The Power of Bullshit

I have been doing a bit of self reflection over the last few month’s and I came to the stunning realization of the Power of Bullshit.

The bigger realization is that I have been using the Power of Bullshit without fully realizing it.

Allow me to explain what the Power of Bullshit means to me.

The Unyielding Spirit of the Nissan Altima

Recently I just had some car troubles with the car I had for a number of years. It’s an older car (a 2000 Nissan Altima) that has been serving me well.

I bought the car from the one owner…6..7..8…years ago now?! In that time I have put about 30,000 miles on it in those few years (I am not a fan of COMMUTING but that’s a story for another day) and 5+ accidents.

I am also not a fan of car payments and car-related expenses but again, that’s for another time. I am working on a lifestyle where I can walk to the majority of destinations in a decent, safe, and livable environment.

This car has survived a fuel pump replacement, countless brakes and oil changes, tune-ups and the like.

In addition, I have just recently had the front axles replaced. I drove the car for 3 YEARS without doing anything other than the most basic maintenance (oil and brakes) on this vehicle.

Guess when the fuel pump went out? At the end of my 3 YEARS commuting out to King of Prussia and Malvern AFTER commuting through the major snowstorm of early March 2014. The car was 14 years old at that time.

Let me share with you the Power of Bullshit which helped me to acquire this beast of a vehicle.

I found this car on Craigslist because my last Nissan Altima was totaled in an accident (also a beast).

I was adamant to find the same model of car since the first one was a workhorse.

With some help of my friend at that time, I went to check out the car and possibly purchase it.

 

PRIVATE SELLER: *Steps out of the car* "Here is the car as we discussed" 

ME: *Running my hand on the hood* "Looks good, just like the pictures."

PRIVATE SELLER: Feel free to check it out.
ME: Of course.

ME: *Checking underneath the hood* "Yup, has an engine and it isn't smoking or on fire."
ME: *Checking under the car on the ground* "Yup, no leaks or obvious signs of damage."
ME: *Sitting inside the driver's seat* "Yup, everything turns on and operates very well."

PRIVATE SELLER: Well what you think?

ME: *I will take it!*

I know what you are thinking…he left out all of the in-depth research and the part where his friend was mechanic and he took it to his shop to check it out…

Nope.

My friend wasn’t a mechanic and I never took it to a shop.

Literally looked at it, drove it and bought it.

I bought a car with a glance in cash from a Craigslist seller and it lasted me for 3 years before my FIRST major issue with it being 14 years old at that time. And I STILL drive it to this day.

The Power of Bullshit comes with it’s own optimism and generates it’s own reality.

The Power of Bullshit is an Infinity Stone

“This stone represents reality, as it possesses the power to bend the very laws of reality and physics, converting matter into dark matter” – Marvel Cinematic Universe Wikia

The Reality Stone in Infinity War used by Thanos can create a new reality as the user see fit (Side note: I loved Infinity War so much I made this video).

This sounds like a load of Sci-Fi magical nonsense but thinking about it…the Reality Stone is real.

Hear me out…

Every day we go through our lives experiencing a subjective reality from our perspective.

Of course some things do not change.

We all need oxygen to breathe and food to live.

Fire burns and electricity powers our technology but there is a huge swath of opportunity in between these laws of physics.

Our thoughts determine our reality. This isn’t a new idea. Hundreds of people have written millions of words stating this over the course of human history.

Here are a couple of examples where we already do this:

• Placebos medication
• Sports Visualization – Visualizing winning the game prior to playing.
• Blocking Out Pain

What does this have to do with a Reality Stone and The Power of Bullshit?

Everything (Couldn’t help it 🙂

This basis is how we all live our live our life however we don’t take full advantage of it.

Let’s focus on the Nissan story from above real quick.

It sounds like nonsense but those facts are real. I believed and didn’t end up in a situation worse than I started.

You could say I got lucky.

But what is luck but an external validation of our subjective reality (for better or worse)?

“The Power of Bullshit generates it’s own reality and optimism” – Paris Hunter

The Upsides and Downsides of the Power of Bullshit

There are major upside of the Power of Bullshit. Personal examples include confidence and charisma in some great situations. I am not pretending to be a brain surgeon but I can bullshit my way through things just out of the reach of my current realm of knowledge.

Another perk of The Power of Bullshit is that is gets my brain moving away from what could go wrong and focus on why and how something can go right.

Nothing is perfect and even the Power of Bullshit has a major weakness.

Probably one that you aren’t thinking about but I will let you guess:

Ready?

I’ll wait.

…

…

…

If you answered: THE TRUTH…

*drum roll*

…You are wrong.

The Truth doesn’t dispel Bullshit, at least not on the level that I am focusing on. You can see that in everyday life.

The level I am focusing on is Personal.

A Reality of Bullshit is only dispelled when YOU let it get dispelled.

The crashing harshness of a reality that we create (bullshit or not) is that we also have the power to destroy it just as easy.

I have found that it takes a constant flow of mindful energy to keep our created realities alive.

That goes for a “good” reality (an amazing time out) and a “bad” reality (a shitty job).

It is important to keep this in mind because what I have found is that other people/events can shatter your reality as well (for good or bad).

Having an amazing day out but over drafting your account by $2000 later can really mess with your mind.

Even the impact of an off hand comment from someone you hold in earnest can mess with your day (and possibly life). These are the types of things that people remember years later which changes people.

Thus breaking our subjective reality.

There is one more flaw with using The Power of Bullshit: once it is dispelled, it can never be invoked the same way again.

For example, if I was pretending to be super rich to get a girl, it only takes one declined card to shatter the illusion for both of us. I can’t pretend to be rich with the same girl again for example.

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As George Carlin said many years ago, “There is just enough Bullshit to hold things together in this country.”

Might as well follow your own brand of Bullshit since everyone else is peddling their own for of Bullshit to you.

You can create your own Reality with a healthy dose of Bullshit and Personal Responsibility.

Live the life you want while having the skills and resources to back it up. Just make sure you have some fun every now and then on the way up.

Happy New Year!