5766
Jul 16 2011: A delusion will persist for as long as there are resources to support it. [view in context] 5767
Jul 16 2011: A delusion is a belief that serves our emotional needs but does not match the real-world data. 5768
Jul 16 2011: The only danger of following a delusion is that it eventually leads you to bad decisions. 5769
Jul 16 2011: You may have the belief you can fly. You'll find out whether it's a delusion the moment you step off a cliff. 5770
Jul 16 2011: Delusions are essential for social control because they keep people sedated and moving along the same path. 5771
Jul 16 2011: The job of advertising is to foster delusions. 5772
Jul 16 2011: The function of delusions in the individual is to help one avoid facing unpleasant truths. 5773
Jul 16 2011: We may be able to see the delusions of our past. It's the delusions of the present that are hard to discern. 5774
Jul 16 2011: Most of the decisions of our past life were based on delusions. Nonetheless, those decisions moved us forward and are part of us now. 5775
Jul 16 2011: You can never erase a past decision. No apology or penance will change it. You can only work with what it has given you. 5776
Jul 16 2011: Most delusions are emotionally reinforced and are impervious to logic or outside argument. 5777
Jul 16 2011: The only thing likely to change a delusion is directly experiencing bad consequences from it — but even that doesn't always work. 5778
Jul 16 2011: If you think you can fly but crash trying, you can still retain the delusion. The theory was correct, you say, only the execution flawed. 5779
Jul 16 2011: The strength with which a delusion is held is proportional to the investment one has already made in it. 5780
Jul 16 2011: You could say that every human belief is a delusion. Perhaps, but some delusions match the data better than others. 5781
Jul 16 2011: Life can be seen as the refinement of ones delusions. We start with the absurd and naive, but move toward the more useful and consistent. 5782
Jul 16 2011: Most people will abandon their delusions only when forced into checkmate, where circumstance gives them no choice but face the truth. 5783
Jul 16 2011: Nothing reforms delusion like catastrophe. 5784
Jul 16 2011: The wise recognize their own delusions based on data alone. They don't wait for catastrophe but change before it happens. 5785
Jul 16 2011: When results don't match the theory, it's time to question the theory. 5786
Jul 16 2011: Sometimes it all comes down to one bit of data. You were expecting 0, but the world gave you 1, and that changes everything. 5787
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