Challenging Our Beliefs

One of my firm beliefs is that the is a reason for everything that you think and for everything that you believe.

There is a reason.

And I believe that it is our responsibility to investigate these reasons, challenge them, and only continue to hold them if they can stand up to critique.

And critique is a skill that you can learn. Learn it. Learn to critique objectively. Learn to look at anything and consider both how you would argue for it and against it. Which arguments actually have weight?

What do you think? What do you believe? Why do you believe it? What is it built on? You should answer those questions.

Build your beliefs on unshakable foundations.

There is truth in this world. It does exist.

Learn about history. All history is a story. All history has a bias. But some history is fabricated: stories that never happened.

But objective history exists. What happened has been documented for millennia. It’s available to read. It is often easily accessible. Our history is well documented. Most people just don’t get history from history books.

People really want you to believe that there is no objective history at all. .That you can’t trust anyone or anything. That somehow the history book that contradicts your belief could be the lie. Maybe that book is fabricating history.

But that's just wrong. We’ve just been really really really twisted psychologically by the internet, by misinformation, by conspiracy, by paranoia, and by distrust.

But outside of the internet there is history. Consensus reality.

And it still exists. We’ve just put a giant wall up in front of it so we can’t see it. And in front of that wall we show everyone a picture of reality, a version of reality that they want to see. Or a version of reality that someone else wants them to see.

We get our news, our politics, our culture, our fashion, our everything from a series of platforms with complex algorithms designed to show us exactly what we want to see.

But not even perfectly. No. What they do instead is show us a bunch of stuff we don’t care about, or are outwardly angered by, to make us more responsive to the things that we like.

To keep our attention. Mostly to sell more ad space, lol. Cool cool cool cool cool scam guys!!

Everyone gets the version of history that perfectly comports with the world view that they demonstrated that they had through their engagement with short, repetitive, digestible, and highly potent content.

And so we have beliefs and ideas and thoughts that are built on nothing. Or built on lies. And we just accept. We don’t challenge, we just accept.

Write down what you believe in.

Do you think that there actually is an important biological difference between men and women that should somehow disqualify one from the opportunities afforded to the other?

Answer that question quickly. Write down what you believe. And then challenge it and critique it. How would you argue yes? How would you argue no?

What holds up?

Do that for everything you think or believe.

The results are profound.

Also, critically, I promise you that what remains, an unshakable foundation for a worthwhile belief, is not purely in line with the Democratic Party line nor the Republican Party line on the issue. You may be surprised if sometimes a new belief emerges sits outside of both. Sometimes they cross over. Sit with that. Maybe the two major political parties are less interested in promoting well informed political opinions and more interested in competing against their rival. Maybe both have just developed polar politics and split the country in half because it makes for a more straight forward fight. Maybe what both are telling you is a mix of truth and lies, depending on which benefits them the most. Maybe we should be challenging our parties more intensely. Maybe we should all be more engaged in civil and political life.

Anyway, whatever that is, in a word or short phrase, is what I’m thinking about.

Leave a comment. Let’s have a conversation.