What would happen if you admitted you weren’t a good person?It’s a seemingly crazy question. From priests to prisoners, nearly everyone thinks they’re morally better than average. Why change our minds? Why admit the truth about ourselves?In his conversational, fun-to-read, and delightfully self-effacing style, Brant Hansen shows us why we should fight our drive to be self-righteous: it’s … be self-righteous: it’s breathtakingly freeing. What’s more, just admitting that we’re profoundly biased toward ourselves and want desperately to preserve our “rightness” at all costs even helps us think better, make better decisions, be better listeners, and improve our relationships with God and others.
Hansen draws from biblical insight and the work of everyone from esteemed social psychologists to comedians to make his point: the sooner we get over ourselves, give up the “I’m good” internal dialogue, and admit the truth, the sooner we can live a more lighthearted, fruitful, fun-loving life.
This book is about the freedom of childlike humility.
After all, as Hansen writes, the humble life is truly your best one.
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The truth about us is that we are not all “basically good, deep down inside.” We are flawed, sinful humans. Yet we tend to believe at some level that we are better than average. We are biased towards ourselves, whether we consciously recognize it or not. Starting with this and going on to other cognitive biases, radio show host Brant Hansen challenges us to examine the way we view ourselves and the world around us and to maybe, just possibly, admit that we’re not “good” and that we need help from the only One who is.
This book intrigued me, entertained me, and challenged me. He has a way of getting to the heart of the matter, and he infuses insight and humor into the points he makes along the way. Early in the book Brant describes various studies that show how our brains work. I was fascinated, and at times astounded, by these studies. It’s surprising, really, to learn how little we actually observe and retain, and how we can fool ourselves. And yet, when someone who isn’t me forgets something important, how often do I give them grace?
Though I have more of an inferiority complex in some of the areas he talked about, there were some that were right on point for me. One easy example is about driving speed. I am one who tends to think that if I come up on you on the road, you’re driving too slowly (and sometimes you’re also ruining my day). But if you come up behind me, or pass me on the road, you’re driving entirely too fast. Clearly my chosen speed is the perfect speed (and no, it’s not usually exactly the speed limit), and while I don’t usually think about it more than in the moment (and no, I don’t get road rage), I can easily recognize this bias in myself. This book changed my viewpoint in a lot of areas, hopefully for the better.
One of the biggest take-aways from this book is the need for humility. We’re truly not as amazing or good as we think we are, but that’s okay! It’s good news, and understanding how it’s good news can be very freeing. I think everyone can benefit from this book, even those who hear about it and think they don’t need it, or think about others they know who need it. In fact, maybe the ones who are thinking those things are the people who need to read it the most. No matter who you are or what you’re thinking about this book, though, I suggest you check out The Brant & Sherri Oddcast.
I received an advanced reader copy of Brant Hansen’s new book The Truth About us. I really enjoyed Brant’s insight into an important fundamental Christian view. That we are not good, but that’s okay because God is! All of the ideas in this book are things most Christian have heard. The scriptures have been repeated a lot. But do we really understand what they mean to us? Brant takes scriptures, studies in human behavior, and personal experience to bridge what we know with how to live it. I wanted to highlight this whole book, because it is so true. “The more righteous we think we are, the more we diminish who God is, and the more we minimize what he’s done for us”. There are many experiences in this book that I related to. Especially how we treat each other on social media. “Try this on social media sometime: When someone says something stupid or wrong or just obnoxious, respond with something genuinely complimentary. You’ll instantly like the person a little more”. I enjoy Brant’s sense of humor, and tasteful references to The Lord of the Rings. It makes hard hitting ideas easier to digest. “When I take myself too seriously, I get stressed about things that should be enjoyable”. I definitely recommend reading this book!
P.S. It is helpful to read Unoffendable as it is referenced a few times in this book. Though, you do not need to read it in order to understand this book.