Very few people are able to understand what is happening on their own. They repeat what their parents told them, then the teachers at school, what they saw on the evening news. Finally, they convince themselves that this is their own opinion, which they zealously defend when contradicted. However, they could look and think for themselves in order to see the world as it really is, and not as they want to show it to them. (Bernard Werber "We the gods")
How often do you ask yourself: “Am I right? Or can I be wrong? Why do I believe in what I believe in?
Faith, as we know from the Holy Scriptures, comes by hearing. So we believe what we hear. But do we notice what we hear? Do we understand what we believe?
They say we become what we eat. And this is important, because our health and our lives depend on it. If we eat unhealthy food, we cannot be healthy. And if we care and make sure that we consume quality food, filtered water, clean air, then why are we so irresponsible and careless about the information that is constantly pouring on us from all sides? The quality of which is always highly questionable.
We trust our ears to everyone around us - acquaintances, friends, experts, politicians, the media, public opinion. And we do not trust real facts, common sense and our own conscience.
Why do we allow someone to spoil our heads, poison our thinking, our consciousness, our life?
Because we are lazy. We are too lazy to make an effort and change something. Our human brain is designed in such a way that it is easier for him to agree to simple, superficial conclusions and decisions. He does not want to strain, take the initiative and ask critical questions, check and evaluate incoming information, get to the bottom of the true state of things. We create our picture of the world based on the most accessible and familiar facts.
Our brain is always looking for ways to avoid the stress of facing something new and different, and left to its own devices, it constantly invents new workarounds, which in psychology are called cognitive distortions.
Cognitive distortion is a concept of cognitive science, meaning systematic deviations in perception, thinking and behavior due to subjective prejudices and stereotypes, social, moral and emotional reasons, failures in the processing and analysis of information. Wikipedia
Thus, cognitive biases can lead to inaccurate judgments, illogical interpretations, and irrational behavior.
The list on Wikipedia has over 170 cognitive distortions, and this is not a complete list of the ways in which our brain deceives itself.
The most common cognitive bias is the confirmation bias, when we interpret any new information in such a way that it is compatible with our established views, beliefs and worldview and does not violate the usual picture of the world.
Another popular cognitive distortion is "tunell thinking" - when a person is fixated on some idea and thinks in very narrow categories, does not notice obvious facts, has a limited range of interests and limiting beliefs.
The effect of imitation or “herd instinct” - when it seems to us that we make a choice on our own, but in fact our decisions and actions are more dependent on the opinions and behavior of most other people.
And finally, the backfire effect. We find it difficult to abandon an idea that is already ingrained in our minds, even if it later turns out to be false. Therefore, we strive to prove our case, to defend the original point of view, even when we receive indisputable evidence that it is erroneous.
Also, people often tend to find and emphasize other people's biases and cognitive distortions, while at the same time ignoring their own. As the saying goes, “they see in someone else’s eye, they don’t notice the log in their own”.
So we get caught up in popular concepts, from which it is quite difficult to escape. Defending their usual reality, people continue to live among invented images, imposed opinions and categorical conviction in their imaginary rightness.
Consciousness assumes whatever form it thinks of. As the Stoic philosophers believed, the main good for a person is not physical survival, but the ability to live with one's mind, because the mind, thinking is the only support of a person in the world. And the most important thing is not the result of thinking, but the process itself.
Without freedom of thought there can be no right beliefs. Beliefs are what make us who we are. In the labyrinth of wrongly chosen directions, we are moving further and further away from reality, from ourselves. As a result, we lose our intended path, and we can spend our whole life in sin - "missing the mark."
If you do not use critical thinking, you cannot be a free person, but only a victim of the impact of other people's concepts. Concepts that are created to control you.
Don't rent your brains! Dare to think for yourself. Take the blinders off your eyes. Don't listen to other people's voices. A person is worth something only when he has his own point of view.
Yes, sometimes it takes a lot of courage to admit that you were wrong, and courage to change your beliefs. But as Winston Churchill said, "A fool is the man who never changes his mind."
Remember that changing your mind and following what corrects your mistake is more in keeping with freedom than persisting in your mistake. (Marcus Aurelius).