Cognitive Dissonance

Cognitive dissonance is a strange phenomenon. It tells us a lot about human nature. We have ideas in our head. We are sure they are correct. But we carry on as usual as if these facts did not exist. So, there is a disconnect or “dissonance” between what we think or believe and what we do in our daily lives. Why does this occur?

Deeply entrenched habits are hard to break. All of us are slaves to two things – convenience and comfort. Once we have discovered how to do something in a simple, convenient way, why would we change course and take another route? And comfort. Having grown used to a comfortable life, why in heavens name would we choose a way that promises to be inconvenient, and possibly may involve suffering and pain?

All of this becomes relevant when we consider our relation to the news of possible coming environmental chaos. The majority of the world’s scientists say that we are heading for a global environmental crisis. This will become painfully obvious in the coming decade (refs:  The Uninhabitable Earth by David Wallace-Wells, 2019, and The Future We Choose: Surviving the Climate Crisis by Christiana Figueres and Tom Rivett-Carnac, 2020). It is hard to deny this, though many still do. Many of us accept these findings but we continue with life as usual. The problem is that our life as usual is causing the coming crisis!

To wake us out of our sleep, along comes a little sixteen-year old girl who bluntly states the truth about our future. We all suddenly wake up and say, “My God, she’s right”. We give her some accolades, and then we go back to our sleepwalk.

What to do? Is the human species capable of doing what is required? In the past we have been capable of massive changes – when our own survival was at stake. For example, during World War II and in the face of massive pandemics, total lifestyle changes can occur. However, these changes were done when we stared directly at the possibility of imminent defeat. If we wait for the environmental crisis to hit us in the face, it will then be too late.

Finally, the only therapy that I can think of is to act NOW as though maybe, just maybe, we can avert the inevitable.