Sugar Pills

So last post I talked about mental viruses & how things that people say, things that you read & things that you see often end up influencing beliefs and actions.

I think that just about everyone that reads this blog has heard about cultures & people, not only in the past but even today, that believe in shamans, healers or witchdoctors. And you might think that the people that believe in these practitioners are from primitive societies or third world countries and that their believers are deluded however, the placebo effect is well documented in every area of the world. I read about people who were, with the permission of their families, given ‘sham’ surgery for knee problems. Since this was a real study, they had several groups, one that had the surgery & some that one thought they had gotten it but had not (though incisions were made in the skin the make it look like they had gotten the operation) and one that the surgeon actually ‘spoke’ the procedure over the sedated patient, with accompanying sounds that would have occurred had the operation actually happened. They followed up with all of the patient’s after one year. An overwhelming number of the the subjects in the study reported a vast improvement in their condition as a result of the surgery. And this is just one example of the placebo effect, you know there  are many more.

The bottom line here is that when someone that has authority, that has ‘expertise’, that has stature says a thing is so, people tend to believe that person, or that news program, that article, that expert. And it is that belief that controls the result. Now, that is a good thing if what you are being told is beneficial to you but is it always? We live in a world that is on information overload and we rely on ‘experts’ to tell us so much. Then we believe just about everything they tell us without giving it much thought.

Am I saying don’t believe anything you hear? Not at all, but you have been told all of your life to take everything with a ‘grain of salt’ which means that information should be examined before being adopted or that it should not be blindly accepted and believed without any doubts or reservations.

So, now you have read two posts on this subject and you may be wondering why I chose it. You are inundated by information and misinformation every day so I want you to be clear that what you choose to allow yourself to be exposed to, through the news, ‘experts’, your next door neighbor and even me, is your choice so make that choice wisely and with a grain of salt. Although I could just be saying that if results follow belief then what do you believe and why do you believe that?