There is a phenomenon titled loss aversion, we humans will hold onto things for extended period of times, often not because we need them or that they necessarily enrich our lives in any measurable way, but because they have become ours and simply because they are ours.  We have gained an emotional attachment to them, they both go up in value to us (in relation to the value others would place on this object) and we then begin to hold onto them, in fear of losing them,  and in turn the positive way they make us feel.  I gained an insight into this phenomenon after completing chapter 7 of Dan Ariely’s book “predictably irrational” the chapter was titled “the high price of ownership, why we overvalue what we have”. Besides being a fascinating look by an MIT social psychologist  into the irrational mind of human beings, it had me thinking quite a bit about my own life, and places where I and others may be predictably irrational. Working in the field of medicine, and having watched my home value plummet 33%, while my mortgage and taxes have continued to increase,  I didn’t have to look very far to find examples of loss aversion. But what about other less obvious things? like Christianity and the bible?  Like politics and wars? Like health care policy and environmental issues?

With regards to the bible  we are raised on these stories as if they are facts for our entire childhood and young adulthood. We spend significant portions of our lives studying the bible, attending church, self identifying with Jesus and his noble life and sacrifices. In a way we take ownership of this, our faith is something that over time becomes valuable. As we grow older we may become aware of the many inconsistencies in our faith, and the conflicting messages of the bible. We may be challenged, we may live with guilt, fear, become judgmental, we hold onto this, not because in our heart we know it is right but because in many ways we both fear and have a lack of understanding of a life without it’s loss. I think this is similar to many of the ideologies we may hold.

The author also points out that we tend to formulate ideas about things and then find examples that reaffirm our feelings and focus on these examples as truths. How come I like the new chief justice nominee?  Well probably because I identify  her with Barack Obama.  Also explains why my republican colleagues watch FOX news.  

The point is:  I wonder if I am holding onto things just because I am afraid of life without them, or because I have invested so much time or money in them, or because I search endlessly in the news, in papers, in friends to find facts that reaffirm my feelings. How do we decide when it is the right time to move on?  How do we know if our minds are trying to avert loss, but in effect sabotaging it’s own mental health? How do we beat our mind at it’s own game?  I guess the fact that I can consciously write about this is the prime example that even the great complexity that which  is the human cerebral cortex, needs a little bit of help sometime. But where then do we go to find it? Or is the search itself Predictably Irrational???