You are here, equipped with senses to help you decode reality. Your senses do this. My father got drunk quite a lot when I grew up and also was phyically agressive with me and my brother. My grandma always told us, "Your father loves you". What does that mean? That my father was safe and trustworthy? Which one do I believe? What is, "Your father loves you" code for? What is that map reduction of language trying to communicate? He is safe? He is trustworthy? I should spend as much time as possible with him? "He wouldn't hurt me?" (Questionable) He would apologize if he did? (Never.) He would give me money when I need it (mostly true)? He could talk about his feelings with me (mostly false)? But my *body* was interested in and knew a specific truth. I used to shake when I was around him. I carried chronic tension and illness well into my adult years (unresolved trauma was manifesting in the body) because of things I experienced as a child and teen. All *sorts* of sensory inputs were telling me what wasn't safe for me, emotionally, physically, and how to deal with it. And my *mind* was able to force me into these difficult situations anyway. Because I was told to. Because the court decided. Because I had to. *But my body always knew I wasn't safe and did its darndest to tell me*. Unresolved experiences become traumatic emotion and beliefs. Trauma then becomes physical symptoms. The symptoms turn into illness. The illness can lead to death. All of this was happening to me from my early 20's. All of these symptoms took me on a journey to understand my body. First, through the lenses of the "experts" in the medical community. And, after they showed how little they knew, off the beaten path in search of the information behind what my body was telling me, for solutions. Whether someone tells you the sky is green. Or that, take two apples and add two more is five, or that nails on a chalkboard is a beautiful Beethoven sonata, your senses--*all of them*--are ultimately what is going to do the sorting between true and false in your life. Between life as-is and even more enjoyment But, what issues can you run into when trying to use your senses to determine truth? [[How do I tell the difference between intuition and fear]] [[How do I know when to trust people who seem to be encouraging me to do painful or difficult things]]? [[Doesn't pain mean I am going in the wrong direction]]? <!-- “(History) offers a ridiculous spectacle of a fragment expounding the whole.” — Will Durant “All models are wrong but some are useful.” — George Box https://fs.blog/map-and-territory/ -->