The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F_ck

both external and internal, generates new associations and
connections within our minds. Everything from the words on
this page, to the grammatical concepts you use to decipher
them, to the dirty thoughts your mind wanders into when
my writing becomes boring or repetitive—each of these
thoughts, impulses, and perceptions is composed of
thousands upon thousands of neural connections, firing in
conjunction, alighting your mind in a blaze of knowledge
and understanding.
But there are two problems. First, the brain is imperfect.
We mistake things we see and hear. We forget things or
misinterpret events quite easily.
Second, once we create meaning for ourselves, our
brains are designed to hold on to that meaning. We are
biased toward the meaning our mind has made, and we
don’t want to let go of it. Even if we see evidence that
contradicts the meaning we created, we often ignore it and
keep on believing anyway.
The comedian Emo Philips once said, “I used to think the
human brain was the most wonderful organ in my body.
Then I realized who was telling me this.” The unfortunate
fact is, most of what we come to “know” and believe is the
product of the innate inaccuracies and biases present in our
brains. Many or even most of our values are products of
events that are not representative of the world at large, or
are the result of a totally misconceived past.
The result of all this? Most of our beliefs are wrong. Or, to
be more exact, all beliefs are wrong—some are just less
wrong than others. The human mind is a jumble of
inaccuracy. And while this may make you uncomfortable, it’s
an incredibly important concept to accept, as we’ll see.
Be Careful What You Believe
In 1988, while in therapy, the journalist and feminist author
Meredith Maran came to a startling realization: her father