Hexagram 43 > Hexagram 1
You say you want a new job, but the paychecks and status quo tranquilize you enough that you keep spending your off-hours scrolling through social media sideshows.
You say you want to eat healthy, but an extra few hundred calories, and the resulting brain chemicals, becomes too convincing for you to put the chips down.
You say you want to improve your relationships, but then you find yourself listening to more podcasts instead of actual friends.
These are all examples of the kinds of contradictions we find ourselves constricted by on a daily basis. Hypocrises that can overvalue the short-term over the long, the unhealthy over the healthy, the short-sighted over the wise.
The solution I stumbled into, like a drunk landing face down in front of an AA doorstep was the Socratic Method. A way of thinking that's been around for a couple thousand years, that almost seems like a myth in the age of stupefying social media.
Much of what I've learned about the method has been the result of reading Ward Farnsworth's fabulous book on the subject, 'The Socratic Method: A Practitioner's Handbook'.
What follows are essentially prompts to think in a more productive way.
A small number were taken directly from Ward's pages, but most were deemed sufficient for internal change through excessive trial and error on my part, to see what actually flipped the switches in my mind.
None of these are one-size fits all, for all internal contradictions, but by cycling through the list with a pen and paper, you may find yourself getting untangled from the threads you've spun around your own thinking, and behavior. We'll begin:
Identifying The Socratic Starting Point
One way to identify what to begin poking at with the Socratic Method is to spill all of your automatic thoughts on to a blank page.
Whatever's on your mind, just pour it out.
When done with that process you'll likely find judgements, opinions, biases, and assumptions that are causing you some sort of problem, or cognitive dissonance.
Ex: ____ is a bad movie/album/song, I shouldn't drink alcohol, my job is too stressful, etc.
The two most common types of what you'll end up with are what Ward Farnsworth describes as:
1) A Premise To Be Defined
- Ex: What is a good movie/day/worthy form of criticism/relationship
- Ex: What makes drinking alcohol good?
- Ex: What makes a job bad?
2) A Proposition To Be Defended
- Ex: This or that is good/good for me, bad/bad for me
- Ex: Drinking alcohol is good for me
- Ex: This job is bad for me
Other Ways To Identify A Starting Point
Here's some other angles if you're at a loss for where to begin:
Big premise:
- What is the zoom out
- What is the bigger element/broader element
- Fasting: The bigger element is good health
- What would need to be true (wwntbt) to have a list of my current biggest concerns, or goals
- What are the premises/assumptions about them
- What things do I do/say/think that I say I don't want to
- What are the "shoulds" or "shouldn'ts" here
- What do you want ____ to be
- What would be good to have happen
- What's the definition of something
- What is a good/bad version or type or instance of this
- What makes something like this good or bad
- What would need to be true (wwntbt) of your assertions and assessments given that this is taking place
- ____ is good for me
- It would be good for me to experience/do/have ____
- It's good for me to believe ____
- Good forms of ____ are ____
- I believe ____
- List out all current actions and why five times
- Why doing it
- I don't get it
- Look for your assessments and assertions
Different Socratic Method Lock Combinations
What follows is a list of thinking angles/prompts that I've found helpful in eliminating beliefs, persuading myself, resolving contradictions, and generally improving my life.
I go through as many as I can in a notebook, but sometimes you only need one to really flip a switch and unlock some insight that can change your life for the better. Here's my list:
1) Using Extremes
- Go to the extremes of it/Consider the extreme cases
- What if x was/happened all the time
- What if x never happened
- What if the most possible amounts of x happened
- What if the least possible amounts of x happened
--
2) Finding Commonalities
- What views about this person/thing do you agree with
- What do you not agree with
--
3) Following That String
- If assertion/assessment is true doesn't that mean x
--
4) What Would Make For The Worst Outcome
- What would need to be true (wwntbt) for the worst outcome
- And then what (ATW) (repeat)
--
5) The Public Question
- What if everything with everyone was public
- And then what (ATW) (repeat)
--
6) Opposing Teams Question
- How would you feel about this if it was someone from your opposing political party/same political party
- What if someone with different politics did/had/was x, followed by And then what (ATW) (repeat) (Catching biases)
--
7) Agreement and Disagreement
- Where do you agree
- Where do you disagree
--
8) Literalism
- Literalism for the supposed good thing, followed by And then what (ATW) (repeat) (For events)
--
9) Seeing Clearly What You Want
- What if you got what you wanted, what would that look like
- And then what (ATW) (repeat)
--
10) Driling Down To Definition
- What is this an example of (x)
- What's your definition of x
- If that's your definition, does this make that good/bad/acceptable/not acceptable/wise/unwise/virtuous/unvirtuous
--
11) Seeing From Another's Shoes
- What would it be like if you were in *their* shoes
--
12) And Then What
- Ask what happens next/and then what
--
13) Where Do You Agree
- Look for agreement with other person/argument
--
14) If This, Then That
- X is good
- If x is good, y is bad
- How is Y bad
--
15) Best Friend Question
- What if your worst best friend told you x or to do x
- What would you tell your best friend if they were in your spot
--
16) Worst Enemy Question
- What if your worst enemy benefitted from doing x
- Made money/lost money
- Cost you x
--
17) What Would Need To Be True (wwntbt) For This To Be Good
- wwntbt for this to be good/bad/worthwhile/not worthwhile
--
18) Favorite And Least Favorite
- What are your favorite parts/aspects of x
- What are your least favorite parts/aspects of x
--
19) Past Experience
- What does past experience tell you about the benefits, harms, rewards, punishments associated with this
--
20) Lasting Effects
- Does this produce a lasting benefit, or a lasting harm
--
21) Replacement Question
- Can this be replaced with x
- And then what (ATW) (repeat) if it was
--
22) Never Again Question
- What if you never had/did x again
- And then what (ATW) (repeat)
--
23) Memory of Value
- Do you really remember any instance of having/experiencing this in the past
- What benefit does it serve you now
--
24) What Would Need To Be True (wwntbt) For This To Be Negative
- wwntbt for this to be terrible/great, worth it/not worth it
--
25) Past And Future
- What would it be like if this was ten years in the past or ten years in the future
--
26) Awareness of Benefit
- On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate the benefit of this in the past, present, and what you think it will be in the future
--
27) Memory of Success
- When has something like this happened before and turned out how you wanted it to
--
28) Consequences For Everyone
- And then what (ATW) (repeat) for you
- And then what (ATW) (repeat) for others outside of yourself affected
--
29) Benefits of The 'Bad'
- How are the negatives of this actually beneficial/good
--
30) 5 Whys
- Why 5 times (or more to find the underlying premise)
- Then refutation/if this, then that means
- Is this always true/false?
--
31) Why Continue The Negative
- Why would you continue to do this if you know it's not good for you
- What benefit do you think you're going to get
--
32) What You Would Not Have
- Think of everything you wouldn't have now if you didn't have x
- Internals and externals
--
33) What Would Need To Be True (wwntbt) To Disprove
- wwntbt to disprove this
--
34) Clarifying Your View
- What is your view
- State it as clearly as possible
--
35) Similar and Dissimilar
- What is this similar to
- What is this dissimilar to
--
36) Applying Present To Past
- What would it be like if you did this with other similar things in the past
--
37) Seeing The Components
- What are the components, building blocks of this, and are they less important when seen apart from the whole
--
38) What Would You Do Without
- What would you have done if you didn't have this/this option in the past
--
39) ATW With All Sense
- Ask yourself And then what (ATW) (repeat) and then experience it with each sense, one at a time
--
40) When You Were Different
- When was a time you didn't do/think this
- What was different then
--
41) Meaning And Definition
- Statement:
- Doesn't that mean ____
- What's the definition of ____ then
--
42) Identifying The Plain English Example
- Why x 5
- What is this thing you identified a basic, plain English example of (Why: possibility is fun to think about, plain english: Imagination, do you prefer imagination over reality
--
43) Process For Alignment
- What is your desired outcome, or outcome you'd like to not be desired (even if it's unrealistic)
- What change do you want to make in others by doing x
- If you can't answer these questions, imagine it's your best friend or a stranger that is being asked these questions, and what would they say
- What could someone argue about the motives with what you're hoping for
- And then what (ATW) (repeat) after you get it (what does it mean if this happens, for you and others
- Is this something you want, or that aligns with your principles
--
44) Likes and Dislikes
- What do you like
- What do you dislike
- If that's true, then doesn't that mean ____
--
45) Accuracy and Evidence
- How accurate is this
- How inaccurate is this
- Where's the evidence for this
- Where is evidence lacking
--
46) Urgency And Patience
- What does this look like as an urgency
- What does it look like as a form of patience
--
47) Evidence of Exceptions
- Where, when, how are these things/this not true
Final Thoughts
It's easy to fall into some cognitive dissonance, but with the right questions, it can be just as easy to slip out of its chokehold.
My solution for being pulled in two directions is: throw the Socratic Method at it.
Hopefully all of the above prompts help you ease out of your own limiting beliefs, and maybe you'll fall into your own go-tos.
May us all be a bit less stupid.