Believing is OK. We do it most of the time. However, when making critical life decisions, it is wisest to base these decisions on knowledge instead of belief.
Your parents probably told you things with good intent, but the information they told you wasn’t necessarily correct. It was based on information they heard or read, on what they believed, not what they knew. However, as a child, we never doubted what they told us or how they wanted us to behave. Why? Since our parents were the authority, we assumed they knew what they were doing and had our best interests in mind. We trusted them. As we grew up, new authority figures such as teachers and doctors came into our lives. They also told us and taught us things based on their beliefs and opinions instead of knowing. Generation after generation, wrong ideas and opinions get handed down like tattered second-hand clothes, which we may still carry around with us.
Just as we never questioned the authority figures from our past, do we continue to do the same thing as adults? It makes sense to me that, with years of added experience, we should be more prudent. That means thinking critically about the information we get and how the “new” authorities want us to behave. In other words, do we believe and do what our leaders today tell us because they know what they’re doing and are interested in our welfare, or because they are simply the new authority…substituting Mom and Dad?
In today’s chaotic and uncertain world, knowing what’s going on is vital. Suppose we don’t understand that and accept the popular narratives without thirsting to see the truth. In that case, we become vulnerable to malicious people and organizations intent on keeping us ignorant of their ploys to control our thoughts and behavior. They can then achieve their objectives by continuing to manipulate and diffuse information through the popular (mainstream) media. We must wake up and not unquestionably believe what we’re told just because everyone else does.
“The mainstream media has the power to control the narrative. The narrative has the power to manipulate how we think and act. Therefore, it’s primarily the well-informed and unconfused person who has the potential to wake up and decide whether or not to accept or reject the narrative.”
