Thread by @jposhaughnessy

1/Why?
We are vastly more conditioned by society than we realize.
How can we “think outside the box” when there’s a bumper sticker and t-shirt with that emblazoned on it?
The ideas that our culture propagates are difficult to truly examine when

2/when “everyone” accepts them as axiomatically true.
To really understand this, read original books, journals, news articles, and now public, once private, diaries from other eras.
Some ideas and thoughts will ring true, but many will appear laughable to our

3/modern eyes and ears. Focus on the ones that ring true from long ago. They ring true by having withstood the test of time and fashion.
A Zen story about a fish who was a Prince who asked his father to explain water to him.

4/His father, the King, asked him why he wanted to know. The Prince answered he had heard land creatures talking about it and wanted to understand.
His father responded “you were born in the water and you will die in the water.

5/You live in it and it flows through you and around you. It is so much a part of you that you are unaware of it.” That’s why we often feel like a fish out of water when questioning what everyone in society believes. It permeates us so much that we are unaware.

6/We literally don’t know what we don’t know.
How does this affect us? People who don’t ask questions don’t get answers.
NEVER be afraid to ask a question, even if everyone you know thinks the answer is obvious.
We’ll never progress without the simple question, why?

7/It can uncover lots of bad beliefs, if only you keep asking it.
I think many of a society’s cherished beliefs are castles built on sand.
To figure out which ones, ask why. As Keith Richards says: “If you’re going to kick authority in the teeth, you might as well use both feet.”