Epitome Anatomy: DISCERNMENT
EPISODE SUMMARY:
"It's all about balancing this cold, hard logic with some empathy."
Let's probe the vital importance of discernment in today's information-saturated world. This episode discusses how words shape perceptions, the origins of discernment, and a practical framework for developing better judgment amid misinformation and external influences. Plus Wish's cats in the background cameos.
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MAIN TOPICS:
00:00 Navigating Truth in a Technological World
07:30 The Framework for Discernment
14:10 The Importance of Teaching Discernment
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Wish Ronquillo Peacocke (00:00.044)
In this highly stimulated, convoluted, skewed world of technological information advancements, it's hard to sometimes know what's true or fake or what's real and compromised. This is nothing new, but the more we know, the more we don't know anything. That's wisdom and a curse in itself. Lots of people are not equipped to have critical thinking or cannot grasp common sense
nor are guided enough how to even possess these supposed basic human principles while being so dependent on technologies that put us on a headlock that presents itself in so many ways. That's what we need to highlight. How we need discernment more than ever before. Let's talk about this.
Welcome to Human Thesaurus Presents Epitome Anatomy. My name is Wish, a retired tech operator, indie author, cat mom, and a self-aware life explorer. Epitome Anatomy is an opinion piece on the power of words and their ethos that I extracted from this life. Ready for the epitome of discernment?
Let's go! Our keyword is discernment. According to Dictionary.com, discernment is the ability to recognise small details, accurately tell the difference between similar things, and make intelligent judgments by using such observations. It's a noun form of the verb discern.
which means to recognise, distinguish, or make judgments in this way. As in, these two scents may smell identical to the average person, but an experienced perfumer can discern the difference between them. Things that can be identified or distinguished in such a way can be described as discernible. The adjective discerning can
Wish Ronquillo Peacocke (02:24.77)
be used to describe someone who knows discernment or to describe such an ability. For example, most chefs have a very discerning palate. I actually do have a discerning palette. Discernment originates from the Latin discernere, which means to separate, set apart or distinguish. Combining dis-, which means away or apart, and -cernere,
to sift, separate, or distinguish. This is according to Online Etymology Dictionary. The term entered Middle English via Old French discerne around the late 14th century, evolving to mean the ability to perceive, understand, and distinguish differences.
Wish Ronquillo Peacocke (03:19.062)
I keep on saying that words are very, very potent especially during the periods of conflict, the periods of confusion, the period of fear and not knowing. Words are powerful to lead us somewhere or to make us
afraid or to make us brave or to make us know more. Because we consume so much information a day nowadays with everything at the palm of our hands, we have to be aware of how we separate fact from fiction. You know, when you're in a place that everything is unstable, you hold on to every word that you hear, you hold on to every word that you
want to believe but you lose that power to discern many things. Discern meaning distinguishing from the truth. Not your truth, not my truth, but the general truth. What I don't appreciate nowadays is when someone says, it's my truth, it's annoying.
It's like it doesn't matter. Sometimes we need cold hard facts even though it's uncomfortable to us. If we lead a life of confronting and understanding hard truths and logical explanation to things, I think we're all gonna live a better life in such a way that you can grow and you'll be more open to the world and different opinions and you
could be wrong and you could be right and that's a good cliff to be on to gain more knowledge, gain more understanding and wisdom and being humble. When it comes to discernment, which I think a lot of us are losing sometimes because there are so many external influences and too many external stimulation, we still need to depend on research. We still need to depend on
Wish Ronquillo Peacocke (05:37.588)
seeing different facets and different angles of each thing. If you say, everything works at a very fast pace, news here and there always changes minute per minute, then you have to probably stop because you need some time to discern and absorb what facts you're getting and how it affects you emotionally.
and why it's affecting you that much. You can breathe, say it's too much for you. You don't need to know everything unless it's really your job and you're in the newsroom and you want to inform people. If you're a journalist or along those lines, then that's a different thing altogether. But as an individual observing what's happening with the world, it still matters what you believe in. Also,
It matters that what you believe in is based on reality. A lot of us are hallucinating like how AI makes us hallucinate from what they're telling us. There are so many tools out there, not just AI. There are still the internet, the old school, our old fella, the internet, to read papers, to read bases, to read studies.
to be able to discern what's happening with you and what's happening with the knowledge that you have because sometimes you need to challenge yourself, you need to challenge what you know. Again, there are so many different information, it's great to sift through them and still be human to hunger for that knowledge. Where do you start, right? Probably we all know this, but sometimes it's nice to hear it from somebody else.
I have a little bit of a framework so I'm going to share it with you and see if it helps you. This is my framework idea to make a more informed decision. You can apply this, the three of these or one of these or whatever combination but I hope it will help you. Number one is to define the core conflicts. So your core conflict means what are the paths or the issues, the
Wish Ronquillo Peacocke (07:57.198)
question the information, the school of thoughts or what information are you stuck in? Is it true? Is it not? Is it too good to be true? It's hard to believe. It's suspicious. So define what that core conflict with that information that you've gotten is. Then once you define that, you can define the stakes. What are the scenarios for you?
when you had this information. If you have this information, what are the repercussions or how will this information help you or enable you or disable you in some way? So once you know the gravity of what's at stake, then also you need to consider what's your gut telling you. It's the gut factor. This is through and through. 46 years of my life.
I think I fail most when I don't trust my gut as in my instinct. A lot of times that I make mistakes it's because I go against my instinct. I think it's human preservation to have this instinct. Of course it's not 100 % accurate. The gut factor is all about if something feels off probably it feels off so you need to dig through or you have to assess.
Why do I feel this way even though it sounds logical to me but is it the truth? If you have that feeling then you have to dig through it. There must be something in there until you're satisfied. like, I'm still right. my feeling probably I really just have a bad tummy physically. But at least you're more reassured that what knowledge you have is somewhat.
a good reference for you to absorb. The framework is really about laying it all out. You have to discern a lot of things to get to the truth. There are so much misinformation, bazillion tons of misinformation every second out there. If you doom-scrawl, you also need to discern why are you doom-scrawling, what is making you anxious.
Wish Ronquillo Peacocke (10:23.188)
understanding more of when you want to stop. It's also the discernment on your relationship with your chatbot, with your AI. There's always a threat here or we're harming the environment but it starts with you. How do you discern these technologies? How do you discern all the facts of what's happening with different wars that's happening right now? It's better to have well-informed decision.
making in this world because if you can see we have a lot of not so role models on how erratic they decide which affects the entire world. You don't want to be like that you want to be a better person and it's like it's just me my cat is now meowing again so I have to pause. A few moments later. I don't know my cats are very needy after
We came back from Copenhagen but probably because we haven't been apart in a long time. But I digress. I will go back to... Yes, so you can't say, what if I do all of these steps and it's such hard work and a lot of people are stupid and dumb, believing everything out there and spreading misinformation all the time. Well, sod them. You know, it's dumb.
You can only control you and how you think. And there should be a pathway on how to think better, how to be the bigger person, even though it's exhausting. It's fine. my gosh, they're still meowing. anyway, I will carry on because a meow sound in the background is also cute anyway, right? So it's all about balancing this cold hard logic.
with also some empathy. Everything is about balance and a lot of things we feel, all the more that we know, all the more we see injustices or imbalance or so many things that you see out there but you don't need all of that to carry on your shoulders. It's also a good way of forming communities and friendships because when you're out there, when you're talking to your friends,
Wish Ronquillo Peacocke (12:47.938)
then you're able to let it out and have these intelligent conversations. I think that's what we're losing right now because a lot of people are just keyboard warriors or just blurting random things in their head and sometimes it's oversharing or really it doesn't make any sense to you or it's not value adding to anyone in society. But you can filter through that. It's always good to discern about
things, it's not just within you, it's not just internally. It's great to discuss this and to talk about it and take the opportunity to learn from other people who have different school of thoughts, who have different opinions and see where you stand. When we teach, especially younger people, when we teach them how to discern
what they're learning from the media or learning from their everyday lives. We're setting them up for success in the future because they will be the future leaders and it's an opportunity for us to make sure that nothing is hopeless because I do believe that the world will still carry on if there's still hope. When there's hope, a lot of people stand up for things and be brave.
It sounds like political but really my mindset right now is nothing political. It's more human. It's more about reminding values, reminding people. And I'm also sharing with you the train of thought that I have because I've been using the word discernment in so many ways recently. So that's why I wanted to carry on on this episode talking about it because it's an important value we should possess.
I had a coffee with a friend of mine, hello Janine, and she asked me, which was a surprise to me that if I went to therapy and I said, I haven't, she said, you're so self-aware that you're able to carry through and heal and really discern the traumas, the things that you have to go through to still live a peaceful life. it's a journey, but it's such a compliment at the same time.
Wish Ronquillo Peacocke (15:08.098)
I think I have lot of discernment or self-awareness because probably I am super independent that I talk to myself a lot. I talk to myself a lot so I think that conversation is as important as anything else, at least in my life. my gosh, I'm so sorry there are lots of meowing in that doorbell. I...
Actually, don't care if you hear it. This is part of it. It may sound unprofessional for a podcaster, but this is the beauty of being an independent publisher or an independent podcaster. Nobody can tell me otherwise because this is my life. This is what you know now. This is the doorbell from London.
Wish Ronquillo Peacocke (16:02.412)
Circling back to this discernment word, how do you apply common sense in all of the mental gymnastics we have to do in society every day? What do you think the world need to instill discernment in most people? Please comment, I'd love to hear from you. Again, I will reiterate to always discuss, talk.
and take the opportunity to learn, we will benefit from all of it. Not just you as an individual, but the entire society from each person who has this power to discern what's happening around them. Until next time, ciao!
Epitome Anatomy is produced by me and Jeremiah Ronquillo. Music by Ketsa UK. All rights reserved by Wishblizz Media. Comment, like, subscribe and share wherever you listen to podcasts You can also visit humanthesaurus.co Thank you and see you in the next episode!
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