Simply put, it means that a sane person cannot hold two conflicting ideas or perceptions in his (or her) brain at the same time.
You cannot think of yourself as both clever and stupid at the same time. One of the conflicting ideas (cognitions) will have to go. To reduce dissonance you might edit memories, censor your sensory perception, re-focus attention - until one of the two conflicting ideas are removed. You will see / hear / feel / smell / remember things only as long as they are congruent (in line with) the belief you choose to accept.
Seeing is not believing - but rather:
believing is seeing: We can only see what we already believe.
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