Eldon Taylor's Blog, page 17

Scientism and Hogwash

In this week’s spotlight I wish to discuss white crows. William James famously stated, “If an axiom states that all crows are black, we need find only one white crow to disprove it.” The relevance of this statement could not have more meaning than in the area of human experience, particularly the realm of so-called supernatural. Scientism We live at a time when many hold science as a new sort of religion, one that has been unaffectionately referred to as scientism. According to these folks, the world of shoes and ships and sealing wax is reducible to evolutionary mechanics—we are ...

Is There a Value to Complaining

In this week’s spotlight I would like to address the issue of complaining. If you stop for a moment and think about it, we all have complaints. Perhaps as the election approaches, your complaints are about the nature of this presidential campaign and the intolerable low among our so-called leaders that we have seen this cycle. Or perhaps you find the drivers in traffic to be numbskulls or nincompoops that are always making your daily commute a nightmare. Maybe you just experienced horrible service at a diner or retail outlet and that has you thinking about complaining to management. And—I ...

Lost In Communication

In this week’s spotlight I would like to draw your attention to thinking. I have often spoken about life beliefs as analogous to a spider’s web in that they are all attached in some way—even our dissonant beliefs. So, as with the spider’s web, if we vibrate one strand, the entire web is affected. It is important to consider how we think in exactly this same interrelated way, for the basic elements of thought begin with concepts. Indeed, we can think of concepts as the atoms that build the molecules we know as propositions. Concepts Let me unpack that some. ...

The Power of Visualization

In today’s spotlight I wish to discuss visualization. This is a tool that we all possess but few give it the rightfully due respect it deserves. Indeed, one might argue that visualizing things is but an exercise in imagination, and in some ways it can be—but does that make it less worthy of our interest? I think not. Still, we are often encouraged to give up the use of practices like daydreaming, visualizing fantasies, and the like because the emphasis is all too often today on what we think of as left brain dominant thinking—logic and reason. Visualizing Mathematics In ...

The Gains in Self-Sabotage?

Defense Mechanism In this week’s spotlight we shine a light on choices. We all make choices everyday and for the most part, we are certain of why we make the choices we do—but are we? I have discussed the fact that functional MRI scans show that our decisions are largely made in the subconscious followed then by our conscious mind actively constructing the rational basis for our choices. I have also pointed out how our various defense mechanisms develop strategies designed to protect us from everything from embarrassment to physical abuse. The child who is beaten by a parent often ...

The Importance of Self-Esteem

In today’s spotlight I wish to discuss self-esteem. By way of definition, or reference with respect to today’s comments, self-esteem “describes a person’s overall sense of self-worth or personal value. It s the ‘feeling of self-appreciation’ and is an indispensable emotion for people to adapt to society and live their lives.” Importance of Self-Esteem I read a study just yesterday that pointed out the importance of cultivating a strong sense of self-esteem in our youth. I posted this study on my FB page and was surprised by comments that discounted the benefit of self-esteem. However, there has recently been no ...

Personal Truths

Religion and Spirituality In this week’s spotlight I would like to take a moment to reflect on the nature of truth. We hear a lot today about the idea that truth is personal—statements like, “I have my own truth.” This is an interesting idea that essentially can be used to argue for cultural relativity, something I have railed against many times on my radio show. Still—we all do have our so-called personal truths. For example, I have personally spent years studying, researching, and otherwise investigating the entire nature of religion and spirituality. That said, there is no solid scientific evidence that ...

Difference In Deception

In today’s spotlight I wish to focus for a moment on the issue of trust. Who or what are we to trust, when, under what circumstances and for how long? Think about that for a moment. I saw a T-shirt this week with this on it: “Trust the Government” printed in black bold lettering, but underneath, printed in a shade of gray just slightly darker than the gray shirt were these words, “ Said No Founding Father Ever!” What’s True? We have hosted a number of professionals on my radio show, Provocative Enlightenment, who have offered evidence of extra terrestrials, ...

Emotional Heuristics

In this week’s spotlight I wish to address the subject of values. One of the more interesting areas of human research has to do with our emotions, and there is a heuristic to them. A heuristic is a rule or method, that shortcuts the necessity to reason, or think about a decision. If you think of it this way, then when our emotions arise, they are reflecting a value. Let me flesh that out some. Belief Mirror For years I have taught that our stream of consciousness is a mirror on our true beliefs. When we say something to ourselves ...

Deferred Gratification Disappearing?

In this week’s spotlight I would like to discuss the capacity for deferred gratification. There’s a genuinely tutorial study known as the marshmallow test. In this study young children were sat down in a room with a large fresh marshmallow. They were told that they could eat the marshmallow if they wanted, but if they waited until the researcher returned to the room, they could have two—the researcher would bring them a second marshmallow. They were also told that if they decided to eat the marshmallow before the researcher returned, to ring a bell and the researcher would immediately return, ...