In order to evaluate a person as a source of information with full rationality we must always begin with the question of:
"Did this person give us a reason to think that they are being dishonest?"
If this person has not provided a reason to believe that they are being dishonest then you can continue listening to the person with open ears, otherwise, you can take note of their past dishonesty and continue listening. Dishonesty in the past does not directly lead to the conclusion that the next statement will be dishonest. Likewise, consistent honesty does not directly lead to the conclusion that the next statement will be an honest statement.
Some people may be tricked into believing others based on their appearance alone, but the evaluation of the truth takes time. In order to obtain the most rational perspective, the question that we must ask ourselves when we encounter a new person is "Who are you?"
We may not have the answer to this question or we can learn about this person. If we learn about this person, then we may have this person's record of providing valid information. We cannot, however, accept any information to be the truth until we have given the provided information careful consideration ourselves.
Things to consider when judging a person as a source of valid information:
1) How does your perception of the individual change the more that you learn about them?
2) If the individual makes many consecutive statements that are true, will you believe the next thing that they say?
What do we believe in?
We only believe in things that can be understood with common sense as according to what can possibly exist or be done in the physical realm using our body and the resources that are available to us or by what we observe with our own eyesight.
You can always listen with open ears if you can entertain a thought without accepting it at first.
To evaluate the truth we can ask questions. If you practice this teaching by Socrates, you can obtain the truth.
To practice this, we can always ask the questions "What is this?" and "And what is that?"
When we hear people make statements we can ask them for the meaning of their statements in order to obtain a deeper understanding of the meaning. We must also listen to others with the perception of the knowledge of metaphors and the ability to say things for the effect that they will have on the other person.
We must always ask the question "why?" about everything. For example, if someone makes an action we can ask ourselves the question of "why?" in order to obtain a greater understanding. Asking the question of "why?" enhances our overall understanding.
We need to figure out the answer to "why?" by looking into the minds of others and by contemplating their perspective. We can do so by considering their lives, as in where they are coming from, combined with the knowledge that people can have different ideas about the same things, different interpretations, and can also say things that convey a different meaning.
We must always listen to the emotional sound of the voice of the speaker in order to interpret the feeling of the meaning that they convey.
For example, someone could be sarcastic by saying "I love you" and convey the opposite meaning.
If we put all of the above into practice, we can gain a better understanding of the world based on all of the information that we have been exposed to from news sources combined with information that we receive from other people as our sources.
