To Thatrtf – it’s too bad you disagreed with your boss, because perception really *is* reality, and some of the most technical researchers in quantum mechanics will tell you this is so, even though it upsets the observer/observed apple cart our science is based on. It’s an in-depth subject that has taken me 10 years and 5 books on quantum mechanics to come to terms with, as much as I find it intellectually unsatisfying.

There is *no* deep, underlying reality…reality truly is a function of observation. And everyone has their own perception of circumstance-accepting this and looking for common ground among our perceptions enables us as couples to build and maintain better bonds, with less conflict.

Eleutheros: Great points that can be summed up by an aphorism from the programming world: GIGO – Garbage In, Garbage Out!

Well, in it I discussed the ‘dirty little secret’ of logic -and we all use logic every single day, because we think every single day.

The dirty little secret is that logic works independently of the truth. That is, a logical conclusion is only truthful if the facts (facts are one kind of truth)are correct and if the axioms, which are statements we concoct that are supposed to accurately reflect reality, actually reflect reality accurately.

However, if any of the facts are incorrect or if any of the axioms are incorrect, or incomplete, one will, through the compelling nature of logic, still arrive at a logical conclusion, but that conclusion will not be the truth.

The way I get around this, for being aware of this dirty little secret, is to examine the conclusions for truth, not the logic itself, because, as I said, logic works independently of the truth. Which means that good logic, correctly applied, is not an indication that the conclusion is the truth.
The weakest link in the chain of logic are the axioms that we concoct, whether they be axioms about our spouse, as Paul discussed, or axioms about theology, or axioms about our president, or axioms about our God.

Truthful axioms combined with genuine verifiable facts, will, through logic, yield truthful conclusions that can be counted on; conclusions that you can put your faith in, whether they be things good or bad about your spouse or things good or bad about your theology which affect, through the power of conclusion, what you believe about your God.

But, any wrong facts or any axioms that don’t accurately reflect reality will, likewise, through logic, lead you to a conclusion. But that conclusion will be a false one because it was built on an untruth, whether it be an untruth about your spouse or about your God.

Perhaps, then, this notion, when installed in your thinking, will help you to better sort truth from lies, concerning both your spouse and your God and help you to be good, both for your spouse and for your God, just as you were created to be.