“There is a tiger in your backyard!”
If a stranger came up to you and told you exactly that, would you believe them?
Probably not.
So why are we sometimes so quick to believe claims we encounter on social media, in the news or from random people online?
I recently came across an ancient Chinese proverb in a newsletter by Sahil Bloom.
A minister approached his king and asked:
“If one person told you there was a tiger in the marketplace, would you believe them?”
The king said no.
“What if two people told you?”
The king admitted that he might begin to doubt himself.
“And what if three people all claimed there was a tiger?”
The king replied that he would believe them.
The minister concluded:
There is no tiger in the marketplace. But if enough people repeat the same claim, even something absurd can begin to feel true.
This story describes what psychologists call the Illusory Truth Effect: The more often we hear a statement, the more likely we are to believe it—even when it is false.
Repetition creates familiarity.
And familiarity can easily be mistaken for truth.
You can see this everywhere in healthcare.
“Knees should never move past your toes while squatting.”
“Lifting heavy things is bad for your back.”
“Poor posture causes back pain.”
We have heard some of these statements so often that they no longer sound like claims. They sound like facts.
They sound as though there is a tiger in the marketplace—and everyone knows it.
But repetition is not evidence. That is what studies, experiments and testing are for.
Your knees moving past your toes are not automatically in danger. The position may be painful in some cases, but that does not make it inherently bad for your knees. Otherwise, how would you walk downstairs?
Heavy lifting does not automatically damage your back either. You may have heard of someone injuring their back while lifting something heavy. But I once treated a patient who hurt her back while feeding her cat.
She was hardly going to stop doing that, was she?
And there is no single perfect posture that protects everyone from pain. I have treated people with seemingly perfect posture who were in a lot of pain—and people with what many would call “terrible” posture who had no pain at all.
As you can see, this does not mean the opposite must be true either. Just because a claim is repeated frequently does not make it false.
Sometimes, when three people tell you there is a tiger in the marketplace, there really is a tiger.
That is what makes this difficult.
The lesson is not to ignore the crowd. It is not to automatically distrust doctors, physiotherapists, experts—or anyone who agrees with them. Independent thinking does not mean reflexively choosing the opposite opinion.
It means pausing before repetition turns into belief.
Is this claim supported by evidence?
Is it universally true, or only true under certain circumstances?
Is this person describing an actual risk—or repeating something they once heard from somebody else?
And perhaps most importantly:
Would I still believe this if I had heard it only once?
This principle extends far beyond healthcare.
If several people tell you that you are unattractive or incompetent, their agreement does not turn their opinion into a fact.
If the fitness and wellness industry repeatedly tells you that you need this supplement, that gadget and the perfect training plan to be healthy, that does not mean you are unhealthy simply because you are not following its rules.
Some of the beliefs guiding our lives were never consciously chosen.
We simply heard them often enough.
From our families. From teachers. From healthcare professionals. From society. From social media. And eventually, from our own internal voice.
The story became familiar.
Then the familiar story became “the truth.”
If you want to explore this idea more deeply, The Mastery of Self examines how these stories become part of our identity—and how the Toltec path can help us question them.
Cultivating an independent mindset does not mean believing that everyone else is wrong. It means becoming curious about the beliefs you have accepted without examining them.
Because there may be a tiger in the marketplace.
But before you reorganize your entire life around it, perhaps it is worth taking a closer look.
🧪 Let’s Experiment
A familiar belief is not necessarily a true belief.
Think of one claim that currently influences your decisions.
Perhaps you avoid an exercise because someone called it dangerous. Perhaps you believe you need a perfect plan before you can begin. Or perhaps you are following a rule for your life without remembering who created it.
🎯 Try This:
Before acting on that belief, ask:
Is this a fact, an opinion or a possibility?
Does it apply to everyone—or only under certain circumstances?
What could I safely observe, research or test for myself?
🧠 Final Thought:
There might be a tiger in the marketplace.
But make sure it is real before you rearrange your entire life around it.