upon seeing these things is to go, “Are you kidding me? That’s what this is about? I’ve spent how many years doing/feeling this stupid thing because of that?”
(Ideally, that’s all there is to it—the feeling stops there. But sometimes, you realize that you still believe the stupid thing anyway, even though you know how stupid it is. That then requires a bit more work to construct alternatives, the way Eliezer eliminated his fear of the lurking serial killer.)
Anyway, as I tell people, if you’re not at least a little surprised, confused, or ashamed by what you discover when you do RMI, you’re almost certainly making it up yourself—using the apologist instead of the revolutionary, so to speak. Shut up and ask the question again, then watch, wait, and listen for the answer.
Actually, you point up a big issue in what I have to teach people: how not to make up stories, but rather to simply observe the sounds and images that flash through their heads in response to a mental inquiry. Invariably, these bits of information are not particularly logical or verbally sophsticated, unlike the information that comes from the “making up stories” bit of your brain.
Instead, the truthful information is usually childish, paradoxical, or downright ridiculous. A common reaction upon seeing these things is to go, “Are you kidding me? That’s what this is about? I’ve spent how many years doing/feeling this stupid thing because of that?”
(Ideally, that’s all there is to it—the feeling stops there. But sometimes, you realize that you still believe the stupid thing anyway, even though you know how stupid it is. That then requires a bit more work to construct alternatives, the way Eliezer eliminated his fear of the lurking serial killer.)
Anyway, as I tell people, if you’re not at least a little surprised, confused, or ashamed by what you discover when you do RMI, you’re almost certainly making it up yourself—using the apologist instead of the revolutionary, so to speak. Shut up and ask the question again, then watch, wait, and listen for the answer.