Are you sure what you saw happened?
Posted: April 4, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: awareness, selective attention 1 CommentWe are often 100 percent sure that what we saw or heard really happened even though another person has a different opinion. The more we are captured or focused on a task the more we may miss what has occurred. Selective attention is the basis of magic tricks by which attention is misdirected so that you do not see what is occurring. This process may affect our daily perceptions and judgements.
Be open to the possibility that your conclusions may be based upon incomplete information or selective attention. For example, when a person has has a car crash and experiences back and neck pain, he is 100 per cent sure that the pain was caused by the car accident. A more healing attitude is to assume that there could be other factors involved. Possibly, the person had a fight with their partner and was still angry and thinking about it when he was hit. The accident anchored the anger and healing may need to include letting go of the anger. Thus, whenever you are 100 per cent sure of your point of view, be open to other possibilities. Observe the power of selective attention in the following two video clips.
the peper perspective 
So very true. We see what we are expecting to see more often than not.
In my own case, I have been disciplined by my state Medical Board for using a botanical preparation on a child who died in my office. The child had a metastatic retinoblastoma, and the involved eye had already been enucleated. At autopsy, blood levels of the medicine were far below toxic levels, and yet the Medical Examiner concluded that the child died because of the administration of the medicine â without even reviewing the literature to determine the available information, simply based on his own preconceived notion about the therapy. The Board of Medicine came to the same conclusion and gave me a disciplinary letter which was reported to the NPDB. Another state medical board is about to do the same thing.
The Board of Homeopathic Medicine looked at exactly the same information ad the medical board in my state and came to the conclusion that there was no evidence that the medicine caused the childâs death. The Homeopathic Board dismissed the case.
Post hoc ergo propter hoc is a common fallacy taught to debaters the world over. Misdirection is a form of twisting the truth to show only that facet which the writer wishes to show. It is a great shame that critical thinking is not taught in our medical schools. We learn the medical science, but at least when I was in school, the medical arts were pretty much ignored.
This linear thinking is coming back to bite us now in the 22nd century â doctors are burning out, and patients are choosing other forms of healing in increasing numbers. Bioenergetic medicine is a discipline not even taught in medical school, but used by hundreds of thousands of people around the world. The FDA is looking to revise the rules of homeopathic medicine manufacture and efficacy, threatening to require that homeopathic medicine be submitted to a New Drug Application for every single ingredient and combination of ingredients that are in common use today â and twisting the facts about the safety of homeopathic remedies. That is a whole different story which I would be happy to share with you if you are interested.
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to respond to your excellent and timely newsletter. No need to publish this as a comment â I just wanted you to know that I appreciate the critical perspective that you are bringing to our profession of the healing arts.
Martha M Grout, MD, MD(H)
Martha M Grout, MD, MD(H) [cid:image003.png@01D06F69.7A547930]
Medical Director
Arizona Center for Advanced Medicine
10200 N 92nd St, Suite 120
Scottsdale, AZ 85258
Tel 480-240-2600
Fax 480-240-2601
http://www.ArizonaAdvancedMedicine.com
http://www.AdvancedMedAZ.com
http://www.alphabetofgoodhealth.com/