Albert Einstein, one of the world’s most profound scientists, once had a great quote that was illustrated in his autobiography written by Walter Isaacson.
The quote is as follows: “a foolish faith in authority is the greatest enemy of truth.”
One of the most fulfilling human endeavors is the search for one’s truth.
In the technological world that we live in today, the truth is oftentimes skewed, and others views are purported as “truth”.
For instance, every single time we open up social media, we consume the thoughts and beliefs of others.
We also share our own thoughts and opinions because as humans, we like to feel validated by others that agree with our beliefs and opinions.
However, everyone agreeing with us isn’t always the case, especially when teetering the line of controversy.
Sometimes when we share our thoughts and opinions with the public, we open the door for others to potentially not agree with us or even be hurt by the things that we share.
Simply put, the content people consume on social media, more often than not, is designed to spark a reaction.
Think about the last time you read or saw something online that you didn’t agree with and felt the need to share your opposing view.
The content you consumed created a feeling and that feeling created a reaction.
It is important for you to know that there are two different forms of thinking: reactive thinking, and logic/facts based thinking.
Both of these forms of thinking are detailed in a book that I highly recommend to my readers called Thinking Fast and Slow, by Daniel Kahneman.
In this read, Kahneman describes each mode of thinking and how modern day humans operate within the context of both modes of thinking.
Most people today only think in a reactive state - making decisions based off of feelings they have in the moment and the information they have at their disposal in that moment.
The reactive mode of thinking is very primitive, meaning we relied on our reactive brains for survival for millions of years to evolve to where we are today.
The logic/facts based mode of thinking is much slower than the reactive.
Logical thinking takes time through foreshadowing potential outcomes and analyzing every piece of the puzzle to make the best fit decision.
Most humans today do not use the logic portion of the brain simply because everything that surrounds us is designed to captivate our attention and spark some sort of reaction.
This is all social media is in a nutshell.
We have discussed many times before about the difference between those that value short term gratification, and those that plan for the long term reward.
When it comes to thinking, we can look at the reactive and logic modes of thinking within a similar context of immediate gratification versus long term reward.
Reactive thinking is easy - it is the path of least resistance - it is a matter of feeling in the moment.
Logical thinking is hard - it is a matter of being able to separate one’s emotions from what is around them to plan for the best potential outcome.
The way that I see it, it is logical thinking that allows one to search and find truth.
Consuming everything around us as a means of depicting our reality in real time is not truth.
In other words, everything that we see is not all that is there.
There is always another layer to the pie when it comes to the things that we consume.
This is why just because someone says something to be true, doesn’t make it true, at least for you.
The logical thing to do would be to dissect what the said person is saying, and apply what makes sense and see if it does in fact, hold truth.
Think about every time a politician has made a promise when running a campaign.
How much of the things do they actually get done that they promise in their campaigns?
Oftentimes, not much.
This is why outlets like social media, news, and other media sources aren’t viable sources for truth.
This doesn’t mean you completely disregard everything you see and hear on social media or other media outlets, it just means you have to actually sit and think about what is being said.
Physically try to make the most sense out everything you are consuming, because I am willing to bet if you physically sit and try to make sense of things, you will find flaws.
These flaws are what sparks one’s interest to go out into the world and seek truth.
Scrolling mindlessley on social media isn’t going to serve any other purpose other than distraction.
It is our duty to learn the truth so that we can speak our truth.
Because even if your truth is objectively wrong, it is the best possible way for you grow as a person.
When you search for truth, you can learn to handle things like rejection and criticism.
The mindless reactor often can’t handle rejection or criticism, and these two things are something all of us have to deal with throughout the course of our lives.
Remember, a foolish faith in authority is the greatest enemy of truth and oftentimes, it can even be our own authority.
That’s right, our own stuborness can do us more harm than good.
Thinking is an art form and it is something that I have greatly learned to appreciate the older I get.
This is also why I write daily blogs for my readers - to provide a perspective in hopes of sparking some sort of curisosity and inspire one to think.
You may not agree with some of the things that I write about, or you may not agree with anything that I write about and that is okay.
At least you are here and for that, I am grateful!