“It is a bit embarrassing to have been concerned with the human problem all one's life and find at the end that one has no more to offer by way of advice than ‘Try to be a little kinder.’” —Aldous Huxley

People say “you have to throw away the book.” But you have to own the book before you can throw it away. For a therapist, it doesn’t mean “anything goes.” It means you’ve mastered your craft so fully that you no longer have to think about it.

Rationalization, observed in the wild

The less people know about a subject, the simpler the answers seem. Cognitive science explains why. We have two cognitive information processing systems. Nobel prize-winning psychologist Daniel Kahneman called them System 1 and System 2. 👉 System 1 is quick, automatic, not fully conscious, and emotion-driven. It provides a false sense of certainty in the absence of real knowledge and understanding. 👉 System 2 is slow, deliberate, conscious, rational, and information-driven. The more we know, the more likely System 2 is online— and the less willing we are to accept easy answers that “seem” right. The less we know, the more likely we’re relying on System 1—and the simpler the answers seem. This explains a lot of public discourse.