Robert Anton Wilson Quotes

They say seeing is believing, but the opposite is true. Believing is seeing.

To ensure that our views are credible, our brain accepts what our eye sees. To ensure that our views are positive, our eye looks for what our brain wants. The conspiracy between these two servants allows us to live at the fulcrum of stark reality and comforting illusion.

Our capacity for belief is so plastic, we can convince ourselves of anything. Believing is seeing.

We see what we want to believe.

For Conservatives, seeing is believing; for liberals, believing is seeing.

Some guys-a lot of guys-don't believe what they are seeing, especially if it gets in the way of what they want to eat or drink or believe. Me, I don't believe in God. But if i saw him, I would. I wouldn't just go around saying, "Jesus, that was a great special effect." The definition of an asshole is a guy who doesn't believe what he's seeing.

What you see is evidence of what you believe.

What we believe, we see.

People who believe their unquestioned thoughts cannot see what is obvious and directly in front of their faces at all times, because they are invested in what they believe to be true. As long as they live out of an unquestioned mind, they must continue to argue with what they believe is happening rather than the reality of what is really happening.

There is always a divergence between our perception and what actually exists.

I'm really interested in self-deception. Really interested in how people live in bubble universes. How people can fail to see the seemingly obvious.

The biggest problem we have as human beings is that we confuse our beliefs with reality.

We cannot see what we don't believe.

Our everyday, traditional ideas of reality are delusions which we spend substantial parts of our daily lives shoring up, even at the considerable risk of trying to force facts to fit our definition of reality instead of vice versa.

The assumption that seeing is believing makes us susceptible to visual deception.

What we see, we see and seeing is changing

The relationship between the imagined and the real is more complicated than people imagine.

You must understand that seeing is believing, but also know that believing is seeing.

We only see what we want to see; we only hear what we want to hear. Our belief system is just like a mirror that only shows us what we believe.

Everything you see is filtered through your visual system (imperfect) and your brain (also imperfect, despite what your mom told you). Witness testimony is the worst kind of evidence in science.

You think you're looking at things all the time, but you're not looking at things, you're looking at what your brain is interpreting through light and color. And who knows what everybody else sees?

People believe what they want to believe.

It's not denial. I'm just selective about the reality I accept.

It used to be, everyone was entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts. But that's not the case anymore. Facts matter not at all. Perception is everything.

Man prefers to believe what he prefers to be true.