Educate Yourself – Blind Believers are no better than Dismissive Skeptics

It always bugs me when I see people dismiss a new idea simply because it’s foreign to them.  Albert Einstein said that “condemnation without investigation is the height of ignorance.”  I completely agree.  However, I would take it a step further.

I notice that many people who study personal development material tend to blindly accept what a teacher is telling them, without question or investigation.  Some of those same people will condemn followers of the more orthodox religions for not questioning the validity of their belief system.  But are they not doing the exact same thing?  Furthermore, the blind believer (no matter what the belief) is no different that the dismissive skeptic.

Dismissive skeptics completely disregard new information without question.  Blind believers completely trust new information without question.  Both attitudes are, at their core, the same.  Their cause is the same cause of all dysfunctions.  Fear.

Fear that their belief system might be challenged.  What if they were wrong?  What if another belief system was actually right?  That would mean they would have to change their entire outlook of reality.  And that, of course, can be scary.

But look at the other side of it.  So what if some of your beliefs turn out to be wrong.  I’ve uncovered dozens of faulty beliefs since I started my personal development journey.  And guess what?  It wasn’t easy to let them go.  But I did.  And on the other side of it was the feeling of freedom that only comes from being more in harmony with your true self and the true nature of all of Creation.

Educating yourself is a good thing.  Questioning what teachers and “gurus” have to say is a good thing.  Questioning what you were taught was “right” and “wrong” and “true” and “false” and “real” and “imaginary” as a child is a good thing.  Questioning what politicians are saying is a good thing.  The list goes on and on.

So how do you actually implement this on a daily basis?  Simple.  If you’re like most people, when presented with new information, your first instinct will be to either accept it as true (agree with it), or reject it completely (disagree with it).  Don’t do either.  Allow whatever temporary first impressions you have to come up, but then go a step further.  Investigate.  Look for other information and see if it confirms or conflicts with the information you’ve been presented.  Have you ever heard the expression, “lies run sprints but the truth runs marathons”?

If something is really true, you’ll be able to find plenty of evidence to support it.  If something is not true, you’ll start to find conflicting information.

In some of the more esoteric studies, you’ll have to use your own guidance to discover what’s true and what’s a bunch of B.S. (which stands for “belief system”).  If your intuition says something is true for you, then move in that direction.  If your intuition is nudging you, saying “there’s something more…keep looking,” follow that.  Here’s the general rule – If it feels good, it is; If it doesn’t, it isn’t.

So in closing, never accept what anyone else says as truth or fact just because they’re in a position of authority or are calling themselves an “expert.”  Do your own research, trust your own guidance, draw your own conclusions.

Oh, and here’s another tip:  The journey never ends.  (But make sure to go investigate that for yourself)