Common Myths We Live By, and Why We Should Avoid Them!

Think you live your life in a "proper" American way? You might be surprised to learn that much of your daily activities revolve around myths, especially ones which have no logical merit otherwise. Here lies a lively crack at some of our most cherished beliefs!

Throughout the history of the human race, men have been despised and attacked, even tortured and killed, for daring to question the prevailing myths about truth and falsehood. Yet it was the men and women who chose to confront the "known" myths as if they were false that gave birth to our current reality. It is this same man struggling to free himself from the prison of the familiar who will change reality for the future.

With this in mind, here are some myths that most of us believe unless we make an effort to examine them . . .

Myth #1: Facts speak for themselves

This is perfectly idiotic. Facts do not speak at all! Facts are meaningless unless they are arranged, pattern, analyzed, and in interpreting. For years, in Queens, New York, it was advertised, "Come to Queens and live longer." They provided statistical evidence that the death rate in Queens is substantially lower than it is in Manhattan. Now, the death rate is the same everywhere, if you wait long enough -- 100%. It was true that, per every 100,000 people, fewer seem to die in Queens in any given year than in Manhattan. But this was so poor a good reason. There weren't any good hospitals in Queens in those days, so when people got sick day went to Manhattan, where sometimes they died. Do facts speak for themselves?

Myth #2: Extreme left and right wing political activist are violently opposed to each other.

Ironically, the far left and the far right have much more in common with each other than either does with the middle. We can understand political behavior better if we distribute opinions not on a straight line but in a circle, so that the extreme Right and left meet, as indeed they do, at some point. Both parties believe in suppressing or promoting ideas, and throttling freedom, in using force or violence, in making no distinction between ideas and heresies or between treason and dissent. Both say that some books and some men and some ideas are dangerous. Of course they are! After all, democracy is a dangerous way of living. But the suppression of ideas is worse. In the midst of terrible crisis no less severe than ours, the men who founded this country adopted the Bill of Rights. They were not afraid of the free exercise of free minds. They knew that freedom isn't free them if it is confined to that which is in the offensive, that there is no freedom when controversy has been abolished. This country was not founded by cowards.

Myth #3: "Security" is the highest social good.

Well, the most secure place in the world is a prison -- but who wants to live there? And how many people do you know who so deeply fear a loss of security that they never leave their homes? Is that also not a form of prison, albeit self-imposed?

Myth #4: Neurotic behavior can be explained by attributing it to an unhappy childhood.

Every body can point to it. Of time during their childhoods when childhood was unhappy. After all, childhood is played with feelings of uncertainty and fear, with conflict and frustration, with unbearable rage and unattainable desire. It makes little sense to talk about unhappy childhood unless we ask why some people in emerge from childhood with their productive capacities in rich while others remain paralyzed by unresolved and infantile dilemmas. Even when we consider the lives of different people who had the same traumantic childhood experiences, drastic differences can be observed between them.

Myth #5: It is wrong to spank a child

For nearly 70 years now, people have been tyrranized by this cliché. Now, I am not assuming that civilized people say, "Hey sweetie, let's have some fun. Let's beat up the kids. " The relevant question, surely, is this: if you are angry enough, for what ever reason, to want to strike a child, what do you do with that anger? Is it always wrong to spank, regardless of the circumstances? Or, could it be that a carefully orchestrated spanking is not only necessary, but vital to the development of the child? I dare say, however, that it is always wrong to spank a child when one is angry, as the physical force involved tends to be much more severe than necessary. If you are one of those parents who feel that you cannot physically control yourself when you are angry, then by all means for you, spanking is wrong. On the other hand, if you understand the value of a necessary and properly administered spanking, then by all means, continue doing so.

Myth #6: Children should adjust to their group

Perhaps the question should not be whether or not the child can adjust, but rather, whether or not the group is worth adjusting to. And are there not some who are meant to be alone, who are meant not to be well-liked, who are meant not to be popular? Aren't there many independently minded individuals who feel stifled by the group think mentality? Perhaps we should allow our children to be who they are and make their own choices.

Myth #7: Every problem has a solution

Some problems will never be solved, and can only be read shaped and re-formed. Do you want an example of a problem that can never be solved? It is illustrated by Groucho Marx, who once redesigned from a country club with these words: "I don't want to belong to the kind of club which accepts people like me as members. "

Myth #8: The purpose of life is to be happy

So many of us are addicted to this myth that we make ourselves miserable in the process! I know of nothing more demeaning to mankind than this narcotic pursuit of "fun." Where was it written that life can always be easy, or completely free of conflict or of pain? Those who want the refuge of happiness can find it and tranquilizing pills, or in senility.

There was a time when men were permitted the dignity of depression, when we were permitted moods and preoccupation and uncertainty. But under the vulgar diffusion of psychiatric "insights" we are all made to think that not only must we be happy, but also we must never feel depressed. What is even worse, we must feel guilty about feeling depressed. We are no longer allowed to have an unhappy mood without having it interpreted as a "symptom. "

The purpose of life, however, is not to be happy -- but to matter, to be productive, to be useful, to have it make some difference that you lived at all.

Sources:

http://www.freewarehof.org/myths.html
http://www.webmd.com/balance/features/happiness-6-myths-and-truths
http://www.care2.com/greenliving/5-false-myths-about-gender-differences.html
http://health.discovery.com/centers/loverelationships/articles/marriage_myths.html