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Home  | Human Flourishing  | Personal Development | Progressing with Knowledge

Progressing with Knowledge

BY: T. Franklin Murphy | May 2018 (edited March 1, 2022)
A stack of books at a library. Progressing with Knowledge, A Flourishing Life Society article.
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We must fight bias through continual search for knowledge, not limited to restricted networks supporting our beliefs; but open mindedness to a variety of sources.
The behavioral scientists have made many fantastic achievements to unscramble the complex maze of human behavior. We act from a complicated system of causes, derived from biological programming, experiential histories, and external context. These core players are the building blocks forming beliefs, desires and hopes. By understanding the basics of our complex construction, I hope we can improve our performance, integrating more love, forgiveness and fairness, while compassionately accepting personal shortcomings of judgment, dependency, and misguiding emotions.

We advance through learning not blind allegiance, limited education, or hateful dogmas. Science masterfully shines into small previously hidden corners revealing secrets; but our hopes for human progression can’t rely on scholarly geniuses. Our hope relies on the spreading of knowledge among the masses. A madman can’t ruin a great nation; but a madman supported by ignorant masses can.
"We advance through learning not blind allegiance, limited education, or hateful dogmas."
We protect ourselves not by narrowing our view to a single news network or a highly refined Google searches, but through broad exposure to many sources. Opening our minds to arguments both for and against causes and beliefs. We create a foundation for understanding by curious explorations of history.

​Twitter feeds and Facebook walls are too limiting. As wise as we think we are, we are susceptible to blinding biases and dangerous dogma. We all suffer from these maladies of the mind. If we were a little more discriminating, we wouldn't be as susceptible to the cunning influences of foreign interference.

By understanding biological limitations, and the socializing power of bias, we can gain some freedom from restrictive perceptions. The influence of childhood traumas, our biological programming will always be present, coloring the world we experience; but we can acknowledge the presence of bias and examine alternate perspectives.

We Need to Continuous

We must continue to feed the machine (our brains),purposely gathering knowledge to assist in the tenuous but fascinating journey of living, recognizing the perverting of progression by exciting fears, giving life to hate and intentionally trying to limit the spread of knowledge.

​We can transcend the proclivities of our biased minds by following paths that develop skills, abilities and habits. We must live with our futures, no matter who we blame. Mindfully choose to live a constructive life, building on lessons from history, and the great discoveries of the present.
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T. Franklin Murphy
T. Franklin Murphy
Wellness. Writer. Researcher.
​T. Franklin Murphy has a degree in psychology. He tirelessly researches scientific findings that contribute to wellness. In 2010, he began publishing his findings.

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External Links:
External Link: You Need Both Self-Control And Self-Indulgence To Be Happy
External Link:  Why Power Brings Out Your True Self Are you a tyrant or a servant?
External Link: The Wellness Moonshot: Take a Breath
External Link: Rethinking My Dumb Ass Behavior

​Other Flourishing Life Society articles of interest on this topic:

Clickbait: Teasing Our Curiosity, Poisoning Our Minds. A Flourishing Life Society article link
Our biased approach to new information limits learning, we get stuck in the ruts of the past, failing to gain essential wisdom.
The human ability to share intelligence catapults our species into a different realm of existence. Knowledge accumulates from generation to generation. However, the concepts are muddied with bias, amazingly resistant to change.
Politics of Hate. A Flourishing Life Society article link
FLS Link. Patronizing Toleration:  Toleration is better than discrimination. However, toleration suggests refraining from acting on objectionable differences. We can do better.
Narrowing Our View: Specialized News Feeds and Contracting Views. A Flourishing Life Society article link
FLS internal Link. Doubt, Search, Find: The vulnerable state of doubt leads to a curious search for more. We often neglect learning in exchange for secure and misguided dogma.
FLS Internal Link. Freedom of Press: In the news this week is suggestions of governmental intervention into Google news searches. Such remarks are eerily familiar from disastrous demagogue leaders of brutal regimes.
Beliefs blind our vision. We see only what we wish to see, even when the truth is obvious and helpful.
Link: Protecting the Constitution--The Constitution of the United States is not Republican or Democrat. The founding fathers saw the evil of oppressing governments and created a framework of protection. Undermining these protections to achieve political objectives is dangerous, and opens the doors to evils our founding fathers saw long ago.
Truth Hurts. A Flourishing Life Society article link
Freedom of choice is earned through mulling over possibilities, evaluating conflicting data and then determining a course of action.
Picture link: We must fight bias through continual search for knowledge, not limited to restricted networks supporting our beliefs; but open mindedness to a variety of sources.
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