How Much Research & Questioning Have You Put Into the Things You Believe?

In today's video, I'd like to talk just a bit about how easy it is to fall into the trap of convincing ourselves of things, of believing things, and generally just of having an unquestioned story of "reality".

None of us can be truly sure of anything that we didn't ourselves experience/observe, and even the things that we have first-hand experience of fall far outside the realm of objective reality, simply by our sensory limitations and the filtering of our subconscious mind.

When we receive new information about something we already have a belief around, confirmation bias keeps most anything from changing that belief. When we receive new information about something where we currently hold no beliefs, the most common tendency is to either believe or disbelieve based on our trust of the person giving that information and/or their perceived "authority."

I push myself to do as much research as I can (on a sliding scale based on interest and how much the new idea will actually affect the way I live) on any new ideas or challenges to held ideas that come my way. I'm never going to be able to reach that level of 100% objective truth, but I am damn sure going to be ever moving in that direction. I regularly watch/listen to videos & podcasts that I distinctly disagree with, in order to test my beliefs, to compare the data, logic, and premises of the other side to what I hold. If I didn't, I would never be growing intellectually, and I wouldn't be very capable of making my own arguments.

As I mentioned in the video, I always try to find content creators who give their sources, because that gets me one step closer to truth. If you look through my own blog-roll, you'll notice that most of my content is just my own opinions & experiences (like this video), while the posts where I am actually talking about facts, data, and Truth, I include TONS of hyperlinks. (Example 1, 2, 3)

I mentioned two channels that I feel do this extremely well: Mic The Vegan & The Corbett Report. Whatever topic they're covering, whether I/you disagree with them on it or not, you'll find that they both consistently provide evidence/data/sources to back up what they're saying.

Thanks for tuning in folks; have a wonderful evening!

If you enjoyed this, you may enjoy some of these highlights of my blog: