Here’s a thought experiment:
If you could burn ten claims about the nature of the world into everyone’s brain, so that they truly grokked them, which ones would you choose?
My answers, stolen from all over the place, in rough order of perceived importance:
- Reality is not vague.
- The past is sunk.
- There is no failure, only feedback.
- The human mind is comprised of sub-selves.
- To communicate effectively with sub-selves, be curious about their deepest desires.
- Pain is an attention signal from a sub-self.
- When sub-selves compete for attention, suffering arises.
- Curiosity eliminates suffering.
- We exercise our agency by directing our attention.
- All judgments (including self-judgments) are alienated expressions of our unmet needs.
What do you think of my ten? I want to hear yours because I like the idea of compiling and sharing the best of the basic principles that guide the actions of the people whose accomplishments and thinking I respect.