Listening to the silent majority

[55]

Too often, the world and its events are interpreted in ways removed from the truth. Our minds produce illusions. Constantly subjective thought-processes often lead us to perceptions, both about ourselves and others, that are pure fabrications, because they have nothing in common with the true realities of a situation. Too often, the confused and tumultuous beginning to a life affects the mindscape of a person for the rest of his life. Perhaps writing one's memoirs has a restorative effect on the damaged soul. What else is psycho-analysis but the attempt to bring derailed thinking patterns back on tracks? Most of us live the illusion that we are thinking or acting upon sound knowledge and pertinent facts. But in actual fact, they are often merely opinions that do not reveal true mastery of the problem presented to the mind.

Don Mattera is free of course to overlook things, as he says, but then how much value will his message carry? All perceptions are subject to error. A journalist or writer has in particular to be on guard against that.

[p. 70]

Consciousness was considered by Freud to be the most obvious, but also the most mysterious feature of the mind. Most people assume that they are in perfect control of their minds, but often they find themselves in a minefield of deceptions and illusions that go largely unnoticed until the day reality steps in.