The One You Feed - Mini Episode- My Cup is Too Full

Episode Date: April 5, 2015

The confirmation bias, The Einstellung Effect and an old Zen tale.  Some of our most popular interviews that you might also enjoy:Kino MacGregorStrand of OaksMike Scott of the WaterboysTodd Henry- author of Die EmptyRandy Scott HydeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I'm Jason Alexander. And I'm Peter Tilden. And together, our mission on the Really Know Really podcast is to get the true answers to life's baffling questions like why the bathroom door doesn't go all the way to the floor, what's in the museum of failure, and does your dog truly love you? We have the answer. Go to reallyknowreally.com

and register to win $500, a guest spot on our podcast, or a limited edition signed Jason bobblehead. The Really Know Really podcast. Follow us on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi everyone, it's Eric from The One You Feed with this week's mini episode. I want to start this week's mini episode off with a quote. In all affairs, it's a from The One You Feed with this week's mini-episode. I want to start this week's mini-episode off with a quote. In all affairs, it's a healthy thing, now and then, to hang a question mark on the things you have long taken for granted. Bertrand Russell

I've been thinking recently about our tendency to think we know the answers to things. There's a couple different, we've talked about cognitive biases before. One of them, the confirmation bias, is the tendency to search for and interpret or recall information in a way that confirms our belief or hypothesis. So basically, we notice what confirms what we think and we ignore what goes against it. It's a fairly natural bias in a lot of people. And like a lot of cognitive biases, it gets worse the more stressed we are, the more in a hurry we are. I came across something this week that I'm certain I'll pronounce wrong, but I think it's the Einstellung

effect, which is the tendency of people to keep trying to solve problems the same way, even if they're better solutions. So they've done a bunch of experiments with chess players and normal people where they teach them to solve something a certain way. Then they change the problem but they'll still try and solve the solution in the same way even if there's an easier one available. This sort of sounds a little bit like if all you've got is a hammer, right? Everything looks like a nail. But I think in general, both these things point to this idea that we don't change our minds a lot. In our interview with Maria Popova, she talked about the uncomfortable luxury of changing our minds. And this is one that I'm guilty of. I have a relatively strong worldview, I suppose, that I see things through and things

that adhere to that make sense and things that don't, I tend to ignore. And I've been working lately on being more open to things that I don't understand, or at least just being open in general to say, well, maybe that could be the case. Or, you know what, I just won't close the door on that completely. I'll leave some room for that to be possible. And I think that's really important in living a good life and in feeding our good wolf, is to be open to new information. A story that I think illustrates this is a story from the Zen tradition. There is a scholar who comes to visit a Zen master and says he wants to be taught by the Zen master.

But the scholar has learned all the sutras. He has studied extensively. And so he asked the master to help him learn. And then he immediately starts talking about all of the things that he already knows. I've studied this and I've studied that. The master listens patiently and then begins to make tea. And so when it's ready, he comes over to the scholar and he starts to pour the tea into the scholar's cup until it begins to fill. It's mostly full. Now it's overflowing and all over the floor. The scholar sees what's happening and shouts, stop, stop. The cup is full. You can't get any more in. The master stopped pouring and said, you are like this cup. You are full of ideas about Buddha's way. You come and ask for teaching,

but your cup is full. I can't put anything in. Before I can teach you, you'll have to empty your cup. And I think a lot of us are like this. We don't want to be wrong. We don't want to not know. Not knowing is uncomfortable. When we're talking to people, particularly people who might have a lot to teach us, there's a natural tendency to, and I do this all the time, to be like, yeah, I know. Yeah, I know. Because I don't want to look like I don't know. But that not knowing, that being open, in the Zen tradition, it's called beginner's mind. Just to be open to the idea that we don't know everything, we can learn more. And that things we may already believe, we can change our mind about. Just having that openness as we go through the world and hear

different things can be a real benefit. So that is what has been on my mind this week. I hope you have a great week. Another interview out on Tuesday as always. Thanks for listening and we'll talk again soon. Bye. Thank you.