Awareness

This post shares a long series of legitimizing myths. Why cover these beliefs so comprehensively? Recall the response of a wise person who was asked, “If you had one hour to save the world, how would you spend it?” The reply: "I would spend 55 minutes defining the problem and 5 minutes solving it.” Another wise person said, “If I had 4 hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend the first 3 hours sharpening the ax.” This post is about understanding the problem and sharpening the ax. If you've thought any of the following, the thoughts may have felt personal, but they likely resulted from your having been induced to act against your values—that is, from being corrupted. You don't have to create legitimizing…

I may update the acronym, but I've created one for my upcoming book that I've found relevant to many people's views on pollution, depletion, and the prospect of life and culture without either. I've found useful the acronym TYMCALM (pronounced: Tim-calm, for “That's Your Mind Creating A Legitimizing Myth”) useful for when people respond reflexively to rationalize or justify a behavior that violates their values. For example, when I say that I haven't flown since 2016, people often respond that I must not have family flying-distance away, or (outrageously) that I must not love them, or that must not have had to fly for my income. Now I think, “TYMCALM.” I don't begrudge them for their minds working the way human minds work. That the…