There are a lot of things we hear that we immediately perceive to be lies. Stories. “Narratives.” Brainwashing.
A Liberal is just as likely to perceive a piece of right-leaned news is a lie or brainwashing as a Christian is to perceive that a holy book other than the Bible is a work of Satan.
We love to follow our nose on the delicious scents of things that align with what we want to believe…
But turn up our nose and turn tail at the slightest hint of anything that threatens to challenge our perceptions and beliefs.
There are a great many things we are afraid of, but having our reality drawn into question in our own minds is one of the greatest unconscious fears we have.
Instead of holding contempt in our hearts for that which flies in the face of our beliefs, we should examine them.
We must question everything — as the scientific method suggests — but perhaps most of all, we must question our own beliefs.
Don’t be afraid — if your faith is pure, if your faith is true, then your beliefs will hold fast against any onslaughts.
However, if there is but a grain of doubt in your heart, then the questioning will be the chink in the armor of your beliefs.
So, sure, hold fast to ideologies or beliefs.
But, be willing to put them under a spotlight. To turn over the rocks.
You may not like what you find, but if what you believe is the truth, then it will stay in your heart…
And if what you believe doesn’t survive scrutiny, then at least you are on the pathway to FIND what IS the truth!
Follow for daily philosophical meditations.
These are distillations from my coming book “YouDaimonia: the Ancient Philosophy of Human Flourishing.”
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