Let’s break it down a little more. Whatever nation you’re from you were first taught the customs and beliefs of your particular family. Take a moment to think about the beliefs and customs your family taught you. Are they true? Have you ever investigated them? Did they accurately describe the nature of the world? Did they teach you good morals? Where did any of the things they taught you come from?
The truth is, if your family was like most they were simply teaching you what they had been taught by their parents, family, religion, and society. Did they ever question any of their beliefs? If not, how did they know that what they taught you was true?
Perhaps your family wasn’t religious or spiritual; where did they acquire their understanding of the world and our purpose here? Where did they acquire their sense of morals? What was their method for recognizing truth or untruth? Did they simply believe whatever any authority figure told them to believe, whether it be president, politician, scientist, reporter, or professor?
Or maybe you were brought up in a religious or spiritual background. What was your family’s method for recognizing truth or untruth? Were they free-thinkers? Did they investigate and analyze spiritual matters for themselves, or did they simply accept whatever was taught to them by some religious authority figure? Maybe the Bible was their religious authority; did they ever question the Bible?
These are all things which each person must explore, investigate, deduce, assess and reassess for themselves. Only then will it really make any sense to them.
Excerpted from Them and Us: A Philosophy of Freedom by Adam Soto
Mind / Purpose / Truth 