This is the Spectrum of Assumptions and it is very dangerous. It will lead to your ego death if you're not careful. That's Okay. Ego deaths are both fun and exciting! I mean besides the grief they trigger--all five stages, a midlife crisis or two, alienation between you and your friends and family, people thinking you're insane, you thinking you're insane... I mean, OK, some side effects are neither fun nor exciting but what else are you doing this afternoon?

Here is how the Spectrum of Assumptions works.  Every time you draw a conclusion about anything you are on the spectrum of assumptions.  This means you were already on it since preschool or kindergarten at least. So, welcome to the Spectrum!  Where you are on the spectrum depends on how what types of assumptions you like to believe, and how much you've invested your favorite lies.  Are you human?  This could get messy.

Begin with the question: "Are my assumptions correct?"

If your answer is yes, you are lying to yourself.  Stop that. 

Accept that you are an idiot who doesn't know anything and like all humans, 99.99% of your initial assumptions are WRONG.  This is because our natural inclination is not to delight in the truth but to prefer false fear and false hope.  We like to hang out in the dead ends of paranoia and utopia.  Most of us are very comfortable there.  

So quit lying to yourself.  Acknowledge that you have made assumptions and that assumptions by definition are wrong.  They are lies you tell yourself. Which means that in reality you aren't in reality.  You are in a state of paranoia or utopia. Or both.

This means you are afraid of things that don't exist,  like under the bed monsters, or nuclear weapons.

This means you are hopeful for things that don't exist, like Pepsi commercial unity, or environmental sustainability.

You have been lying to yourself.

What are your thoughts and feelings about that?

If you are a traditional American conservative, you might be feeling more fear. You might be afraid because you've just now realized that all your previous fears were irrational, but this fear you feel now is the most rational fear ever, and maybe now you are convinced it's time to get another gun or two.

If you are a traditional American liberal, you might be feeling more hope. Now that you know all your previous hopes were false, you feel more educated, and are convinced that the hope you feel now is  for realzies this time because it's so much more enlightened, and maybe now you might want to go support another cultural movement or two.

Notice the pattern?  Whichever dead end you are in is where you will stay.  You will feedback loop. That's normal. We like to protect our delusions.   They're so comfy.

Except for when they are not.  

Like for example when my delusions landed me in prison. That kinda sucked.  And when I realized it was my assumptions that led me to this prison cell, I had an ego death.  This is because I had built my ego on the foundation of those assumptions. My ego died once I dismantled my own lies. The waves of grief sucked but I wouldn't have had it any other way.  My ego needed to die.  Badly.  Maybe even a couple times more.  

Here's the good news about the Spectrum of Assumptions.  The ego deaths it causes really are both fun and exciting. When done properly it will move you out of paranoia or utopia and will squarely situate you under reality like that black dot in the diagram above.  Most humans never experience this and if they do they will only acknowledge it for a moment before falling back into their own paranoia or utopia. It's just too comfortable within our own delusions. I know this because I am also human.

Letting your ego die is acknowledging that you've been lying to yourself.  This will set you free from your lies.  All of them.  Because the first will domino the rest.  It is incredibly freeing.  With my new freedom I am creating art and building on the foundation of the good, the true, and the beautiful. 

Interested?  Start here.