Thoughts That Should Probably Occur More Often

Listen to a reading of this article:

I wonder if my own government is being truthful about its actions in that part of the world?

I wonder if my own government is in the wrong on this issue?

I wonder if the news media are telling the truth right now?

I wonder if the news media tell the truth about things generally?

I wonder if the “Evil Dictators versus Virtuous Liberal Democracies” framework I’ve been taught by teachers, pundits and politicians is the most accurate lens through which to view world events?

Could I have been deceived about the way my government operates, at home and abroad?

Is it possible that my beliefs about my society, my government and my world are completely wrong?

What if the teachers, preachers and parents who helped form my worldview were relying on inaccurate information?

Who has benefitted from the beliefs that are in my head? Is it possible that those beliefs were placed there, directly or indirectly, by people who have benefitted from my having them?

Are there any power-serving falsehoods that I believe because it is cognitively easier to believe them than to let in information that might hurt my ego or require me to restructure my entire worldview?

Does civilization really have to be organized in this way? Is it possible to create better systems that work for everyone? Do I only assume things can’t change because the current systems have been deliberately normalized for me?

Are there any beliefs that were put in my head by people I love and trust that are untruthful or unhelpful? Beliefs about myself? Beliefs about my place in the world? Beliefs about my family members? My culture? My religion?

Is there anyone in my life who regularly tries to manipulate me into thinking a certain way about things? Anyone who regularly tries to influence how I think about them? How I think about myself? How I think about others? Why are they doing that?

What beliefs am I still holding that don’t serve me? That don’t serve the world? Could I be holding some unhelpful beliefs without even consciously realizing it?

In what areas of my life am I in the wrong? Who have I wronged and who am I currently doing wrong to? What can I do to make it right?

Are there beliefs that that I hold on to because I believe they are me, but when I look at them in the clear light of day I can see they are only fossilised ideas forged long ago in a moment of fear? Have I been defending those false ideas with such force that I have actually been in attack?

How has my childhood affected my way of experiencing life and behaving in the world? Are there any psychological habits I formed when I was small and lacking in knowledge that I am still maintaining? Can I now as a strong adult begin to consciously relinquish them?

What is thought? Am I quite sure I’m using and relating to it in the healthiest and most skillful way possible? Is it possible to move thought and thinking into a more wholesome and efficacious role in my life?

Is it possible that I’m not perceiving reality accurately at all? That not only is the information in my head inaccurate, but my most fundamental assumptions about life and perception as well?

Is it possible that I’ve been holding inaccurate beliefs about not only my world, my government, my society, my culture, my family and myself, but about my very nature?

What am I, anyway? What am I really? Do I even know?

What is this experience? What can be known about it without accessing memories of things I’ve been told, and without telling myself mental stories about it?

What’s the real truth behind every aspect of this life?

I wonder if it’s possible to experience beauty in each moment?

I wonder if happiness is the natural default position of human consciousness, and we only lose it by getting mixed up in untruth?

I wonder what consciousness is?

I wonder what love is?

Maybe it’s possible to explore all the questions I have about life and reality while living thoroughly immersed in the world?

Maybe life will keep getting better the more clarity I have on what’s really true?

Maybe life will keep getting better for everyone the more clarity we all have on what’s really true?

Maybe this whole human adventure is a collective journey out of the darkness of confusion and into the light of truth?

https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/thoughts-that-should-probably-occur