Protecting Yourself from Dogmatic Influence
Level 4: Serious Player
Dear Future Guardian,
If you've been reading the articles I've been publishing the last several weeks and months, you may have noticed how all the different concepts, ideas, explorations of how to craft an intentional life where you get everything you want ...
They all seems to converge around a battle between knowing yourself and fighting against external forces attempting to shape you with expectation.
All the principles. Raising the Floor1, taking our Next Best Step2, focusing on our Most Immediate Constraint3, choosing the Champions Mind4, knowing what we want, etc.
These are frameworks which help us navigate the never ending tension,
Between the Internal - what you really want, who you are, how you show up best in the world for yourself and others ...
And the External - what you think you want, what you think you should do, based on what you see, what is told you, what is impressed upon you, etc.
Our job is to chip away all that is not ourselves, so that we can see and hear what is really there, to take the right next steps forward toward the life we want with certainty.
But
How do we split apart the external and the internal when our conscious thought is so dominated by what happens outside of us? When we necessarily need to take input, guidance, understanding, clarity, help from others?
There are many layers to this,
But for today,
There's a particular dynamic we are susceptible to, which I'd like to unravel.
The dogmatic views of others, often stemming from some anchor of authority.5
Dogmatic views that are absolute statements of how we must be and do can so easily hijack our perception of reality and ourselves, and yet do no good in serving who we really are because they are not defined by who we uniquely are, but are bestowed upon us with the authority of certainty by something external.
Is there anything more damaging to our progress moving forward in self actualization - in getting the life that we want - than a dogmatic point of view?
What can we do to insulate ourselves from this force?
Dogmatic views prevent self-knowing
Let's be basic here.
A dogmatic point of view is typically a declarative absolute statement - often coming from someone seemingly with authority, or at least trying to project authority.
"This is the way it is."
"You will not have a successful business if you do not have an email list."
"The only way you can lose weight and have the body of your dreams is if you make it your obsession over all other things."
"You will never find love if you do this."
On and on.
The challenge of course is an authoritative dogmatic view can override your own internal compass, especially in a scenario where you are already dealing with the unknown. If you accept that view as truth you can erroneously go forward in life believing that's the way it is FOR YOU - without actually paying attention to reality.
We must find a way to manage our approach to life, our perspective, our habits, our behaviors, so that we can insulate ourselves from the warping force of an authoritative dogmatic point of view ...
While also being aware that we can easily adopt a dogmatic perspective, when it's not even being forced upon us, simply because we so greatly desire a sense of certainty moving forward that we'll rigidly define our own perspective just for those walls of safety.
The unending battle of Certainty vs Uncertainty
Always remember,
People prefer the certainty of misery to the misery of uncertainty. - Virginia Satir
Do you know what a dogmatic view provides you?
Certainty.
It's absolute. It is the way it is. And so often it may be even obviously false, but we can still easily slip into accepting it as truth because we so desperately desire certainty we'll take the misery of a false reality in order to get it.
Unfortunately for our basic human mindset desire for certainty, the way forward in growth, in life, in the path you take to intentionally get what you want ... is uncertainty.6
So the strongest insulation against dogmatic forces dictating what you think about things, both external and internal, is to not only NOT avoid uncertainty, but actively embrace it. Embrace the idea that the answer to most questions is "it depends."
Are you wondering what you should do next? "It depends"
Think the answer to moving forward is definitively one thing? Tell yourself "no, it depends."
If you observe yourself thinking certainly, thinking there is an absolute answer, thinking you HAVE to do things a specific way ...
Remind yourself to embrace uncertainty.
But, that's just the beginning ...
The Dogmatic Red Flag
To "combat" dogmatism, I've found it useful to take a "red flag" approach.
The challenge with being pulled in and influenced by a dogmatic point of view is that it is often a scenario where you don't know the truth. You don't have the data. If you did, and someone made a dogmatic statement which was verifiably false by your own information, you'd hear that and go "well that's obviously not correct."
So we're operating in this state of uncertainty, of the unknown, and we're being given this offering of certainty in the dogmatism. In the absolute.
Don't try to solve the equation. Just notice the dynamic.
'Oh that person said "this is the only way email will work for my business" ... red flag, let's investigate.'
This takes the burden off you to know the answer all the time. Instead of trying to make sure we know the truth, we can start by training ourselves to keep an eye out for absolute statements - for the offering of certainty.
Be sensitive to the situation where you are being fed a plate of certainty. Red Flag. Let's investigate.
We can be dogmatically influenced even if the idea being presented is not done so dogmatically
This becomes more complicated when we're not being overtly fed that dogmatic view.
All that is necessary to be influenced in this way is for our own perception to be "well that's the way it HAS to be done - there is no other way." In other words, you can convince yourself of the absolutism simply because you so deeply desire the certainty of an answer.
That doesn't mean you aren't being influenced by someone else's point of view. Those leading with authority who are adept at presenting their ideas can create a scenario where YOUR conclusion is an absolute dogmatic one.
"This is the only way I've seen XYZ work." (And many variations of similar framing)
This all comes down to one truth of Dogmatic views:
Evidence to the Contrary Refutes Dogmatism
It's quite simple isn't it?
"You need a funnel to have a successful business."
Ok well ... what about that business over there that doesn't use a funnel and is pulling $10 million a year?
When you start to investigate, all you need to do is find evidence to the contrary to refute the dogmatism.
"The only way to succeed with email is to email at least daily."
Well, I can point you to a few email lists which do very well emailing weekly, monthly, sometimes even just randomly occasionally. There's evidence that the absolutism of the statement is not correct.
We start with the red flag,
And then we try to put a crack in the absolutism.
Is there ANY evidence to the contrary?
Crack the view, and then move on. Or at least, take that person's perspective with a grain of salt.
What happens when you can't immediately crack the absolutism?
When the dogmatism is hard to refute?
When Dogmatism is Hard to Refute
In my observation, the most difficult times to refute Dogmatism are when the statement/idea/situation deal with highly specialized knowledge AND when the concept is mixed in with non-dogmatic statements which muddy the waters.
I found a decent example through X, which I'll walk through:
The first statement was:
“if you don't focus on your metabolism you will not stay lean”
Immediately there is a red flag to me. It's an absolute statement. However, out of the box I can't specifically refute this (I can't point to an example of someone intentionally NOT focusing on their metabolism and staying lean).
Additionally this feels like a very broad and vague statement. What does "focus on your metabolism mean?" What does "lean" mean to this person?
I can look at this from my internal perspective and say "well I'm not lean and I don't focus on my metabolism so it must be true!"
But, we know the red flag, so let's dig in and unravel it all.
Their hook was "Here's how I fixed my metabolism to stay at 14% body fat all year round."
So they are implying that this is what you must do to solve your metabolism problems and stay at 14% body fat all year around. NOTING that their initial statement, though dogmatic, is accompanied by one which is not. "This is what happened to me" is an observation.
(However, the framing creates a scenario where you can find yourself easy adopting the dogmatic point of view)
So we have to go deeper.
The next statement is "seed oils damage your cells and cause inflammation."
Red flag. Another absolute statement. A statement of fact.
Is this correct? This one seems like it's more provable than others. I might be able to find research to support this concept. YOU dear reader might even have a lot more knowledge on the impact of seed oils on our biology and cells than I do and already have an answer to this.
(I did some quick research ... initial finding suggests this is likely not exactly true ... would it hurt to remove seed oils anyway? probably not - but dogmatism sufficiently cracked here for my perspective)
Let's keep digging
The next statement is effectively "a high protein diet improves metabolism"
This one was not explicitly stated dogmatically, but phrased as "I adopted a high protein diet and it helped me do this"
Is the implied statement true? Does a high protein diet improve metabolism? Why? Is this directly proven or causally linked?
(Ironically, this one seems pretty widely accepted as true. Consuming more protein appears to noticeably increase metabolism. They could have made this a statement of fact)
Let's move on
The next statement is directly "a lack of sleep disrupts hormonal balance and slows metabolism"
Again. We ask ourselves. Is this true and how?
It also brings to mind for MYSELF the question - what does "lack of sleep" mean to me? what is "enough" sleep for me?
This is where my experience and observations with sleep influence my perception on this statement, because sleep impacts each person differently.
I'm also starting to wonder ... does slow metabolism = inability to be lean? That seems to be suggested.
As far as evidence, there's plenty of study on sleep to likely find an answer.
The thread continues, moving more into the space of "I did this" examples. Each one implying - because of the initial dogmatism - that this is the only way to "fix" your metabolism "so you can be lean."
The entire picture also suggests that all you need to do to be lean is "fix" your metabolism.
So much certainty woven throughout. Kicked off by one or two dogmatic views.
And of course, it all ends with an offer to join their program to help fix your metabolism. If you HAVE to do those things to be "lean," and you want to be "lean" - the certainty of having that problem solved is going to be highly enticing.
But,
After going through all that information,
You know nothing about what all that means to you.
You know nothing, and you've learned nothing until you ....
(Say it with me class)
Engage the Field
Ultimately it doesn't matter if the person making dogmatic statements is right or wrong.
Personally I like being aware of it, because I find it useful for myself to be wary of people who think, act, and project dogmatically. To me it demonstrates either a limited point of view and understanding on the world around them, OR a willingness to restrict the point of view and understanding of others in order to get them to take a specific action.
But, just because someone says dogmatic things, does not mean they don't have useful or valuable ideas or understanding for us.
And if we can’t refute the dogmatism, that doesn’t mean the dogmatic view isn’t problematic for our own perspective (it is still enticing certainty, which becomes more enticing if it cannot be disproven).
We just have to bring it back to what really matters …
And that is the reality of our own lived experience.*
Hence,
Engage the Field.7
Let's take the above as an example.
I don't need to buy a damn thing from this person to remove seed oils, eat more protein, and get more sleep.
If I think there may be truth in what they say about my health, I can just go actually do those things and see what happens for myself.
If I do ALL those things and find that they are true for me, maybe I want to listen to them more. (But, then again, maybe I'll just have the answers and understanding I need and can keep moving on with my life)
If you think another's perspective and understanding on a subject, an idea, can help you get what you want in life, that's great, but move forward with small steps and test the ideas engaged in the reality of your own life.
Be real about yourself, what you need and want.
That is, in my estimation, the most effective way to deal with the battle between the external and the internal. To distance oneself from the absolutism of an external point of view overriding one's internal compass.
Be wary when you are served certainty.
Question it.
And ask yourself, but how will this actually impact me?
What does this actually mean to me in reality?
If you can't answer that question,
and you want to know the answer to that question,
You know what to do.
Be Useful. Be Present. Love the Journey.
, CMO The Guardian Academy
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Who let the dogs out? Woof!